As a Company grows it usually segments into departments with different functionalities and workflow processes are used which involve lots of paper usage thus Filing cabinets are purchased to store these documents and pulled out for use on a need basis.
As years pass by and the company continues growing, paper documents also continue accumulating. This means more space is required to store additional files of documents. The documents which are no longer in use are thrown into a store within the building. This makes searching for older documents more tedious and it would take quite a number of days for documents to be retrieved.
Sometimes the store condition is not even taken into consideration. Do you have any plans with the documents that are not being used continuously? How safe is your information?
Have you ever thought about the safety of your information as you continue to process them each and every day?
After a company has been in business for a number of years several factors come into play.
Increase in number of clients
Increase in the number of clientele, means the flow of information between your company and your clientele also increases and this may mean more storage space for this kind of information which is highly likely confidential. The loss of this information might be detrimental to your company with a possibility of losing a client.
Increase in the number of staff
Increase in the number of staff means the increase in people handling your company’s information and if no measures and a sense of accountability are put in place,,a dishonest staff may interfere with the company’s information in a fraudulent manner which might damage the company’s reputation.
Increase in number of departments
Departmental growth comes with interlinked processes which if not well aligned might have loopholes with information leakages. In the paper based information management the departments tend to work in a linear way where information is created, then reviewed after which it is approved then published and if the workflow is not interlinked there is a tendency for a disconnect between the involved departments.
Departments working separately
With a paper based document management process, each department manages its own documents. Departments are supposed to work together as a team for a common purpose, serving the client. A flowing workflow process is necessary. If not well aligned this can slow down the workflow or break it altogether which can give leeway to fraudulent tendencies by dishonest staff. Thus if no proper measure is put in place by your company to ensure there is an efficient and flawless work process in place the damage I have mentioned above might be recurrent.
Increase in workflow processes
Increase in Workflow processes within and between departments comes with increased handling of your company’s information by a number of staff within these departments. Interlinking for example human resource department and finance or human resource and operations or it could be operations and finance and many others.workflow processes have to be efficient for information to flow smoothly, which with the use of paper documents might slow down the flow of this information.
Increase in the number of vendors
Company growth also comes with the increase in suppliers competing to provide your company with goods and services. And with this comes an increase in flow of information between the many suppliers and your company. Is the information flow between you and your suppliers regulated and consistent with no irregularities in between that can cause damage to the company’s repute?Would information loopholes cause losses to the company?
Outsourcing of document processing
The company’s growth and increase of information flow in a paper based environment also comes with the Increase in purchase and use of paper. How often is paper being purchased in your company to facilitate the flow of information? What about the purchase of toners and cartridges to facilitate publishing of already created information. How much paper do you purchase per month? How many toners and cartridges are you buying per month? What about printer equipment maintenance? How often are they maintained and at what cost? Is the maintenance an annual contract or it is on a need basis. What about the machine breakdown? Does it break down when you really need it? What if you outsource, how cost effective and safe is your information?
Storage of paper documents
Increase in information being handled in a paper based workspace would entail buying of more filing cabinets to store the increased number of documents with maybe documents being continuously used being kept in these cabinets and the ones that are no longer being used put in a store nearby.
Accessibility to these storage area may not be restricted. This means anybody can access the paper documents. When a person is able to access these documents what we don’t know is with what intention.
Storing conditions
The condition of the store in which the documents are being kept is usually not considered until a need or a disaster occurs. Important things like fireproofing and proneness to flooding never come to mind until they occur. As long as there is space to keep the documents, they are usually thrown in. I have seen where documents are thrown into the unused basement areas or attics or even unused bathroom areas.
Natural factors like flooding and also small animals like rodents which might cause damage to the documents. There are other factors that are not natural like fire or water leakage which should also be considered. This can lead to complete destruction of documents.
Conclusion
To ensure your information is safe, think about these factors deeply. Could going paperless be the solution? May implementation of an electronic document management solution. This might save you in the future with regard to your information.