Paper vs Electronic

Introduction

The increase in digital technology in the workplace has been brought on by the decreased cost of ownership, the reduction in the price of digital memory and the required access across multiple devices.  Providing information to all users regardless of location or desired method has become the norm in today’s fast-paced society. This need has led to an exponential increase in the demand for and use of internal electronic filing in place of the traditional paper-driven filing system.

In the past, various levels of staff, in all departments, worked in a centralized location with reasonable access to paper forms of data. Digital memory was expensive and sometimes unreliable. Additionally, certain documents required storage in their original format in the event of disputes that required legal action. Today, digital memory has become extremely affordable, and the advent of “cloud storage” has made access simple, easy and accurate. In many, if not most cases, technological improvements have changed these legal requirements. Electronic documents can be protected to prevent unwarranted changes, deeds and contracts can now be signed in multiple parts, and the courts do recognize electronic versions as originals. In much the same way as emails changed our work methodology, so too will electronic recordkeeping. The need to have visibility of our email communications over all our electronic devices resulted from the changes to interactions between colleagues, customers, and suppliers that this innovative tool brought to the workplace. Electronic filing is a natural extension, allowing users to share documents between colleagues and external business associates in the pursuit of day-to-day activities.

The purpose of using electronic filing is to provide management and staff with the ability to produce, file and manage internal and external documents (i.e., invoices, purchase orders, contracts), and then give this information to customers and suppliers in a fast reliable and fully automated manner.

The advantages of electronic filing

• Increases the speed and accuracy of the filing process;
• Provides simultaneous access to multiple users;
• Elimination of the use of paper documents:
• Reduces the cost of paper;
• Reduces the need for filing cabinets and costly physical filing space;
• Eliminates the need to file, retrieve and re-file;
• Eliminates paper misfiling, lost documents;
• Reduces or eliminates photocopying;
• Provides users with the ability to share information without printing;
• Users can add electronic notes to digital copies keeping them fully updated;
• Reduces the time required to perform tasks such as collections, reconciliations, and the like;

The disadvantage of paper filing

• Cost of the paper
• Time spent filing and retrieving documents
• The cost to maintain (i.e., filing cabinets, physical space requirements)
• Need to produce copies for others
• Transmission of documents between interested parties
• Different versions in circulation

A typical example – Customer invoice

• Created in multiple copies (customer, file, archive and more)
• The invoice must be mailed, adding the cost of the envelope, postage and time;
• Document filing;
• Additional time to retrieve and refile
• The cost to copy or scan to provide copies to others
• Inability to utilize files unless physically present

Conclusion

There is little doubt that converting from paper to digital will provide many pluses to the organization. Enabling your enterprise to be more environmentally friendly is a welcome added benefit. Surprisingly, making this change can be relatively painless. The ease and speed of the conversion will depend on the capability of the existing computer system and its ability to be married to some reasonably priced archiving software. Under any circumstances, the savings will far outweigh the costs and time required to make this transition and will pay dividends in time and monetary savings well into the future.

RSMS specializes in procedure analysis, documentation, and process improvement to help streamline your internal operation. Please call us at 844-708-3555 to arrange a meeting to show how we can help resolve any issues you may be experiencing.  review the website for a more detailed look at our complete service offering.