filing’s the easy part; it’s finding information that’s the challenge. 

Information Filed = Information Lost

A much-quoted statistic asserts that 80% of information filed on paper is actually lost information. It’s easy to understand why.
Your file on “New Premises” could contain information as diverse as the council’s recycling officer’s phone number to the local railway station’s time-table. Would you remember to look in that file for that information ten months from now?
Nor would we.

Scanning, the non-solution

Scanning paper documents into a computer - where they can join thousands of computer-generated documents - is not the answer you need.
A computer is just an electronic filing cabinet, just another way of storing information. In itself, it does nothing to help you find information.

Document Management

Document Management is all about retrieving information. By indexing the entire contents of scanned and computer-generated documents (e.g. Word and Excel files), a document management system can retrieve any information from any document. That phone number and time-table are suddenly accessible again.

In action

At their most basic level, document management systems index the entire contents of a document before storage.
The document can be retrieved later using any word (or number) in that document.
It makes no difference where the document was stored, or when or by whom. Once the document’s contents have been indexed, its information can always be recalled.
More sophisticated systems go much further.

The low-cost solution with an excellent return

At their most basic level, document management systems can be incredibly inexpensive. Nuance’s PaperPort, for example, starts at under £100.
The return on investment can be dramatic when measured in terms of increased efficiency, more rapid recovery of information and the reduction in storage space and materials costs.

Process automation

More sophisticated document management systems help to automate and accelerate your organisation’s document-related tasks.
These ‘workflow’ systems integrate with a multifunctional’s control panel so users can insert a document, say it’s an invoice and leave the document management system to execute invoice-processing tasks.

In action

Sophisticated workflow systems can:
Attach a barcode reference to the scanned image
Check that the invoice has key information (such as a PO number)
Send one copy to Finance
Send another copy to an archive location
Feed relevant data to the sales ledger

Systems that operate in this market are, for example, eCopy, Interwoven, EMC and DocuWare. Their costs are far higher than entry-level systems but their capabilities are dramatic.
The deployment of such systems always requires detailed pre-installation consultation but it allows organisations to grow and improve efficiency without adding significantly to staffing levels.