Customers then load the digital documents on CD into their own network. Having been custom indexed, the files are easily found in a few seconds by using familiar search terms. A bonus is that more than one staff member can open a file at the same time, a feature with multiple advantages. Customers may also select to have the PDF files put in Web-based file storage (“cloud” storage) on popular vendor site recordsreduction.box.net, accessible at any time, or off-site physical storage. Turnaround time for any given job depends on stated needs. The customer decides whether and how to dispose of the paper files. Shredding and recycling are among the menu of options. All processes are secure. All members of Hunt’s work force sign a non-disclosure agreement before they commence employment, and he routinely offers a confidentiality agreement to each client. Photo scanning, which appeals to individuals as well as businesses, is a newer service on the Records Reduction menu. Most folks have multiple albums or boxes full of paper photos and bring them to Records Reduction to have them photo scanned as PDFs on CDs or DVDs so they can upload them and share them digitally with family members. “While some businesses and individuals have scanners and can scan their own photos,” Hunt says, “we can do it on much better equipment with much better results, and because it is what we do, we can do it much less expensively in terms of time.” Productivity, Continuity, Savings While the quest for a paperless office emerged more than 30 years ago, it has not been widely embraced until the last 10 years. In the late 1990s, then Coopers & Lybrand (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) reported that 90 percent of critical business information existed only on paper. In December 2010, records management organization AIIM published that in 39 percent of offices they surveyed, “paper usage was finally starting to fall.” These offices reported “investment payback within 12 months of implementing [scanning and capture] systems.” Rather than striving for paperless, which may be an impossible dream, using “less paper” has become a standard operating quest, driven by a variety of forces, the most important of which is productivity enhancement. While not as cleanly measurable as the cost of filing cabinets or the per-square-foot value of space, productivity influences profit.
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Shane and Allison Hunt Records Reduction, Inc.
“It just makes good business sense to store records digitally—both on and off-site, both online and offline—to provide for business continuity. Digital storage, including server and hosting fees, as well as fireproof boxes for storing CDs and DVDs are easily attainable and inexpensive. There’s just no reason not go digital wherever possible.” ~Shane Hunt President
It takes a tremendous amount of time to file and retrieve documents using a paper-based system. This, of course, impacts productivity. Productivity is impacted by employee satisfaction as well, and scanning or paper filing and re-filing are unsatisfying tasks that are often low priority on the “To Do” list. “We all know the frustration of not being able to find a file. And it can cost you in many ways. If a file is missing during an audit, for example, many times there are fines,” says Hunt. Informational management industry organization ARMA International reports, “Companies typically misfile up to 20 percent of their records—thus losing them forever.”
“Using Record Reduction, Inc., you will never have a lost file,” Hunt predicts. Other reasons for imaging files include: business continuity, the growth of the mobile work force, enhanced customer service, the legal acceptance images, and cost savings. Seventy percent of today’s businesses would fail within three weeks if they suffered a catastrophic loss of paper-based records due to fire or flood, reported Coopers & Lybrand in the late ’90s. At the time, the U.S. Department of Labor predicted that one in four businesses would suffer a catastrophic loss. “It just makes good business sense to store records digitally—both on and off-site, both online and offline—to provide for business continuity. Digital storage, including server and hosting fees, as well as fireproof boxes for storing CDs and DVDs are easily attainable and inexpensive,” says Hunt. “There’s just no reason not go digital wherever possible.” As Times Change… Surely the most head-whipping influencer is the triple whammy growth of broadband, telecommuting, and innovations in mobile computing/communications devices with everlarger screens. Hunt agrees, saying, “The mobile work force movement is a big reason why a lot of companies engage our services. More workers are conducting business from home or elsewhere. Management and sales people need constant access to their organization’s information when they are out of the office. Our online solution
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