Paper cut

Entrepreneur, March, 1998 by Heather Page

Imagine a business world completely devoid of paper. No stacks of the stuff cluttering desks. No filing cabinets brimming with invoices dating back several years - or more. No yellow stickies clinging to computer screens. This was the promise of the paperless office, which would rely solely on electronic means to generate, organize and retrieve business materials previously bound to paper. Most of us have given up this dream, realizing it's not realistic to wean our employees - let alone ourselves - off paper. And, let's face it, some processes just work better with a good old pad and pen.

There is a continuing movement, however, toward implementing more paperless activities around the office. By creating what's known as an electronic document management system, companies convert many paper materials, such as business documents, and faxes, into electronic versions. In its new electronic document or database format, the information is easily accessible to employees across a network.

An obvious benefit of implementing such a system is a hefty reduction in paper costs. Although the evolution of computers was supposed to reduce our reliance on paper, in most businesses, it's actually increased paper usage. According to information technology research firm IDC/Link, printing and copying expenses typically account for 6 percent to 12 percent of a company's annual revenue.

Yet the main benefit of adopting a more paper-free environment is increased productivity. A highly organized system that pools your business's resources drastically reduces the time spent finding information. Rather than having to hunt down a misplaced fax or search for a filed document, the data is readily accessible from your desktop. Document management systems also foster collaboration on projects because people can easily create, share and review electronic documents. What's more, employees can take better advantage of the wealth of knowledge that already exists in your company. "An electronic document management system allows businesses to reuse and repurpose information and work other people have already done," says Ian Campbell, director of collaborative and Intranet computing with International Data Corp., a Framingham, Massachusetts-based provider of information technology data, analysis and consulting.

Keith Parsons, 37, and Ed Krach, 35, have learned firsthand the timesaving benefits of a paperless office. The partners own a small technical training and marketing firm, Ryan, Parsons & Krach, in Orem, Utah. During the past two years, they've acquired four scanners, all connected to their network, which they use to quickly scan client data, magazine articles and technical journals into text for quicker input and sharing.

And that's not all. Electronic document management systems typically lead to improved customer service because they provide better access to information needed to serve clients.

PULP FRICTION

Originally, the idea was to use electronic imaging devices like scanners to turn paper documents into electronic versions. But now, companies are finding it more useful to create entire systems to collect, organize and retrieve all their electronic documents. Because of the significant expense and maintenance that's often involved, these systems are best for small businesses with large data needs or those wanting to upgrade certain departments, such as accounting.

The backbone of an electronic document management system is the software, which regulates the different versions of your documents, integrates documents from various sources - including e-mail, faxes and Internet downloads - and organizes them for easy access. One highly advanced program is IBM's Lotus Notes, a client-server solution that integrates most desktop applications, databases and mail programs into one system. Users can easily view folders and the documents they contain, create links to various document types - including Web pages - and even employ Notes Agents to automatically organize their information.

There are also electronic document management programs designed specifically for small businesses. The Paperless Office from Computhink is one of the most advanced, feature-rich programs on the market. The Paperless Office Network Edition 2.0 (starting at $3,000) is available in 5-, 10- and 25-user configurations and is compatible with Windows 95/NT environments. This user-friendly program allows you to organize, store and retrieve more than 100,000 electronic multipage documents.

The best reason to use a program like this is the powerful search capabilities it offers. The Paperless Office Network Edition employs a 32-bit relational document database system for finding and retrieving documents on the network. Users can search for information by keywords, dates and document types, to name just a few ways. Additional features include Xerox Textbridge Classic OCR software to turn scanned images into text; the software also stores and compresses files, and imports documents from any Windows application.