Paperless Offices

If you've ever spent too long hunting through stacks of paper
for an invoice or searching through paper files, you may have
wished for a paperless office. You wouldn't be alone.

As soon as computers began appearing on office desks more
than 20 years ago, so did the idea of paperless, electronic
communication. But despite all the time that's passed, most
businesses are far from operating without paper.

The arguments for tossing the piles of paper are strong. By
eliminating paper in file cabinets, for example, a company
can create more room and reduce off-site storage costs. By
exchanging information electronically with vendors and
customers, a business can make information quickly accessible
-- and conversely more private and secure through the use of
encryption, passwords and other security measures. For some
businesses -- like those in the healthcare industry, which
are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy
Act (HIPAA) -- paperless records may be a regulatory
requirement.

But the process of going paperless can be daunting. There are
the costs of new equipment and software to consider, as well
as that of converting paper records into electronic files.
And there are decisions about how to make the move and when,
how much existing paper to convert, how to handle paper that
continues to flow in from vendors and customers, how to get
employees onboard with the idea and trained in new systems,
and how to simply keep doing business as usual during the
conversion.

Add to that the fact that, no matter what, a company probably
can't be completely paperless. Some papers -- like signed,
sealed deeds and legally binding contracts, or paper records
for audits and IRS tax filings -- need to exist in their
original form for legal or financial reasons or, particularly
in the financial services industry, to show regulatory
compliance.

Still, many companies will agree that becoming paperless, or
at least paper-less, is well worth the effort.

Benefits of a Paperless Office

There are many benefits with a paperless office, beyond
simply having less paper to deal with. While you're unlikely
to have a completely paper-free office, electronic
communication and other systems can eliminate much of it.
Let's take a closer look at how this has benefited some
businesses:

1. Reduced costs and quicker access to information.
MajesticInvites.com is an eight-person company that designs
online invitations. Being paperless saves the company about
$100,000 per year on printing, mailing, paper and storage
space, reports Alina Uzilov, the company's president. And
because employees can access electronic documents more
quickly than paper, they can almost instantly respond to
customer questions or make their changes.
2. More space. When he got ready to switch locations after
making his office paperless, real estate broker Ed Branson of
Branson's California Property noticed that he didn't even
have half as many file cabinets as before going paperless.
3. Document security and easy information sharing.
Obstetrician Rose Kung, M.D., found storing and retrieving
paper patient charts was time consuming for her practice at
Women's College Hospital in Toronto. Switching to
an electronic document management system reduced chart filing
and finding time -- and improved security of patient
information. Password protection at different levels limits
the access that office staff have to the information. Kung
can also send electronic copies of patient records to
physicians anywhere in the world.

4.Ability to handle company growth. Transervice Logistics in
Lake Success, N.Y., helps companies manage their delivery
systems. The human resources staff found they had more than
30,000 pieces of paper to track and store in their 1,000
employee records. With that information now stored
electronically, the department was able to handle the
addition of 500 employees (potentially 15,000 more pieces of
paper) without needing additional space.

5.Access anywhere and electronic prescriptions. South Shore
Skin Care Center, near Boston, has switched to an electronic
medical records (EMR) system from paper patient charts. With
the EMR, doctors can access patient information from anywhere
at any time. They can also send electronic prescriptions
directly to pharmacies.

6.Less paper in. A company plans to accept paper faxes from
customers. However, the company uses electronic faxing to
intercept those faxes, turn them into electronic documents
and keep them from coming into the company as paper.

7.Less temporary paper. At dentist Kambiz Moin's office in
Manchester, N.H., not only are patient charts electronic, but
also patient arrivals. A patient who arrives for
an appointment types his or her name in a waiting room
computer and puts a finger on a biometric reader. Their
arrival is then posted on the office computers, color coded
to show an early, on-time or late arrival.

8. Less paper out. Tax professional Joseph Anthony in
Portland, Ore., files clients tax returns electronically,
eliminating paper returns, and then turns the return into
a PDF document that he gives the client on a rewriteable CD.
The next year, the client brings back the CD to have another
year's return added.

Transitioning to a Paperless Office

If you're considering the transition to a paperless office --
or at least a more paperless office, you may be wondering
where to start and what you'll need. Many companies offer
document management systems, hardware, software and
consulting services to help improve electronic communication
on the road to having no paper. We'll look at some of those
later in this article. For now, let's explore the process.

Here are some decisions for you to consider before you start
the transition to a more paperless office:

* How much of your paper do you want to convert? How far
back do you want to go in converting paper files?
* How will you handle the paper that still comes in from
vendors, partners or customers? Or, that you can't convert,
like legal or tax-related documents?
* How expensive is new equipment or software, or both,
and how does that fit your budget?
* What's your proposed process for going paperless and
your time frame?
* How will you inform staff and get them to buy into the process so they accept the changes you want and don't slide back into heavy paper use?
* How much help do you need from outside? (This could be a consultant to manage the conversion process, a vendor for new equipment and software, a firm to do actual data conversion, a hosting service to move electronic files off site, security experts, or employee trainers.)
* How will you handle paper reduction on an ongoing basis? For instance, whose job will it be to scan and electronically file incoming paper?

Based on recommendations from experts and companies who have
gone through the process, here are some basic steps for the
transition process.

1. Commit to going to a paperless office, and convince
staff to go along with it by explaining the advantages for
each of them individually, and as a group, and involving them
in the process.
2. Check your existing computer hardware to make sure it's
robust enough to handle added applications and file storage.
Make sure you have a reliable backup system for all the
files you will be adding.
3. Analyze what you need and plan to accomplish. Think
about what you're likely to need in the future with a growing
business, as well as now. Think about which documents need to
be accessed often or quickly, which need extra security, and
which could be weeded out after a certain time.
4. Develop a transition plan and a timetable.
5. Start small with just a single department or area of
our business so you can address any problems before
broadening your scope.
6. Research the available tools to help you (document
management systems, electronic faxing, scanners, data backup
systems, security systems, document conversion companies,
process consultants).
7. Select and arrange to buy the tools you plan to use.
For software, consider fit with your needs, ease of use and
implementation, cost, and integration with your existing
systems. And don't neglect backup needs to keep electronic
data from being lost.
8. Do a small test project; make any needed changes; and
then move to the transition in your first department.
9. Develop a plan for ongoing company-wide use. Include
a document storage plan for employees with specific
guidelines.
10. Gradually take your paperless transition through the
company.