What paperless office? Paper usage still growing by double digits.(OFFICE PRODUCTS)

"IN 1981, THEY SAID THE computer would eliminate paper," Jarret Silagyi observes. "Obviously, that has not happened."

It's obvious to Silagyi because he's in the business of dealing with all of the paper that has not vanished--the business of document management. He is general manager of Cintas Document Management in Indianapolis, and it's his job to help companies find a better way to handle documents, share them, store them and dispose of them.

"Take the whole notion of going paperless and let go of it," advises Jeff Nelson, vice president of Bolt Document Management in Elkhart. "You're not going to be able to make it all go away. So don't make paperless a mandate--make it a goal. You want to be paper-efficient."

While the computer has not made paper a thing of the past, it certainly has helped in the business of managing documents. In fact, though the industry was once focused primarily on giant warehouses stacked to the rafters with numbered file boxes, these days much of the activity revolves around computers and scanners. And it's not just a matter of scanning and safely storing old documents anymore, either, Nelson says. "People today are dealing not only with back files but also the live records," he says.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

That means having easy access to current documents, the ability to add to them and modify them, and the means to distribute them easily and securely to other people. This is, after all, document management and not just document storage. By loading documents into a sophisticated, computer-based management system, it becomes easier not only to retrieve old, stored documents, but also to share them while they're being created, says Silagyi. "A law firm in California, Chicago and New York working on the same case can access the same files electronically."

While cost and environmental concerns are encouraging many businesses to print documents less frequently, that doesn't mean people have cut back on creating them, says Jim Fall, vice president of Cannon IV in Indianapolis. "There has been an explosion of information and electronic documents. Even though a smaller percentage of documents is being printed, there are many more documents being created," he says. In fact, "paper usage is still growing by double digits, and is expected to keep growing."

Defining document.

When you're talking document management, what passes for a document these days is a lot more than just a stack of letter-size papers. Nelson refers to it as "unstructured data," including not just paper documents but photographs, audio files, emails, "anything that does not fit neatly into a database but needs to be managed. Most companies have a database system, but people are still struggling with unstructured information."

Email is an increasingly big part of the document management challenge. Its use in the business world has grown exponentially during the past decade--just consider the difference between the presidential administrations of Bill Clinton and George W Bush. "Between Clinton and Bush, the number of email documents grew by a factor of a hundred," Fall says.

Add to that the digital photograph and video. Think about the days of paper file folders, Nelson says. "People used to use Polaroids for property inspection, and they would be paper-clipped to a folder," he says. Today, such images are taken with digital cameras and uploaded to a computer. A good computer-based document management system can help users electronically file those photos with the accompanying reports and other paperwork. In fact, says Nelson, the process works intuitively--just drag the photo into a project folder, not unlike the old days of attaching it to the folder with a paper clip. "We're doing it like people doing it physically would."

Managing documents,

The important thing to remember, says Nelson: "Document management is not a piece of equipment." Yes, there is equipment involved, but document management is really about the process that the equipment enables, the way various pieces of equipment and software interact to boost efficiency, and the company policies that build the process into the organization's daily operations.

What kind of document management is needed depends upon the type of business, among other things. "Some products out there will help manage the trail of documents in financial services," Fall says, noting that such regulatory regimens as Sarbanes-Oxley have a tremendous impact on a company's document management needs. The same can be said for HIPAA--the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act--and how it dictates the way health care providers and insurance companies handle medical information. He says there is tremendous need for medical document management, and "the move to electronic medical records will push that demand even higher."

Destruction is all part of document management, too, says Karen Unger, president and CEO of American Document Management, which has a major operation in Indianapolis. It's essentially the opposite of retention, and "everyone should have a retention policy, not just for paper documents but email. It says what you're going to keep and how long you're going to keep it."

Destruction of those documents you no longer need to keep must be done with care, particularly if privacy regulations apply. Many companies call a document management firm for destruction services, arranging daily or weekly pickup and either onsite or offsite destruction.

Also on the policy front, Unger recommends that employers be certain their workforce understands the rules regarding email, and how these electronic documents are going to be handled. "Company email belongs to the company The company has a right to go into the documents that it owns, including email, to safeguard the company. People take for granted that email is a private thing, that it's a secret thing. It's not."

Early returns, Clearly, good document management is the key to staying on top of regulatory requirements, whatever apply to your business. And moving those paper documents into electronic management systems is a good cost-saver, too, because you'll cut storage expenses. Perhaps the biggest gain comes from increased productivity. "People are productive when they're working with information, not when they're searching for it," Nelson points out.

Don't assume that document management means shelling out major sums of money for new technology. It can mean that, but it's also possible to ease your way into a better situation, Nelson says. "We are an advocate of deploying in phases," he says. "Get that low-hanging fruit right out of the gate. Focus on the things that are your biggest bottleneck and get that early payback."

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates