Paperless Office Solution

To allow for greater work efficiency in the office, there are a number of helpful tools available for a business just starting out.  First and foremost, a high speed internet connection is important for any office.  The internet is the primary manner in which companies identify themselves, and is used daily by hundreds of millions of people around the world.  In addition to fast, reliable internet, a document scanner will allow you to fill orders, fax documents, and communicate with your clients or other businesses quickly. 

Equipment like computers, desks, chairs we take for granted, but higher end models of these generic items can boost efficiency and morale in the office.

It’s often difficult for business people to maintain the same level of professionalism on the road as at the office.  After all, you don’t have access to the same resources; copier, fax machine, desktop computer, and often a reliable internet connection.  Here are a few products which can assist you in maintaining the same productivity in the office on the road. 

~A laptop with a wifi card is essential for keeping up to date with information and keeping in touch with the office and clients.  You can access wifi at most coffee shops and places of business. 

~Document scanners are great for sending contracts and paper documents quickly over the internet.

~A USB keyboard and mouse will ensure a smooth transition from personal computer to laptop.  The laptop keyboard and touchpad lack the functionality of the PC counterpart, and are often harder to use.

A “paperless office solution” is the implementation of the concepts of electronic document management to partially or totally remove the need for storage of paper documents or hard copy on shelves, in drawers, or in file cabinets in your home or business office.  Until the technological advances of the last ten years computer processors were too slow, computer hard drive storage was inadequate, the imaging of the documents using document scanners was too slow, and the resolution of cameras in the scanners was not sufficient to permit reading of small text font.  A paperless office was but a dream.

Thankfully, in the last ten years major advances have been made in computer hardware and software and now this dream is a reality.  Companies like Canon, Kodak, Visioneer, and Panasonic have been successful in developing scanners which can reproduce paper documents quickly and with incredible resolution so advanced that even tiny  text can be easily read.  Not only is the quality present but the scanners can take these pictures of the documents quickly and forward them to a computer for processing.  Furthermore, these scanners have become faster and better in quality while their prices have dropped drastically. 

A large metal scanner which could image at the rate of 40 pages per minute, weighed 50 to 60 pounds, and cost over $20,000 ten years ago has now been replaced by a small unit weighing  less than 20 pounds, with speeds of 60 pages per minute, at a cost of one-tenth of the old unit.  Also, scanner technology has progressed to permit hundreds of pages to be processed without direct supervision and without risk of missed pages.

Advances in scanning technology have been accompanied by the incredible improvement in computer processors enabling images to be flashed upon a monitor almost instantaneously after being taken by a scanner.  These computers need not be any larger than a laptop with a USB2 connection and cable commonly available on most computers.  Whether laptop or desktop such computers are available for less than $1000.00.

Lastly, technological advancements in digital storage memory and in the software to organize these images has accompanied scanner and computer improvements.  Portable disc drives that can hold millions and millions of documents now are so small that several can fit inside a shoebox.  Their cost is now less than $500.00.  Database software to hold these pages and the document management software to index and retrieve the documents are now within everyone’s budget.  This is why we now have an inexpensive paperless office solution for even a home office.