subject: Paperless Dreams: Do I Still Need A Filing Cabinet In My Office Fitout? [print this page] The 'paperless' office was an insane impossibility 20 years ago. At the beginning of this century, going paperless was a major operation, where the ethical statement it made must outweigh the necessary costs. Nowadays, when bank statements and electricity bills are delivered online and even the term 'snail mail' has just about been forgotten through disuse, the paperless office is almost happening without us thinking about it. So, if you're designing an office fitout, do you still need to think about filing cabinets or other paper storage? We peer down the 'futurespectoscope' to see what the future holds for filing cabinets.
Is True Paperlessness a Possibility?
The first thing that everyone rushes to tell you when going paperless ... is that the term isn't 'paper-free', but 'paperless'. That is, you might have 'less' paper, but you'll never quite be free of it's tyranny.
While it is always possible to scan the pieces of paper that you do get an electronically file them, the time this takes represents cash to the business, and disruption to work practices. So, your business will still need filing cabinet storage as part of the office fitoutfor ...
Archived documents: Only three years ago, delivering bills online was unheard of. Given that you should be keeping your paperwork for seven years after it has been 'dealt with', filing cabinets will still be necessary for paper bills and other correspondence which is now delivered electronically for some time.
While it is possible to have all your documents scanned en masse, only an employee of the business can organise them properly into your own electronic filing system ... and that takes time and electricity. Going paperless is a noble aim, but perhaps not worth this time and investment.
Tax-related records: You'll need to keep tax invoices for basically every business purchase for at least seven years. Generally, retail businesses don't issue electronic receipts for things bought in physical stores ... they still give out paper. While many of these transactions will be listed on your credit or debit card statement, a tax office audit will probably want the details that only a tax invoice provides.
Official paperwork: Title deeds, university degrees, business certification and accreditations are still often issued in paper form. It also take several weeks and phone calls to organise copies of these, so the originals will definitely need to live in a filing cabinet.
Personal correspondence: Cards and letters (without the 'E' in front) still exist for many people! You'll want to keep these - they are useful as testimonials for marketing materials and for simple sentimentality.
Portfolio items: For meetings, presentations and pitches, there's nothing that beats paper. It's easy, it's portable, the batteries never die and the virus scan never decides to run at an inappropriate moment.
Handouts: Paper is the reliable and easy way to disseminate information, at the point of its delivery, to people who are currently outside your email or electronic contact network. Spare copies will live in your filing cabinet, as will the main handouts before they are used.
Happily, while businesses can now devote much less space to filing, there are still many essential uses for filing cabinets. Best of all, because demand for them is decreasing, they may be one of the cheapest items in your Melbourne office fitout!
