Since the beginning of the concept over 30 years ago, the paperless office has been an elusive target. Business managers and IT professionals alike have struggled with the right way to remove paper from an organization and build an efficient paperless business process. With greater dependency now more than ever on paper in our business processes, it can be difficult to think of how moving a paper document to electronic format can actually provide business process enhancement.
The fact is, there are three key advantages to any organization by scanning documents and ridding yourself of the clutter of paper. These three key advantages are improving your communication, speeding up a business process and creating an electronic archive.
Information today flows almost at the speed of thought. With this ability to email, instant message, press to talk and video conference, having a piece of paper for communication becomes simply a way to slow down communication. The time it takes for a professional to copy a document for an entire department or organization can limit communication time… not to mention the length of time it may take to distribute those documents. A multi-function system with scanning ability can scan a document in the amount of time it takes to make one copy and effectively distribute that document to a client, workgroup or organization in a few, simple steps… all the while, saving paper and toner.
While this is only part of the equation, scanning is a central and vital piece of the puzzle in the quest for the paperless office. With technology continually advancing, it still remains an important aspect taking the physical and creating a digital form of it. Stay tuned for the next installment of The Argument for Scanners and Scanning.
