How To Achieve A Truly "green" Office By Utilising Document Scanning And Management

We hear the word "green" used a lot these days but how many of us really try to implement it in our daily lives other than separating the glass from tin

, from cardboard come refuse day?

The "green" office is an even more elusive holy grail and the biggest contributor to what has become the absolute antithesis of a "green" office is the vast amount of documentation that we all produce each and every day. Walk into any office regardless of size in any town across the country and its impossible not to see evidence of it everywhere.

Very large producers of paperwork, (who would otherwise eventually run out of space to put people!), send their archive paperwork to one of the many warehouse storage businesses who specialise in physical document storage... Sadly all that's happened here is the problem has been transported off-site but with the added knock on effect of creating an even bigger "less-green"! carbon footprint with the requirement for lorries and forklift trucks etc.

This "out of sight out of mind" approach is certainly not a green or even efficient solution to storing mountains of paperwork. So what can be done to move towards the creation of a truly greener office?

There is an alternative and it's been available for a number of years. Sadly however, less than 10% of the business community choose to use it. Its generically known as "Document Management" and in the case of archiving involves nothing more complicated than electronically scanning the archived, or even current, documents to an electronic form which are then stored on a PC or network.

But the benefits don't stop there. We not only remove the need for filing cabinets, archive boxes, lever arch files and document storage warehousing but we are able to access all of our documents instantly on demand without getting up from our desks.

Now we're talking! Actually we're talking bottom line too as in a stroke we've increased productivity via a rapid call up of vital documents that would otherwise take us expensive chunks of time to physically access using conventional paper storage methods.

The PRO's and CONS of OFF SITE DOCUMENT STORAGE

1. If stored off-site, accessing your archived documents is time consuming and inefficient.

2. Unless stored under ideal de-humidified conditions your documents can deteriorate over time.

3. Off-site storage is by definition subject to flood, fire, loss and/or potential id theft.

4. If stored on your own premises filing cabinets or archive boxes can very quickly absorb space that could be utilised for more productive purposes such as additional revenue earning staff.

5. Accessing files in a physical filing system is time consuming and inefficient. The National Office of Statistics estimate that as much as 50 hours per person, per annum are spent accessing document filing!

6. Documents can be mis-filed, misplaced or simply lost.

7. Current legislation directs us to keep certain documents for anything from 5 years to 100 years for documents such as wills and epa's

8. On the positive side, outsourced archive storage is relatively cheap. To store 250 typical archive boxes will currently cost about 50p per month, per box or 1500 per annum in total.

The PRO'S and CON's of ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT STORAGE.

1. Access to all documents is instant, literally the time it takes for the click of a mouse.

2. Removes the time wasting associated with leaving your desk and accessing the filing area, viewing files and then having to refile.

3. Multiple users can access the same documents at the same time which is ideal for multi user referencing, conference calls or discussions.

4. Promoting non reliance on conventional filing will free up valuable space and with London office rents hovering around 100 per sq feet this can make a massive difference to the bottom line.

5. Makes id theft, disgruntled employee theft or competitor document theft far easier to control via password access.

6. HMRC no longer require physical documents as proof and are happy to view and access scanned documents.

7. Removes the need for physical archive warehouse storage which increases the carbon footprint.

8. Archive files are collected, scanned to disc and returned or destroyed with destruction certification. This process frees up your own valuable labour resource.

9. With an electronic document management, solution keeping documents or back-ups for a statutory 5-100 year period is a breeze. One 4 drawer filing cabinet typically equals one disc! 10. Confidential documents can be password protected with access strictly limited on a "need to know" basis.

10. On the less positive side, purchasing your own document management system will require an initial investment although outsourcing archive scanning is relatively cost effective if the volume of your physical archive is the key issue..

Will you be the 90% of businesses who don't embrace this freely available technology or the 10% who benefit from increased productivity, improved customer response times and no more time wasting trips to the filing area trying to find misfiled, misplaced or just plain missing records?

by: geoff shilton

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