23.05.2016

The cost of printing, copying, sending, scanning and storing paper documents can be 10 times higher than the cost of paper¹ . Therefore, a paperless office model is becoming more and more popular among Polish companies. The replacement of paper documents with electronic means not only notable financial savings, but also facilitation of daily routines of an organization of any size. Why is it worth switching to a paperless office?

1. Cost reduction
Document digitalization allows us to reduce the company’s expenses connected with the individual business processes by as much as 50%. It eliminates the necessity of storing paper documents in the office, which enables saving time and space. After scanning, original documents are stored in an archive which is kept within the internal structure of the organization or by an external company. The necessity of scanning or copying the same document many times is also reduced to the indispensable minimum, thereby allowing a reduction of expenditure on supplies, including mainly paper and consumables for office appliances. In the case of large and multi-branch organizations, measurable savings are also achieved through elimination of the process of sending original documents between the individual locations.

2. Improvement of customer and supplier service
According to the current research, more than half of customers are willing to pay more for a better standard of service² . E-documents ensure faster access to information, which allows reducing the time of completion of specific processes inside the organization, e.g. contracting, activating or deactivating services, handling complaints or payment services. Streamlined service increases customer satisfaction and builds a positive image of the company, thereby translating into increased sales.

3. More effective protection of documents and data
Almost 7.5% of documents in companies disappear irretrievably³. Each of them may generate costs counted in hundreds of thousands of zlotys. Not infrequently, there are situations where security rules are breached, resulting in access to data by unauthorized persons. Placing documents in an electronic archive helps to provide appropriate protection for such documents. Only people with a suitable authorization can use a specific file. The system is monitoring when and who has browsed through the document and what kind of changes have been made. Regular backups and a dispersed data archive system provide a possibility to recover information when failure or random incidents occur. Reduction of paper circulation to the essential minimum also minimizes the risk of damaging or destroying the original documents.

4. Quick and convenient access to electronic documents
Document digitalization and storing in a digital archive, i.e. a repository, allows authorized employees to use the files in any place, also outside the office, and on different appliances (computer, tablet, smartphone). Documents are available – also for several people simultaneously – from an easy to use application which enables searching documents according to different criteria. If a need arises to use an original hard copy, it can be simply borrowed from the archive.

5. Increase in work efficiency
Employees who carry out their tasks using electronic documents are not wasting time searching for information or copying, scanning and sending hard copies. Elimination of part of administrative activities helps them focus on their key duties. In the case of multi-branch organizations the communication between different locations is facilitated, since there is no need to wait for the original documents and a number of staff can work on the same Xerox research, 2016file concurrently, thus significantly streamlining the business processes.

Konrad Rochalski, President of the Management Board of ArchiDoc SA
 

^{1 ArchiDoc SA’s own estimates}

^{2 Xerox research, 2016}

^{3 Acc. to PWC, source: http://www.thepaperlessproject.com/the-impact-and-inefficiency-of-paper-in-the-office/}