PRACTICAL-y Paperless
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Thirty three years ago, Business Week magazine alluded to the notion of the Paperless Office. Most likely introduced as the focal point of marketing genius; the image of the Paperless Office is often met with skepticism. Let us step back.
As movers-and-shakers in Cleveland's business circle, begin to think PRACTICALLY in terms of what it means to be paperless. Turn away from the apprehension of the intangible and start thinking green. Paperless processes promote both resource efficiency and expense reduction.
Facts:
- An average 1,000 page stack of paper is approximately 4 inches thick
- The average 4-drawer file cabinet that is 24 inches deep ranges in price between $100-$200
- If all of your business critical information was contained within 7.5 million pages of documents, then you would need approximately 312 filing cabinets to accommodate storage space.
- o In terms of cost; if the average file cabinet costs about $150, then you are going to spend about $46,800 on file cabinets alone.
Given the same facts; the conversion to a paperless office with digital software that stores imperative data quickly becomes appealing:
- One 500 GB computer hard drive takes up 11 square inches and costs approximately $200--can store the same 7.5 million document pages as your 312 file cabinets.
Facts:
- The average computer hard drive transfers data at approximately 480 MB/second
- A single page document in PDF format downloads at a rate of about 6.9 KB--or 0.0067 MB/second
Given the calculation of time that it takes to transfer data to a hard drive, divided by the time that it takes to transfer a single page PDF document: (480MB/0.0067MB); a computer hard drive is capable of transferring 71,641 PDF's/second.
- With a transfer rate of 4.3 million pages/minute technology not only maximizes valuable time, but also diminishes the astounding weight of 20 tons of paper/min.
Implementation of a comprehensive document management solution that effectively manages capture, archival, and retrieving processes significantly reduces operating expenses.
The good word for entrepreneurs in Cleveland is two-fold. While successfully arming yourself with the tools to maximize ROI, you are concurrently taking initiative to reduce paper quantity and increase energy efficiency. Hence, a PRACTICAL approach to the Paperless Office develops a vision into a catalyst of impact.
Cleveland's business leaders can use technology to set the tone and move away from idealistic propositions that are seemingly unattainable by thinking sustainable.
Dana M. Dombrowski
