Create More Time With a Paperless Office By Emily Leach At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

How much time does your office spend going through paper? Offices are lost under a deluge of paper that is typically multiplied through the archiving process. I keep a copy in my file, and the department keeps another copy and then the company keeps a master archive. That is sheets of paper for just one!

And then there is the storage for all these documents, the average increase in storage required for all this paper is 25% per year. So take all the file cabinets and storage room space you are currently using and multiply that by an additional 25% each year your company continues to use a paper archive system.

So how can you create time by converting to a paperless office?

Imagine converting the time spent searching for paper documents, filing documents and managing the archive system for those same documents into productivity. Now you can begin to leverage your most valuable asset – your time, for tasks and decisions that will grow the company.

The paperless office theme got started primarily to save trees, and that is still relevant, but in business today it is crucial to cut overhead costs, increase productivity and in some cases meet strict regulatory compliance factors. Document conversion is a natural step to take that meets all of these issues your business may be facing. Regardless of size, every business can benefit from converting their paper documents into a digital format. And it’s easier than you may be thinking.

Here are the primary sections of the process:

1. Pre-processing of documents: Getting all the documents ready for conversion. Removing staples, binding and any other element that would slow the scanning process. And getting each set of documents organized.

2. Conversion to digital format / Scanning: Using the appropriate level of scanning hardware to convert all of your paper documents in to the digital format.

3. Formatting documents: Digital format does not always mean an image, documents can be scanned in to a PDF format or even MS Word so they can updated.

4. Indexing: Creating a database that can find each file quickly and easily. This is normally done by the software that you select for the document conversion project. But if you are a very small business you may use the document indexing function built in to your operating system. You can place tags (or keywords) on each file that also help in searching for documents.

5. Verification: The scanning process isn’t perfect, so it is important to review the documents that have been scanned for accuracy. Do not start shredding your paper documents until you are sure the digital copy is correct. You can also verify the indexing, search for some specific documents and make sure everything works like anticipated.

6. Storage or Archive: The storage of digital files is much less costly, hard drives are used to house the files and serve them to your employees. It is also much easier to archive and back up all your files daily when they are in digital format. You can set up a backup system to run overnight, no one needs to spend time filing papers anymore!

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