Using Electronic Forms to Manage Corporate Waste: Celebrating Earth Day by Eliminating Paper at the Source

By Laurel Sanders, Optical Image Technology, Inc.

Managing costs effectively is a priority for any organization. One of the easiest and most responsible ways to keep expenses in check is to eliminate corporate waste. Although it comes in many forms, one of the greatest areas for potential change is the elimination of paper. Documents are received in envelopes and packaging that gets thrown away. Copies of documents are made for interdepartmental review, and excess copies are tossed. Electronic files are printed and sent to staff and to customers for their response.

What if you could eliminate paper before it is produced? What if a single file could be examined by numerous people simultaneously, eliminating the need to make multiple copies? What if your people could work effectively via remote access to their files, reducing travel time and fossil fuel waste? With today’s electronic document management and forms software, you can do this, and far more.

Online capture of information via your company’s web portal results in major savings for your organization. It also helps our planet to stay green. Avoiding the production of paper is an obvious benefit, but the savings go well beyond just eliminating it. If your company is on the lookout for ways to streamline costs and increase efficiency, and your corporate conscience is searching for environmentally sound choices, electronic document management is a smart move. It can help you work more effectively while having a positive impact on our planet:

• Eliminating unnecessary printing costs;
• Abolishing excessive postage and shipping costs;
• Removing costs related to storing files;
• Trimming staff inefficiencies, allowing your people to be more productive; and
• Helping to end staff boredom from monotonous work.

This article helps the reader to understand the benefits of document management and electronic forms, and provides some tips for getting started on the road to automation.

Introduction to electronic forms capture and document management

Despite the advent of the desktop computer several decades ago, most businesses today are inundated with incredible amounts of paper. An increase in government and industry regulations, audits, and customers who demand immediate and thorough answers have contributed to the rise in information that has to be collected, much of which is subsequently printed. Concerns about privacy and fear of lawsuits motivate companies to chase paper and signatures in order to protect themselves from potential lawsuits.

Mergers and acquisitions also contribute to the challenge of paper management, and employee turnover makes effective information management and knowledge acquisition challenging. Regardless of their industry or size, companies struggle to prioritize mountains of papers in order to serve their constituents effectively.

Collecting data via online electronic forms puts the power of instant information in your hands. At the same time, it significantly reduces quantities of incoming paper. By integrating the software with your company’s Web-based portal, your organization can guarantee better data quality and security. Another benefit is 24/7 convenience and service via the desktops of your staff and customers. Forms with pre-established rules such as date formats and customized drop-down menu choices ensure success for the user and greater consistency of data. Automatic indexing of entries means information is catalogued and instantly searchable. The receipt of data in the document management system can signal staff that files are complete and the next step in the process can begin.

With an electronic document management system, emails, faxes, photos, images, and other files can also be added to the electronic database if you have access to a scanner or are integrated with a multi-function printer. This gives your organization a complete view of all of your customerrelated files, regardless of their source. A searchable data repository of current, updated information helps you to make informed decisions more quickly. Reports can be generated electronically, saving additional paper and time. The system documents all transactions, enabling easier audits as well as providing managerial oversight of customer and staff interaction.

Whether they are posted on your portal for customers or are completed personally by your staff, electronic forms help you avoid redundancy. Immediately the system notices people who are already in the information repository, recognizes those whose numbers do not match the data in the system, and identifies other errors. Instant accessibility means that data that is collected can be viewed immediately by preauthorized persons. Furthermore, pre-set rules of access guarantee that sensitive information remains secure.

Eliminating unnecessary printing costs

Organizations that capture data electronically and proceed to print the forms on paper have missed out on the true value of online capture. With a document management system, files no longer need to be printed unless regulations require it, as they can be accessed from the desktops, laptops, and PDAs of everyone who is permitted to view them. The financial and ecological costs for printer and copier maintenance, as well as toner and ink cartridges, dissipate to a bare minimum. Fewer supplies have to be sent to landfills.

