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- 1. Cut Costs by Cutting out Paper: How Going Paperless Can Save Your Company’s Capital The costs associated with using paper are extortionate. Each year, companies spend billions of dollars on purchasing, printing, storing, posting, destructing, and recycling their paper records. According to market research in the U.S., the cost associated with managing paper-based data is over 31 times the purchasing price of the paper it’s printed on! Luckily, Compu-Stor is here to help your company break this cycle of spending with our digital imaging services. The Problem with Paper Paper-based databases are rapidly being replaced by digital databases in the modern workplace for a variety of reasons. The storage of paper records is costly and largely devoid of any revenue generating potential. Paper records are difficult to search and their effective retrieval and tracking requires meticulous recordkeeping. These problems are often exacerbated in larger companies which may have to store their paper records in multiple locations because of sheer volume. To add insult to injury, the paper records management process remains highly susceptible to human error and security breaches. Additionally, paper-based records are also extremely vulnerable to environmental threats. Fluctuations in light and temperature may degrade the quality of paper documents, and fire or extreme weather hazards can make the preservation of documents altogether impossible! As a result, optimal security mechanisms must be in place to ensure the integrity of paper records. This may mean anything from purchasing fire- and flood-proof storage facilities or earthquake-proof sturdy racking to requiring secure card-key access to storage units. Needless to say, these security measures can really start to add up. Still, it is the costs associated with managing paper records that can really hurt your business. There are labour and administrative costs intrinsic to effectively accessing and maintaining paper-based data. Managing the movement of paper records in real-time is extremely
- 2. difficult and paper-based databases easily become out-of-synch when documents are accessed, retrieved, updated, or destroyed. This presents a real problem to businesses overseeing the movement of high volumes of data. Additional employees may be required to carry out this process, particularly if data storage takes place off-site. Effective access to such storage facilities requires multiple staff members to ensure the safety and security of both the individuals and the documents being retrieved. In turn, companies must consider the costs associated with taking time away from business operations to manage their paper records. Consequently, paper-based records management is being phased out in favour of digital records management in many businesses. Digital Records Management: The Economical Answer Digital records management can relieve many of the logistical and financial stresses associated with managing paper records, all while improving the efficiency and security of business operations. Digital databases are housed in computers and servers, making expensive filing cabinets and racking systems obsolete. What’s more, digital records can be retrieved without ever leaving your desk! Secure file-sharing, database management, and data back-up are all possible with just a few keystrokes. And contemporary technologies, such as eReaders, tablets, and smartphones, can help businesses capitalise on storing their data in digital formats by passing this ease-of-access onto their customers. Although there are start-up costs associated with transitioning from paper-based to digital records management, the financial savings are tremendous and long-lasting. As soon as digitised records begin being accessed, the company starts saving! For example, Australia’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) saved nearly $150,000 by going digital in 2010. This is because DEEWR no longer had to pay for continuous document storage, nor the excessive amount they were spending on accessing their records, which neared $8 per file movement! Instead, they spent a one- off fee to digitise all of their records, and then recouped these costs within their first year by no longer paying to store or access their files. Going Paperless: How Compu-Stor’s Imaging Services Can Help It is easy to see why businesses would want to go digital, so Compu-Stor has developed a variety of document imaging services to support our customers’ desires. We can tailor our scanning and imaging services to meet the individual needs of our customers. We have the capacity to scan hard-copy documents in a variety of sizes (up to A0) and with an image quality ranging from 100 dpi to over 600 dpi, and in your choice of black and white, greyscale, or high-quality colour. Compu-Stor can tackle high-volume
- 3. paper-to-digital document conversion projects and return your digitised files on DVD, USB, or HDD media. We have also developed user-friendly online storage solutions for the management of our customers’ digital records. Once your documents have been scanned into your selected digital format, we can link them directly to our Complete Information Management System (CIMS) for secure online storage, and real-time records management and access. CIMS gives our customers the capacity to search, order, and run live reports on their records. Additionally, customers can lodge, retrieve, and amend their records through this extensive online information management system. CIMS also provides customers with maximum online security by incorporating password protected document access, content encryption and audit trails, and by tracking the access and use of each digital file. Together, these storage security mechanisms enable us to ensure the integrity of our customers’ digital records. Years of technical development have truly made CIMS a secure, one-stop shop for remote information management. To learn more about how going paperless can benefit your pocketbook and your productivity, contact a Compu-Stor representative from one of our three locations: Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne.