What do you do when “that’s the way we’ve always done it” no longer cuts it? All the paper in your office is finally getting the better of you. Not only is it time-consuming to locate and pull folders to retrieve the information you’re looking for, it’s virtually impossible to find something that’s been misfiled. Let’s face it, as careful as you try to be, misfiles are going to happen. Hopefully you’ll locate it before the audit, right? And, heaven forbid, a natural disaster strikes (flood, fire, tornado). Will you be able to recover your vital paperwork?
As scary as “paperless” may sound, what is it costing you each and every week that you continue to drown in your paper sorrows? Cost measured not only in man hours but in your sanity and well-being. Perhaps a service bureau can help. They typically offer more than just scanning or just software. You can think of them as the Supercenter of ECM: one-stop shopping for assistance with all your document needs (scanning, workflow design, document management software, business process improvement, storage repository, etc.). Because they are not worried about just one product or a single software solution, they can leverage their know-how to find a solution that fits your unique business needs.
There are scalable options out there – ones that can grow with your needs. You can start small and expand when you’re ready. If you’re unsure of where to start (maybe several departments within your organization are feeling the same paper crunch), take advantage of the expertise of the account executive/solutions specialist. If you let him understand your core problems and what you’d ultimately like to accomplish, it gives him a good roadmap to start with as you both navigate down the road toward a paperless environment.
For more information, download our free whitepaper below – “The CIO Challenge: Creating the Information-Driven Enterprise.”
Melissa Kulesz
Dir. of Business Development – SW Region DataBank IMX
