B Who contributes most to your document mountain?

Sometimes, within organisations, there is a lack of appreciation of the amount of paperwork and documentation which is generated on a day to day basis from every department. Although there is still much talk about the "paperless office" and there are many organisations which have taken steps towards achieving it, there are still very few which have totally managed it.

Often there are departments which have managed to reduce the paperwork that they create by routinely scanning documents and using online copies to not only cut down on the storage they need but also speed up the often laborious job of finding that elusive file that you need to lay your hands on quickly. However, there are of course others which continue to amass filing cabinets around the office at an alarming rate.

So which departments are the biggest offenders in terms of paperwork creation or, perhaps more diplomatically, are the most paper-intensive? I guess that the answers won’t come as too much of a surprise but, according to a survey last year, they are:

• Accounts Department
• Human Resources
• Sales and Marketing Communications
• Operations
• Legal
• Customer Service

Luckily in all of these cases, a systematic approach to document scanning can really keep the volumes at reasonable levels and make sure that the filing cabinets don’t continue to multiply around the office.

If you have already implemented a document scanning process then no doubt you will have seen the benefits of having the information at your finger tips without piles of paper mounting up around you. But if you have colleagues who can hardly see across the office because their view is obstructed by fast multiplying filing cabinets, then why not send them a quick email to them and let them know your secret!