Moving to Digital Records

 

By Ricardo Harvin
E-mail Questions for Tech Tools to techtools@uschamber.com.

 

The paperless office may never become a reality, but incorporating digital records into your operations can help increase productivity, improve customer service, and reduce costs related to filing, storing, and retrieving business documents.

 

Every document can be converted into an electronic format that is easier and cheaper to store, search, and retrieve-and you can still keep the original paper should you ever need it for legal, regulatory, or other reasons.

 

Getting started with digital records is relatively inexpensive and easy. It only requires a scanner and an electronic filing system. Some sheet-fed scanners include simple document management software. Or you have the option of developing your own filing system. For around $200 to $300, you can produce perfectly scanned copies of documents (usually as an image file) for storing in your computer.

 

You'll need enough hard drive space to store your files. If more than one person needs access to those files, then a separate server is recommended-along with a good electronic archival and backup process and clear data security and access policies, all of which you should already have in place for your computer systems.

 

More advanced document management systems can simplify the process of integrating and managing documents that start as paper with those that are purely electronic (e.g., e-mails, word processor files, spreadsheets) and let you save files in different formats. Some systems can even create full-fledged electronic forms from your existing paper ones using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so that data entry and cleanup can be done electronically rather
than manually.

 

At the very least, you should have original templates in electronic format for all documents that your business uses-no more making photocopies of photocopies; just print clean copies. When it's time to update a document or form, you can work from the original template.

 

With digital records and a good electronic filing system, it only takes a few mouse clicks to find a file. Then you can easily send it as an e-mail attachment or print it for faxing or mailing without leaving your desk or putting your customer on hold.

 

Paper may be here to stay, but there's no reason to drown in it.