The age of technology is upon us not only here in the United States but in many other places all around the world as well. There is no doubt that technology has become prevalent in many parts of our lives, from our day to day living to our work places. Part of this entails electronic and digital document storage, with more and more companies and places of business going through the process of scanning on site, converting documents, and doing away with their paper filing systems entirely – or at least almost entirely.
After all, paper filing systems are far from ideal, no matter who is using them. For one, the use of paper filing systems waste valuable time even when everything goes as planned. The typical employee will have to spend a full five minutes – on average, but sometimes even longer – just finding the document that they are searching for. From walking from their desk, searching for the file, and walking back again, this is valuable time that could otherwise be used much more productively.
And paper filing systems, unfortunately, do not always function in the way that they should. This is due to the high prevalence of misplaced and lost documents, which are far more common than most people even realize. In fact, data more than backs this up, showing that nearly five percent of all documents (three percent, to be more exact) wind up being temporarily misplaced. And even more are lost completely – up to seven and a half percent of them on a whole.
Of course, this is hugely detrimental to office productivity and the overall function of any given office space, but it is also hugely detrimental from a financial standpoint. In fact, paper filing systems in general are far from financially efficient, as it can cost up to twenty dollars to file just one document in the first place. When a document is misplaced, further money is lost in lost productivity and when a document is lost completely, it can cost up to one hundred and twenty dollars – on average – to finally replace it when everything is said and done.
Faxing too is far from ideal and far from as productive as it should be. After all, the process of faxing a single document takes quite a long time – up to eight minutes. And the cost of owning and operating a fax machine in the typical office space is far from cheap, totaling more than six thousand dollars (six thousand and two hundred dollars, to be more exact) by the time that each year draws to a close.
And of course we have to mention the detrimental impact that paper filing systems can have on our environment. Unfortunately, paper consumption is only on the rise, with the United States consuming more than twenty one percent more paper with each and every year that passes. In the current year, it is estimated that we will have consumed more than four trillion sheets of paper by the time that the year has drawn to a close, a truly staggering number by any means.
And so this is why many companies are going through the process of scanning on site. Scanning on site can be a tedious process to be sure, but through the process of scanning on site and converting microfiche and documents, companies are able to take a definitive step into the future and reap the benefits of virtual document storage. And while scanning on site can take up a lot of time in the present moment of scanning on site, this process of document and microfiche conversion will more likely than not save a great deal of time in the future, the process of scanning on site more than paying off at the end of day.
And if the time just isn’t there for employees to be going through the process of scanning on site instead of doing their other work, hiring a services that scans on site is also a viable option. Many companies find that document conversion services are well worth it and are more than happy with their decision.
