According to a Xerox study, “80 percent of companies want to create paperless processes and workflows. Unfortunately, the Sierra Club coupled with Reduce.org, are quick to point out that the average office employee still uses an unprecedented 10,000 sheets of paper per year” (integrify.com). This clearly shows that businesses are interested in making the change to a paperless office, but fear and concerns are holding them back. Here are the top five most common fears about going paperless and why you shouldn’t be afraid to take the paperless leap.
1. Needing documents while they are being scanned offsite
We get it. Sometimes you need access to documents to be able to complete your process at work. That can be difficult while your documents are offsite being digitized. However, there is no need to fret. At Recordsforce, you can request any document of yours while we are processing your records. We will find the document, digitize it and deliver the image to you through our secure cloud-based software in a short period of time, where you can access it at any time.
2. Security
Information security is a priority. It’s important to choose a document scanning company that has the experience and certifications to prove that your documents and data are safe and secure. Recordsforce facility is SSAE-18 SOC Type II compliant. The SOC II focuses on a business’s controls as they relate to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of a system. We make sure you have the best in class protection for your important documents. Additionally, with the right document management software, you will be able to access audit trails, protect files with administrative rights and passwords, view any changes or revisions to your documents and see who made those changes. Users who make changes or add/delete new items are all authenticated and logged and available for reporting.
3. Fear of change / It’s too difficult to get started
We all know how easy it is to get comfortable with processes, even if they aren’t the most efficient. We think to ourselves, well it works and everyone already knows how to do it, so why don’t we just stick with it? In a world that is ever-changing, it is too risky to stay stagnant and stuck in old ways. What many people don’t know is that document scanning and automation solutions can be implemented with little to no down time. Recordsforce works hard to provide specific, tailored solutions to our clients. We can start by only doing a section or department within your company so that the change doesn’t occur all at once. Reputable and experienced document scanning companies will put your mind at ease with clear and concise steps on how the scanning process works, as well as the onboarding and integration/delivery process. Your fear of the unknown will disappear because you will know exactly what is to come and how it will greatly benefit your company.
4. It requires too much time and money
Organizations that already lack resources and are stretched too thin and may be unenthusiastic about changing to a paperless workplace. Management may feel unclear about the ROI of going paperless but will be put at ease when they see how much money can be saved in the long run. If you start to use digital documents and a document management system, you will reduce labor costs, storage costs and all of the costs associated with the paper itself, like filing supplies, ink, toner, shipping costs. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average organization spends about $20 in labor to file each paper document, approximately $120 in labor searching for each misfiled document, and $220 in re-creation of a document. Think of how much money your company would be saving if those tasks happen to disappear. And if you’re thinking about taking on a document scanning project in-house, training employees yourself or maintaining scanners can be costly and not to mention, potentially risky.
5. We won’t be able to integrate the documents into our system
There are multiple ways to have your now digitized documents delivered to you, which makes it easy to integrate them into your system. At Recordsforce, our options for delivery include giving you an encrypted thumb drive with all of your images, a SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) which uses secure shell encryption to provide a high level of security for sending and receiving file transfers, or we can oftentimes upload documents directly into your system. Most of our clients use our cloud-based document management system, Recordsforce Cloud, to manage their digitized documents. Our document management system was built from the ground up to support desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Recordsforce Cloud is completely web-based, which means there is no software to install on your machines and no apps to install on any devices, making integration easy and simple.
As with any transition, it can feel overwhelming to make process changes and outsource your document scanning needs, but using an experienced document scanning company will allow your company to be more productive and efficient all while transitioning at the speed you need. If you’re ready to start transitioning to a paperless office but are unsure of where to start, contact us!