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Two Ways to Make Sure You Never Lose Another Document

Two Ways to Make Sure You Never Lose Another Document

If you’re using paper documents in your business, it’s inevitable that one day, a vital document will go missing. Maybe you’ve already discovered just how much it costs when you misplace or lose a paper document. The well-known Pricewaterhouse Coopers study on paper in the workplace showed some expensive consequences:

  1. The average labor cost to find a missing document is $120.
  2. The average cost of reproducing a single lost or destroyed document is $220.
  3. The average professional spends 5-15% of their time reading documents, but up to 50% of their time looking for documents. (What’s your time worth?)

Those costs are just the tip of the paper-document iceberg. Consider the cost of space to file paper documents, the security issues that come with the loss of confidential documents, the less tangible but very real cost of lost brand trust when you can’t find documents a client has entrusted to you.

Here are two proven technologies that change the negative math associated with paper documents.

  • Document Digitization

Converting paper documents via digitization (scanning) creates digital files from physical documents. The files are secure, remotely accessible, and searchable. No longer are documents accidentally destroyed or thrown out. They don’t get misfiled, or fall into the wrong hands. They are “findable” – specific documents or content can be located, accessed, and used with electronic speed.

And once your business converts its paper documents, it can convert the former storage space into more productive space.

  • RFID Document Tagging

RFID is best known as an inventory tool for warehousing and retail. Now it is used to keep track of everything from artworks to medications, from books to personnel. Doorway readers register the movement of RFID-tagged items in and out of rooms, showing their whereabouts in real time. Paper manufacturers have started producing printer paper with embedded RFID tags, allowing original paper documents to be tracked from office to office, from desk to file cabinet, or from an office into a client’s hands.

Very few businesses can operate without some paper documents. With RFID-embedded paper, keeping track of a document is simple, secure, and accurate.

Add these two technologies – digitization and RFID – to your business operations, and save the high cost of lost paper documents.

 

Photo © James Thew / AdobeStock

Decision Math: Calculating the Cost of In-House Document Digitization

Decision Math: Calculating the Cost of In-House Document Digitization

Decision math is something business managers use every day. There’s nothing like cold, hard, inarguable math to help decision-makers who are faced with multiple solutions. Decision math lets you analyze and compare the costs associated with each solution, and choose accordingly. Straightforward, right? But it can be trickier than it seems, especially when comparing in-house processes versus outsourcing. When it comes to highly complex processes like document digitization, the equation factors are far-ranging.

First, take a look at your resources:

  • Office space – Do you have sufficient room for the digitization equipment, the personnel, and the workflow? Or will you need to spend money on extra space?
  • Materials – Do you already have scanners, servers, and software license subscriptions, or will you have to procure those?
  • Labor – Do you have trained personnel you can deploy for a major digitization project, or will you need to hire and train additional staff? If it’s the latter, what is the current labor market?
  • Time – Do you have an unlimited time horizon for your digitization project, or is there a need to complete it sooner rather than later?

If there are resources lacking in any area, calculate the costs of eliminating the deficiencies. Add those costs up.

Then consider your utilization. Is this a quarterly archiving project? A project to convert a warehouse of old documents? A high-volume every-work-day process? And what is the likelihood of relatively quick equipment and software obsolescence?

Continuous full-time utilization is, of course, the most cost-efficient. Idle resources cost money. Most digitization projects, however, are infrequent.

And finally, your mission. Unless you’re in the document business, your business mission is something other than piles of paper. Distractions slow down achievement. What does it cost your business to lose focus, even temporarily?

So… is it a good decision to pay for everything above — additional space, increased head count, expensive equipment and software licenses, and loss of focus – for an infrequent project?

That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Every enterprise is different, and each one has its own unique volume of documents for digitization. But for the great majority of businesses, outsourcing your document digitization is always the right answer.

 

Photo © luckybusiness / AdobeStock

In-House or Outsource: Which One Fits?

In-House or Outsource: Which One Fits?

In almost every industry, business owners are considering ways to outsource some business functions. Others are looking at bringing everything in-house. It’s not a one-size-fits-all proposition. How do you decide?

Home Depot, for example, has taken a big step toward moving its entire supply chain in-house. The building-supplies giant recently opened an 800,000 square foot distribution center in Dallas, Texas, with the goal of being able to provide same day/next day delivery to 90% of the U.S. This new distribution center gives Home Depot “the opportunity to own its entire supply chain,” according to SVP of supply chain Stephanie Smith.

