Less paper or paperless?

This is a guest posting provided by Abecon, a Zetadocs partner. The original posting can be read here.

I barely use any paper at home. I make notes on my phone or tablet. What amazes me is that companies still keep and use documents in paper form. What's the value of it? Since January 2002, as far as accounting is concerned, it is no longer obligatory to keep and provide data on paper. And additionally, digital format provides a reduction in costs, time and environmental hazards. Documents do not get lost any longer, storage is safe and costs less. The processing becomes highly efficient.

Naturally, the success of digitalising documents goes hand in hand with storage safety and the ability to retrieve the documents. Trying to locate documents can take a lot of time, therefore an efficient search system is of the utmost importance. The best is that all incoming and outgoing documents become a part of the 'digital folder' in the company system. An incredible advantage arises from the digital availability of relevant documents, such as offers and assignment confirmations, during transactions. All documents are available centrally, attached to the right client or offer. This way, you have a complete picture of the contact that took place between your organisation, clients and providers.

All relevant documents are always within reach.
It’s handy to be able to see which agreements were made by your collegues, and which documents were sent out to your clients in the past. When documents are connected to each other, it becomes possible to control and improve the company processing methods. At which point does a delay in the ordering process appear? Which point in the communication with the client was the most costly as far as time is concerned, and how can we improve it? Is it possible to automate certain processing tasks, such as for instance paying the invoices directly after the client signed for delivery?

Incoming documents
Digitising incoming documents involves complicated aspects to think about. Would it be enough to put the documents through the ERP system? Or would you like to make it even more efficient? In reality, there are three possibilities:

1. Putting incoming documents into the right folder.
2. Scanning paper documents, and on the basis of minimal information, linking the document to the relevant client or offer.
3. Analysing the contents of each document, and on the basis of this information, automatically update the data in the ERP system, a process called 'Automated Data Entry.'

Speed and ease
Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is used increasingly as a standard form for digital data reporting to the government, the Tax Services, the Commerce Chamber, banks, accountants and various administration offices. As expected, the annual account statements are not allowed to be sent to Chamber of Commerce in paper form as of the fiscal year 2016. This way, everything and everybody is getting online, with speed and ease as the most important advantages. Moreover, storage of documents is no longer an extra 'bother', but becomes a logical step in daily processes.