Every once in awhile I come across articles that are published in other periodicals that cover a topic we like to address in this blog in a manner that makes it worth republishing some of the material. Of course we do not wish to plagerize others good work and therefore we always try to credit our sources. 
Today's topic is one which is covered well and the following is a portion of a great post published this fall in the Imaging Channel which is a publication directed primarily at those in industries which operate in the printing, printer vending or document centric fields.
The key material:
"Consider these facts about traditional, manual document management:
1. It takes an average of 18 minutes to locate a document, and professionals spend up to 50 percent of their time searching for information.
2. The (US) Small Business Administration says that we never again refer to 80 percent of the papers we file away.
3. Ernst & Young estimates it costs around $25,000 to fill a four-drawer filing cabinet and more than $2,100 each year to maintain it.
4. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year (according to the EPA), and most documents are copied an average of 19 times.
Mismanagement of digital documents can generate even more costs:
5. The average employee emails two or more documents per day to at least five people, creating 10 new documents that are stored in multiple locations.
6. A Harris Interactive survey found that 90 percent of knowledge workers collaborate over documents via email, which can create versioning issues that result in lost time for 83 percent of those workers.
7. According to an Accenture survey, middle managers miss important information almost every day because they can’t find the documents that contain it.
8. IDC reports a five-year return on investment of 404 percent for document management solutions, with half of organizations reporting a payback within six months."
For the whole article you can reference it at: The Imaging Channel.
What the data above outlines is that documents are a critical and costly component of any business operation and mismanaging them can add to those costs. Not only are costs created by this mismanagement, but poor information security, business interruptions and operational delays can be created as well.
Unfortunately, it has been a long standing part of many businesses to just accept that there are document delays or problems and they don't see it as a priority to address. The costs get lost in the general cost of doing business and until something consequential happens resources are never directed to even reviewing the potential for improvement.
Of course there are many organizations both small and large that have addressed the issues and who have set out to make the changes needed to get things under control. Once this process starts then the next steps are always easier and over time improvements can be gained. Using the resources of specialists with experience in the field can make the process easier and also help identify where to start and how to progress but in the end it takes commitment on the part of management and the organization's employees to make the changes needed.
Do any of the facts above look familiar when you look at your operations? Could changes be warranted? Set aside a few hours or even minutes to consider how you might seek to make your operations better. Seek some expert help and begin the process. Like those who have tried this before you the results will be pleasantly surprising.
Lee K
