Office space and costs are at a premium, causing companies to store files more than two years old offsite. When customers request information or other project details, retrieving the offsite documents are a major hassle. Implementing a document management system gives easy access to necessary documents and makes a good impression on customers as well. Because all customer documents are linked and easy to locate, the office staff can quickly respond to customer queries about the project or invoice.

When making a decision to go paperless for Home and Personal Use

• Can scanned documents serve as my ‘legal’ original? The most frequent answer is yes as long as it is your policy that the electronic document is the original and both electronic and paper are not maintained. Typically if both are maintained, the paper document serves as the default original.
• Are there any regulations that require documents with signatures to be maintained in original form? If so, can I keep just the signature page on file and scan the remainder of the document? This answer typically comes from the regulating agency or legal counsel.
• Ensure that a reliable backup of the electronic documents is completed before destroying the paper copy. One advantage to electronic documents is that you can have more than one copy available. With paper, you typically have one and only one copy. Flood, tornado, hurricane, fire, or other disaster can devastate a business’ paper based files.