Don't collect paper

Matt -

I remember 20 (or so) years ago...showing my age now...when the techies declared we were on the verge of the paperless office. Are we almost there? Or is the Baby Boom generation keeping us stuck in the paper world?

Brad - I like your idea about using a service like File123.com. Going paperless helps with cutting down costs for storage, in addition to taking a step towards environmental friendliness.

However, I am surprised that you didn't introduce small businesses towards a "SharePoint" service. Whether it is internal or external to the corporate network. Introducing SharePoint into a work environment is fairly easy, plus there are some great advantages for SharePoint - Such as:

- Advanced Security / Administrative Control - Like File/Folder security on a Windows File Server on a Windows Domain/Network - SharePoint will allow advance security to the file based on user rights. Whole workspaces can be visable for users or parts removed based on user id.
- Easy to use Collaborative Tools - Team Workspaces, coordinate calendars, announcements and alerts, etc.
- Scalability and Ease to Taylor to Needs - Customization is extremely easy with 2.0 and 3.0 of SharePoint.
- Web-based Snap Ins - The web parts that you can add to a site can be invaluable for a company.

SharePoint is not only a Document Management System - Onlne storage, but also a corporate portal that can allow so much more for small companies.

Plus if the company has a standard Windows 2003 Server - SharePoint Team services is free for the company to deploy.

Regards
Mike Holland
Managing Director

Net-Flow Solutions
www.Net-FlowSolutions.com ...

Hi Denise,
I do everything I can to push my own business and others towards going paperless. I don't think we can blame the baby boomers - I know plenty of baby boomers who scan everything in and store it on a hard drive rather than storing paper (my father used to do business almost entirely on paper and now it is almost entirely electronic and he's a baby boomer). I think that maybe it is our society. How many times has someone said, "This is important. Print it out and save it." This is probably a little like digital photos - 15 years ago I printed them all out and now I never print them out. I hate to admit it, but these things take time.

I think that the technology is definitely there for us to go paperless but the business processes haven't kept up with the tech in this case. Many times I put a digital signature on a contract and email to a client, and then they answer and ask me to print it out, sign it and fax it back because those are their business requirements. What we really need is an overall understanding by everyone that paper is wasteful.

To be more realistic though, it isn't that we're saving the planet. Few businesses will act on that. More businesses will act on we are saving you money. Even if you don't care about the planet, you should care about the cost of paper, toner, printer servicing, file cabinets, the rent you're paying on the extra space you need to store the file cabinets, and even the recurring expense of archiving offsite. Compared to those expenses, hard drive space is very cheap. I think that once that argument becomes common place we'll rapidly advance on the paperless office.

Hi Mike,
You make a good point - if everything were electronic to begin with it would be a lot more efficient as a whole process. I'm not a big fan of Sharepoint, especially the free functionality which I think falls short (and I think it falls short purposely to force businesses to buy the full version). It's tough to manage and it is proprietary. I wouldn't put any of my corporate info in a proprietary solution. Once a company puts all of their documents and knowledge into Sharepoint, how could they ever leave Microsoft? They may not want to leave Microsoft anyway.

You point still stands though. It is much better to start electronic and stay electronic than to get paper and scan it in again. I may not like Sharepoint, but it would be a step forward from a paper based process.

Join the Largest Community of Master Data Management Experts in New York City.

DM Review and The MDM Institute, the leading analyst authority for research and consulting in the areas of MDM, CDI, and data governance are pleased to announce the MDM Summit ? Fall 2008. This semi-annual event (formerly the CDI-MDM Summit) is set for October 19 - 21 at the Hilton New York.

Details at:
www.mdm-summit.com
...