The Digital Office

Every client I consult with tells me the following: "We are in the process of scanning everything.  We're a digital office."  For those that feel the same way, consider the following:

 "Fully automated data entry, like the paperless office, remains a chimera. Business still lives by ink on paper.” Steven Manes, Forbes.

To become a fully functional digital office, it costs money.  Let's consider some of the expenses incurred for any company to achieve the digital office.  Some of the expenses that accompany scanning are software and hardware needs, expertise and digital storage space, only to name a few.

For most small to mid-size organizations, money is not allocated in a normal budget to cover the above expenses.  By no means am I discouraging scanning - we're a scanning company for crying out loud!  There are more than just the two extremes though - going completely digital or not going digital at all.  There exist solutions that meet half way and make the digital office possible while staying within a budget.

Better decisions are made when there is a complete understanding of the facts, so let's look some.  “90% of records filed after the completion of a transaction are never referred to again” (Records Management, General Services, State of Tennessee; hereafter: “TN”).  The first question to ask is, "what is the retention of our organizations business documents?"  Is it 3 years, 5 years, 7 years or 10 years?  Or is it longer?


In a standard banker's box, there are roughly 1,000-1,500 sheets of paper.  Most scan companies will charge about $0.05/page to scan.  To scan one entire box would cost between $50-$75.  On top of the per page scan cost, there are preparation fees (staple removal, etc.).  In the end, to scan a standard banker's box will cost between $100-$150.  If these same documents have a retention period of 5 years, it will cost you anywhere from $20-$30 to physically store that box plus $5 or so to shred at the end of its retention.  

The 90% of stored files that are never referred to again, well, leave them alone.  It is less costly to let them sit their retention period out in their physical form.  Where scanning becomes beneficial is for that 10% that is referred to again.  These documents are considered active files and are needed more frequently than the rest.  

The half way point mentioned above is this:

Scan on an as needed basis. In other words, scan only what you need when you need it.  This approach will save any organization money and headaches.  Don't do one or the other-scan or not scan, meet in the middle by scanning some and physically store the rest.    



 

Lost Information

A few years ago I dealt with a client that stored its business documents in various self storage units within a small self storage facility.  While assessing their situation, I was able to visit the self storage units to better understand their storage issues and get an idea on how we would approach the project.  Most self storage units have roll-up doors and as I attempted to open the first unit, the door would only roll up so far (maybe 2 or 3 feet).  I bent down to figure out what the problem was and discovered that stacks of boxes had fallen into the door, impeding it from opening further.  We had to push a box back to raise the door another foot or so, then another box to raise it even more until we were finally able to roll up the door entirely.  Stacks of boxes had fallen over and loose files were spread all over the storage unit floor.  The employee that accompanied me to access the storage units and I had a brief conversation that went something like this,

Me: "How do you find files in this mess?"  
Employee: "Many times we don't find the files that we need."
Me: "What do you tell your supervisor or the individual requesting the file?"
Employee: "I just say the I couldn't find the file."
Me: "So, what do you do next. The file was requested because it was needed, right?"
Employee: "Yes, we either deal with it being lost or re-create it if possible."


The above experience is a prime example of the two following statistics.


“67% of data loss is directly related to user blunders, making them 30 times more menacing than viruses and the leading cause of data loss” (Tandberry Data, 1998). 

“Office workers can waste up to two hours a day looking for misplaced paperwork--at total of 500 hours (62.5 days) per year” (TN).

When there is no system in place, information gets lost.  When information gets lost, expenses are incurred.  My client had no system in place and as different employees returned files to storage, they eventually got lost due to misplacement.  This spurred the need to look for hours at a time for any one file that was needed.  A systematic approach to managing your business files will help to avoid losing information and losing time to hours spent searching.  Many times, we don't realize problems until an issue arises that unearths it (e.g. an audit).  This is when it hurts and the expenses begin to pile up.  

Assess your document management system and implement best practices within your organization to avoid losing the information that makes your company profitable.    

Accountability

Welcome to the Docu-Trust blog!  The goal of this blog is to educate and hopefully help you implement best business practices to better protect the life blood of your company-information.

So, the other day my 6 year old son got into some trouble at school.  He's in kindergarten and he absolutely loves basketball.  At recess, that's all he does-play ball with his fellow classmates.  His passion and intensity got the best of him and he shoved another boy.  A warning came from one of the teachers on the playground, but minutes later he did it again!  His teacher was notified, but she didn't do much about it.  At his school these kinds of actions result in being sent to the principals office.  This particular day, the principal wasn't there so he remained in his classroom.

He thought that he was off the hook, but the very next day he was sent to the principals office (he was back).  Recess was lost for a week and each day, instead of playing with his classmates, he had to sit in the principals office.  Yesterday was his last day sitting out of recess time, but on the way to school earlier this week, my son told me that he didn't like school at all.  I asked him why and he said, "Well, I like school, but I don't like recess time because I have to sit in the principals office."  I followed with, "Do you understand why you have to sit in the principals office?"  He knew right away why and after my brief explanation that there are natural consequences for our decisions (both good and bad), he perked up and decided he liked school again.  His school teacher held him accountable for his actions.  The goal is that he learns and makes changes.

The point of this story is that in business, it is vital that we account for the information over which we have custody.  Think about all of the information that you deal with on a daily basis.  It's a lot!  Docu-Trust helps companies be accountable for their most confidential business information.  From change-of-custody to data creation, we assist in making sure your business stays accountable for the information you deal with every day.