Paperless Office-Document Scanning: The Filing System Of The Future

By Loris F. Andres


Administration almost always involves paperwork. Any business, government department or other organization uses forms and official documents in its procedures and archiving system. While this enormous volume of paperwork has traditionally been the subject of annoyance or jokes, paperless office-document scanning offers an electronic alternative.

A paper-based office entails the costs of the paper, ink and printing equipment, and file storage venues. Staff have to spend time sorting or packing away files. Moving paper records from one place to another is also an exercise in logistics: the boxes of files are heavy and fax machines do not always produce copies of acceptable quality. Physical files sometimes get lost or damaged.

Society condemns the excessive usage of paper and paper products in some industries, either in correspondence or the storage of information. Trees are used to make paper, and the environmental impact of the paper manufacturing industry has sometimes been identified by conservationists as a possible issue. But recycled paper is a speciality product in the stationery sector, and the disposal of paper waste contributes substantially to the waste output of the community.

It may therefore be more sensible to process paperwork electronically. Electronic storage options, such as USB sticks or computer hard disks, offer immense storage capacity. It takes only a short time to back up those records, even if they are particularly extensive. These electronic devices don't need much space and can be carried around by the user. On the other hand, the use of e-mail and document cloud sites eliminates the need for such mobility.

A document cloud service is an internet site that allows user to upload and store large amounts of data, files or documents there. This is convenient because it enables users to access the stored material from anywhere, without the need to keep copies with them in some other form. A cloud service may be paid or free. Potential users are advised to check security features and available storage space to see which option suits them.

Paperless office management has several advantages over older, paper-based methods. The quality of scanned documents is never an issue. Turning to correspondence, e-mails are received in a matter of seconds and can have plenty of material attached to them. The latest attachable file formats may contain several hundred pages of text in less than one megabyte. To fax a document of that length would not be practicable.

The expense of running an office can be greatly reduced through scanning and electronic document archiving. The outlay on the equipment required should be compared to the money saved. Paperless administration represents an area of the economy where those nasty paper cuts can be replaced by the press of a button.




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