How Much Money Do You Spend Each Day Photocopying

One of the most important parts of an insurance claims product is the document management and storage. It starts out with the basic paper flow procedures and document storage, which until recently was the old cabinet filing system and for many still is. With the advent of electronic technology, many of us are paperless. Let's take a look at the financial differences and some of the steps to get there.

How much money do you spend each day photocopying, filing, distributing, and updating paper documents? Most companies don't have any idea because paper handling has been a part of office procedures for so long - it is regularly overlooked as a cost. Going paperless with an Electronic Document Management System or EDMS, is proven to reduce document handling costs and liabilities, sometimes saving up to 90% of labor costs. But With the current pressure of tight economic times, many companies are making the change to an EDMS in coming years. As one evaluates the saving realized with an Electronic Document Management System, the first step is gaining a clear picture of what your company is spending today on paper document handling, and alternative solutions to your current procedures.

Almost everyone has a scanner today, scanning software is relatively inexpensive. Using OCR tools is also an inexpensive procedure and included in many scanning software products. Using the standard Microsoft products built into windows normal operating systems allow indexing of your scanned/OCR'd documents with easy retrieval using the built-in search functionality, which allows you to even control the search locations and environments. While this is a very rudimentary process, the tools are out there today to help you get started. As the system requirements become more sophisticated, it's easy to upgrade. Any niche business software products that may be used in claim handling, policy administration, cost accounting or time and billing, should be able to incorporate these functionalities.

Almost every office uses a variety of paper forms and printed reference materials as an integral part of their business. Paper forms are used to trigger daily office procedures. Printed documents act as a concrete 'official version' for future reference. These methodologies have been developed over time and they work well, but things are starting to change.

There are several trends that are coming together that may convince many offices that it's time to kick the paper habit. Most documents begin as electronic files. More than ever, offices with paper-based systems find themselves printing out emails and faxes, just so that they can file them. Many employees are comfortable with computers. Every year, a greater percentage of employees are comfortable relying on computers and electronic files for core functions in their daily work. Economic conditions are driving cost-saving measures. Many companies are realizing that they can save real money by going paperless. With that extra motivation, Electronic Document Management Software (EDMS) is on the shortlist of future cost-saving initiatives.

Sometimes, it's not immediately clear how a paper process costs money. Most companies have been using paper since day-one and haven't taken the time to objectively evaluate if it's still the best way to run their business. The following are the top 7 costs associated with using and maintaining a paper process.

1. Document-retrieval labor costs
2. Document filing efficiency and accuracy
3. Paper, toner, and per-page copy costs
4. Physical proximity costs
5. Disaster recovery costs
6. Retention period maintenance costs
7. Environmental costs

A process audit is a thorough, objective review of the everyday tasks that are related to your paper process. The audit is a powerful tool for cutting through perception and revealing the facts beneath. An audit should always be friendly, focusing on the process, not the employee. A process audit can be conducted by someone within your organization or purchased from a company that specializes in on-site audit service. In an audit, you determine the average time that it takes to complete each task and multiply that by the average wage for a person in that role. In this way, you are able to develop reliable dollar figures that represent your everyday document-handling tasks.

When complete, the audit will uncover high-cost and high-risk document handling processes that had been overlooked in the past. Armed with that information, a company can easily see where an EDMS will save them money and, in turn, calculate their Return on Investment.

Many companies can realize significant savings with an Electronic Document Management System. To calculate your Return on Investment with EDMS, you need a clear understanding of what you spend today handling paper documents. A process audit is the most effective way to get an accurate, objective view of current document-handling costs. Armed with this information, you can make an informed decision on how electronic document management can meet your needs.

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