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.