Eliminating The Paper Mess

Did you know that having an over abundance of paper in the workplace may be costing you more money than you think? In turn, eliminating paper mess will also keep your business more efficient, organized, focused, and capable of internal growth and expansion. Reducing paper is an overall benefit in the workplace while also helping to maintain a “green office” for environmental purposes.

If you want to begin eliminating the paper mess in the office, here are 5 questions you should be asking:

1. Should we scan all of our documents? Yes. You should consider scanning everything; unless there are unimportant items you don’t mind losing. You’ll also want to evaluate where exactly most of your paper mess is being produced. It’s wise to do all of your scanning at one time so that everything stays together and organized.

2. Which areas of our company are producing the most paper? This is extremely important when determining what needs to be scanned and how much of it you’re going to have. Evaluating each department and/or office will give you a better estimate on where your paper mess is stemming from and it’ll help tackle the problem source directly.

3. Who will be scanning our documents? Depending on whom you choose for your document imaging company, their on-site employees will be handling most of your paperwork unless your company outsources work. Be aware that the outsourced companies are just as credible and share the same security measures that you wish to find in your chosen document imaging company.

4. What do we do with our documents once they’re scanned? In most cases, once your documents are scanned and digitized, your imaging company should help you with a comprehensive document management system that will help you locate and retrieve any document that you’ve had scanned. These documents should all be organized, indexed and easy to manage and share internally.

5. What should we do with our original documents? After the scanning process, you have two options for your documents: shredding or off-site storage. If you choose to shred, your document imaging company should work with NAID-certified shredding company that will make sure all your documents are properly and securely destructed so that no document can be duplicated and/or stolen.

If you or your company needs help getting started or have any additional questions about how to clean up and organize your office for overall efficiency, contact Microtek today. We’ll assess your specific situation and provide you with a free estimate.