Outsourcing has its own set of benefits, however, and the risks and rewards have to be evaluated for each unique situation, according to Micah Pratt, writing in Business.org. The upside of outsourcing includes:

  1. Expertise without the learning curve– Business functions from accounting to document digitization, inventory systems, and facilities management all require a fair amount of expertise to establish and maintain. Outsourcing provides immediate access to expert professional services without the delays of the in-house learning curve.
  2. Focus on core business– When you outsource some functions, you can turn your attention to the important tasks of sales growth, customer retention, and innovation.
  3. Lower-cost growth– Outsourcing to a professional-services provider allows businesses to grow without all of the capital costs and operating expenses associated with expanding those functions in-house.

Outsourcing is almost always a cost saver. Some business owners and managers worry, though, that they will lose control of essential information or product quality.

If reduced oversight and control is a concern, look for a single vendor who can provide more than one outsourced function. A vendor who provides storage products, professional services, and inventory systems, for example, will be easier to monitor than three different vendors for these three different functions. Start off with a single project, and as a vendor proves to be trustworthy, add more functions to the vendor’s outsourcing contract.

A careful cost-benefit analysis yields useful insights into the relative value of outsourced vs. in-house, and accounting expert Kenneth Boyd offers a template to help weigh the pros and cons. As businesses everywhere face downward pressure on costs, now is the time to evaluate whether some business functions should be in-house, and others can be beneficially outsourced.

 

Photo © Elnur / AdobeStock

What’s Holding Back Your Remote Work Force’s Productivity?

What’s Holding Back Your Remote Work Force’s Productivity?

Everyone is working remotely these days. Knowledge workers, client service workers, coders, even professionals like lawyers and doctors, are doing business outside the traditional office setting. A Stanford University study found remote work yielded tremendous productivity gains – a 20% increase, in fact. But without the right infrastructure, productivity can actually drop. What does your business need to do to ensure your remote workers are supported for maximum productivity?

  1. Document Accessibility/Findability: Remote workers need to reference a variety of documents. Data on paper documents isn’t easily accessed or shared. But if those paper documents are converted to electronic format via an digitization program, distributed team members can locate the information they need, with electronic speed. And you can be confident that sensitive data is accessible only by authorized users.
  1. Personal Lockers: There are times that remote workers need to come in to the office. But no one comes to the office empty-handed. Remote workers without assigned desks or private offices need a place to stash their stuff. Secure lockers provide remote workers with safe storage for their personal items, letting them focus on work instead of hunting for a place for their bags, lunches, and electronic devices.
  1. Technology Storage: If you’re providing laptops and cell phones to your remote teams, the nature of your business may require a high degree of security for that distributed electronic equipment. Portable technology storage like the Intellerum line of products keeps the equipment safe in off-site locations, and keeps devices powered up and ready for your remote teams to use.

Increased productivity is just one of the benefits of a remote workforce, benefits which have a direct positive impact on the bottom line. Employee satisfaction and retention are improved, with a resulting reduction in recruiting and onboarding costs. Sick days are reduced, keeping workflows on track.

Most impressive are the real estate savings: $10,000 per employee, per year, as reported in Forbes. With such a quantifiable benefit, remote working is here to stay. Make sure your distributed workforce has the right productivity tools, and watch your profits grow.

 

Photo © ASDF / AdobeStock

Resolving to Get Organized? You’ll Need Tools

Resolving to Get Organized? You’ll Need Tools

The new year always feels like a clean slate, with opportunities for advancements of all kinds in the coming months. Now is the time to organize and make your business ready for those opportunities. But as you look around your office and analyze the various areas where organizational improvements are needed, there’s a fundamental question to ask: Do you have the necessary organizational tools?

Marie Kondo, the organizing expert and author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” counsels her clients to tackle organizational tasks by category rather than physical area. Paper, for example, is a major category for most offices. Financial documents, marketing materials, HR records, client orders, and so on – they seem to accumulate effortlessly while we are focused on other mission-related tasks.

Dividing a mass of paper into a “keep” pile and a “shred” pile seems straightforward, but in fact each document requires a deliberate decision regarding its future. In some cases, an electronic version (scan) of a document can be sufficient for future needs, and the original paper can then be shredded. Other documents should be saved in paper form even if they are also scanned. Office-supply retailer Staples offers a list of documents that businesses should retain, especially notarized documents or papers with original signatures.

The scanning and shredding process will reduce the volume of paper in your office, but even so, your enterprise must hold on to a formidable quantity of paper documents. This is where a high-density mobile shelving system really shines as an organizational tool. Not only do these systems keep papers safe from a variety of hazards, they can actually reduce your office storage footprint by eliminating the fixed aisles between file cabinets. Just by organizing your paper, you can gain extra space for extra productivity in the coming months.

And extra productivity is the reason you wanted to get organized in the first place. A high-density mobile shelving system is well worth a look if you’re looking at ways to get ready for what’s next.