Abolishing excessive postage and shipping costs

As the need for printed paper diminishes, visits to the postal service, Fed Ex, couriers, and mailrooms decrease—as does the expenditure of fossil fuels that is associated with such trips. Interdepartmental, intercampus, or satellite to home office file transfer is conducted by configuring the software to allow easy retrieval of files wherever they are needed, for everyone who has access. Business costs go down, as does the frustration of waiting for files in transit.

With the addition of digital workflow to your online forms and document management system, routine business processes can be mechanized to push the right files and data to the appropriate persons for timely action in accordance with your rules and policies. Less shipping results in lower costs for envelopes and shipping-related supplies. The steady and purposeful movement of electronic files, when and where they are needed, puts an end to the paper chase.

Removing costs related to storing files

Records retention rules mandate how long records must be kept. Many regulations dictate preservation of inactive files for decades, resulting in long-term storage in a back room or off site. This results in inefficient use of expensive space or costly manual searches for information in out-of-the-way locations. Sometimes, storage even presents challenges to fire regulators when paper becomes overwhelming and hinders interoffice movement.

By creating forms online and storing them electronically, less space is needed for physical document storage. In some cases, organizations can avoid having to even construct another storage facility in the first place. All of the earth’s natural resources that would have been used to build, heat, and maintain the facility can be relegated to something more useful.

Trimming staff inefficiencies and allowing your people to be more productive

Statistics show that managers and staff spend an inordinate amount of time searching for information, with figures sometimes reaching 35% or even higher. Documents are lost, copies are inadvertently created with missing pages, and ghost faxes arrive when the cartridge runs dry. Files are removed for review and then sought after by someone else who needs the information. Sometimes they are re-created unnecessarily from other existing forms or via phone inquiries. Forms sit on people’s desks awaiting approval, or on a mail cart, shuffled from one location to the next.

The ability to index and search information collected from online forms means that paper is no longer a moving target. Instead, the information resides instantly in an electronic storage repository from which it never moves. Persons who are preauthorized can query the database, request lists of files, and view pages, but the files remain in the system. They can not be lost, in transit, or “in process” on someone’s desk. If the forms and storage system are integrated with electronic workflow, action items are prioritized and fed to the appropriate persons in the right sequence and at the right time. This ensures that deadlines are met and those who are responsible respond in a timely manner.

Helping to end staff boredom from monotonous work

It is often said that “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Restricting most employees’ talents to the manual tedium of filing and searching for information frequently results in underutilized and dissatisfied workers. Although an electronic document management system can neither assess nor create the positions that will make them happy, it frees staff from the exhaustion and tedium of search, elevating their backs and their minds to more useful pursuits than leaning over filing cabinets.

Getting started with online forms and electronic document management

As with any software solution, optimal success depends on thorough analysis, detailed planning, and open communication with all parties that are involved in the project. Here are a few tips to remember:

• Candidly evaluate and understand your organization’s short- and long-term information needs. Make sure you choose a champion for your IT project, and take the time to align your business and IT goals.
• Seek vendors with experience in addressing similar business challenges in your industry, and who will partner with you to ensure the software solution addresses your unique needs.
• Communicate openly and often with your employees. Engage them in relevant decisions that will ultimately affect their work (such as how they need to index information in order to find it efficiently and documenting the steps in their routine processes so that the resulting automation is effective).
• Commit the resources to train employees properly even if the system is simple. As a result, your staff should embrace the system, use it with confidence, and succeed.

Most important of all, remember to encourage your employees to share their ideas for continual improvement. After your first venture into green business practices has been successful, an empowered staff will undoubtedly discover many additional ways you can automate and become even more efficient. Your staff, your customers, and the planet will celebrate your newfound efficiency.

 

Optical Image Technology offers an integrated suite of document management, and workflow products, including imaging, bar code recognition, desktop scanning, electronic forms and signatures, digital workflow, and more. To learn more about our products and services, please visit our website at www.docfinity.com, call us at (800) 678-3241, or contact us at info@docfinity.com. To receive links to additional reference and educational articles such as this, please subscribe to our emails.