Computer Systems Tech Support Fairfield County, CT

- Gaining Office Productivity by Moving to the Paperless Office

Many businesses have made a partial move to a paperless office. They are doing this by using scanners instead of copying machines, sending electronic faxes instead of paper faxes, nver printing out e-mail attachments, storing information electronically instead of in filing cabinets, sharing information on CDs, USB sticks, in SharePoint, Office365 or other file sharing services. In short, they're getting greater return on their hardware, software and technology investments.

Here are six items Computer Systems Support suggests to keep in mind as you move toward a paperless office.

1. Without paper, make sure you're backing up files. In the traditional backup system, you would make a photocopy of a document and put it in a properly-labeled folder that can later be retrieved from a filing cabinet. Most businesses developed electronic filing systems that mimic the old paper systems, using Microsoft Small Business Server, File Shares, Office365 or customized programs for storing documents by type of document, client, project or other prioritization. But those files can't just be created — they have to be backed up as well. Backup solutions can include backing up to second hard drives, USB drives, file shares on a server or to Cloud backup services and off-site locations to minimize the risk of loss of data from a computer failure. The message here is to have a system (on-premise, hybrid, or cloud) in place for regular and consistent backups.

2. The paperless office does not happen overnight. Your business won't go from all-paper one day to paperless the next or even next year. It's a progression. You might start out by scanning all incoming bills into your system, and then expand to include all general business correspondence. Initially, you might even find you're creating more work instead of less. Dr. B. Clopukh, a Urologist, has embraced the paperless transition wherever possible but finds that he often stores medical records electronically and still prints out a copy for himself. He syas: "I'm not even sure why I do it; it's just another way of backing up information that I'm still comfortable with."
   
   
3. You'll need to rearrange your office — it's a good thing. There usually aren't tremendous savings of office space when you first start focusing on using less paper. You still have all those paper documents housed in your big, clunky file cabinets. At some point during your transition to a paperless office, however, the difference in your physical storage space will become apparent. "My eyes were opened when I had to move from one location to another and I realized I had many filing cabinets that I was holding on to for no reason," says Ed Branson, a real estate broker. He estimates that he has fewer than half as many filing cabinets as he used before he started scanning documents into his Microsoft Small Business Server 2011
   
   
4. "Paperless" often means "less paper." For example you can virtually eliminate paper faxes by generating faxes on your computer and having in-bound faxes delivered to your computer system via e-mail. A proven sytem that does this elegantly and reliably is the Cisco UC500 Unified Communications System. You can even electronically sign, encrypt and signature-stamp outgoing documents. But you're still likely to have some paper floating through your office. Not all of your clients or vendors want to communicate 100% electronically. Tax and regulatory requirements could force you to business on paper or to keep hard copies of your business records.
   
   
5. Everyone has to buy in.  Merely saying as  owner or manager of your business that you want those around you to embrace the paperless office doesn't make it so. The owners and management of your business have to buy into the transition as a permanently-new way of doing business. Change can be difficult. Employees who have been making photocopies, sending paper faxes, putting documents into legal sized folders are going to have to change. They will have to learn new routines that they already feel skilled at. "I think you really have to take them through the process a little at a time," says Johannes Banck.
   
   
6. Less paper is just the beginning of the payoff. The most visible impact of a move to a paperless office is the reduction in the cost of printing, mailing, shipping and storing paper. And yes, using Microsoft SharePoint, which is part of the Small Business Server 2011 Suite takes commitment and getting used to. Over time, lots of other benefits become apparent: Fewer hours looking for bills, documentsand copies of client documents (in SBS2011 all documents can be electronically searched). The ability to access all sorts of information from computer files — in a matter of seconds without having to search your office. In short, change can be taxing — but it will be profitable in the long-run.

Please call (203) 349-8047 Ext 211 to further explore and learn about paperless technologies that could benefit your business.
And remember, if you are not doing it - your competition is.