Paper-less or less-paper?

At some point in the late 90’s, whilst I was working in a computer operations department with two massive printers, the IT manager turned to me and said that “in 5 years, all paper would be gone” and emails would replace the need to print. It sounded plausible, but here we are, 30 years later, and this is still yet to be the case.

A quick look around the office, factory, warehouse, or desk at home and there remains paper and prints. Even if it has not been printed at work, it has been printed … somewhere. In so many cases the paper problem has simply been moved, elsewhere.

The paperless office is a great ambition, and it has worked to a great extent – it has reduced the amount of printing and driven much better habits in companies all over the world. However, like it or not, print is not going anywhere in the near future.

Print is still a critical part of any business.

Whilst most organisations are still looking at ways of reducing print, it still plays a critical role in many businesses. Printing is a quick and easy way to give someone information, allowing documents and data to be shared in environments where laptops and tablets would get damaged, or are not permitted. It continues to be the most effective way of getting our attention and we read it, in a world where pop-ups and information are not fully digested.

Logistics, retail, distribution, pharmaceuticals and so many other businesses rely on print because “going digital” is simply not an option.

The gradual move over to digitisation.

What we have seen is a reduction in the need to print everything off to share information. We have come from a time when every person received a printed copy of the employee handbook each time a small change was made, which used a crazy amount of paper and ink. We now distribute this electronically, thankfully leaving that paper heavy process behind us. However, we are now presented with a new problem, and that’s not eating into physical space, but instead into storage space.

 

Every email is saved hundreds of times, that attachment downloaded and saved hundred of times, a scanned document stored on the desktop, in the cloud, and on a USB stick. It’s an uncontrolled mess of information that is neither structured, nor secure and it is getting worse with each working day that rolls by.

 

There has been progress which is ongoing in some organisations and has not yet been tackled in others. This is the gradual tidying up of legacy information and documentation. It is something that Bechtle is working with a number of businesses on, and saving money whilst delivering control over long forgotten information:

  • Reduction of the cost of holding files/boxes in offsite storage facilities
  • Scanning of paper, documents and images into usable formats
  • Archiving of documents with relevant tagging and indexing
  • Hosting of data rooms and cloud platforms for documents and data

 

All this returns value in terms of gaining governance and sovereignty of your data, whilst always delivering some kind of cost saving.

The virtual dumping grounds of documents.

Most organisations have yet to get their digital files in the same structure as their paper files once were. Clearly marked in a filing cabinet, closely monitored, and kept up to date with only one version existing. In fact, it is the exact opposite. File sharing applications such as SharePoint and OneDrive have made it super easy for employees to save and share documents, however it has created anything but an organised and structured filing system.

The challenges now faced by most organisations.

  • Duplicated files in SharePoint, OneDrive etc.
  • No version control and audit trail of document changes
  • Lack of control over incoming and outgoing document traffic
  • Moving documents around the business without duplication
  • Long and costly process of going through an audit or assessment
  • Difficulty in finding the document you want or need
  • Compliance with data protection and GDPR
    • How can you track the journey of a document and its data?
    • Can you be sure that you are only holding the data you need?
    • When does a document get deleted?
  • Email servers getting full, along with the need for additional storage for mass duplication of information

A path to document heaven.

If only there was the digital equivalent of a filing clerk, who would take all the documents across the business and put them into a structured format. Not only that, it could then also ensure that the information was accurate, up to date and never duplicated, before ensuring that when specific data was needed, it was delivered at the click of a button, no matter how hidden within other documents it was, and how many times it appeared. Finally, it could then take this information elsewhere and share it, allowing it to be processed and used by the right people, at the right time.

 

These systems do exist, but it is not a one size fits all approach, there are various packages available that perform these tasks to varying degrees. Whether it’s just processing invoices, passing customer data from one system to another, deleting files after a critical retention period has expired, or completely managing all your businesses documents and restructuring them.

 

Bechtle have the key to unlocking all of this and more, with our strategic vendor relationships and well-researched portfolio of products and services. We can introduce you to the right solution through our consultative process.

Why Bechtle?

  • Bechtle consult with you initially to determine the requirement and value
  • Introduce you to the right package and the right people to scope the solution
  • Use our position in the market to get you the right commercial deal
  • Provide demonstrations and proof of concepts
  • Deliver on the outcomes outlined in our Scope of Works

Let Bechtle modernise your document structure and deliver a solution for your organisations paper and digital files.