Paperless Office and Electronic Document Distribution
A paperless office is an office characterized by minimal paper usage. Although literally paperless offices are rare, they are a concept which is being worked towards in many offices in the UK. Increasingly it can be seen that technology is rendering paper unnecessary in day to day office life. It is now possible to present, store and send data digitally using computers, the internet and data transfer devices such as book copiers and scanners.
Electronic document distribution
Steps towards achieving a paperless office begin by considering which office activities could be conducted without the use of paper. Electronic document distribution allows documents to be sent within a company and from the office to businesses or clients. This might previously have been done using letters, however, with documents now available from any internet computer, the need to have them in paper form is eliminated. This is especially true as documents can also be stored electronically using computer or email inbox storage space.
Document management practices also allow clients' past data to be stored, including an archive of all their invoices or statements, for example. Storing such a large amount of data electronically eliminates the need for a company to store large client specific files of paper documents in their offices.
Data Security
The implementation of the practices described offer increased security to companies, as documents are no longer stored in a physical form. Paper can be damaged in a number of ways - for example, through a fire or flood. Electronically stored information can be backed up with several copies at different locations, and with the implementation of an emergency data backup (or retrieval) programme which protects the company against technical difficulty.
Confidential client invoices or statements very often contain sensitive information which could be crippling for that client if they fell into the wrong hands. Electronic data storage offers a level of privacy which cannot be obtained with paper documentation. Although not impossible, the hacking of a computerized information storage programme would be difficult. Documents or files can be protected with various passwords or privacy measures, and internet based data storage will be protected using firewalls and virus scanning software.
Advantages of a Paperless Office
Eliminating the requirement for paper in an office is advantageous to companies on many levels. Documents such as invoices or statements must legally be archived for a period of time after they have been immediately relevant. Consider, a bank with several million customers, receiving statements every month. The amount of storage space required to hold paper copies of all these statements would be enormous. Storing data and documents electronically saves a vast amount of space in an office and if well structured, makes data far easier to access, as simple searches can locate client information in seconds.
The concept of a paperless office means not having to print and post documents, as this is all done electronically using a computer. Companies therefore save a large amount of money on paper and postage costs. Using less paper is also beneficial to the environment, which in turn is useful to companies as it is particularly fashionable to be seen as environmentally friendly (or 'green') at the moment.
