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503.452.9166
Using Documents Strategically means using Information Strategically
If firms are not effective in managing both digital and paper documents
they will be less able to face competitive pressures and changing
markets. Companies must have information agility in order to effectively
react to dynamic change in their marketplace. Traditionally, change in the
marketplace was somewhat predictable; business increased or
decreased in a reasonably linear pattern and competitors entered or
exited the market in a relatively logical and predictable fashion. Today,
however, the economic, technological and societal factors that influence
change are moving simultaneously and unpredictably. A document
strategy ensures that an organization can find, use and keep information
with agility and effectiveness.
Information is now the most valuable component of the entire economic
chain, according to Peter Drucker, the prominent management
consultant. Organizations that are able to harness the power of
information and manage, share and use information effectively are well
positioned to create value for everyone involved, says Drucker.
But the cost of harnessing that value is high. Investment in information
technology now accounts for over one-half of the United States' gross
investment in equipment. It has been estimated that U.S. businesses
spend more than $100 billion on hardware alone. Documents are a
vehicle that can turn the expense of gathering information into an asset -
they are one aspect of information processing that can be quantifiably
measured and improved. A document strategy is vital because it
monitors, directs and improves document systems and can ultimately
determine the real value of the information you have gathered and the
technology used to collect it.
Are Documents Paper or Digital?
The traditional view of documents as strictly paper no longer applies in
today's wired world. The notion of what documents are has expanded to
include an ever-widening scope - Web pages, e-mail, electronic file
transfer, e-commerce, and the rest. The very definition of a document can
be troublesome when defining the reach of a meaningful document
strategy. Is a document defined in terms of the media that carries the
information - paper vs. digital? Should voice mails, e-mails, Web pages
and video clips be considered documents? What separates a document
from the multitude of information-carrying files stored within the digital
vaults of an organization?
Despite the popular notion of the "paperless office," the Information Age is
actually powering a boom in paper. Since 1984 - the dawn of the personal
computer - the number of pages printed by American companies has
grown by 500 percent to about 1.5 trillion pages per year. This equates to
a mountain of paper 6,500 times taller than Mount Everest.
In 1995, only about 10 percent of documents were presented in digital
form. Predictions point to an eventual decline in paper documents,
however, to about 30 percent of total by 2005. But the predicted growth of
information rises considerably over the same time period. As a result, the
number of printed pages will actually double by 2005.
Paper has staying power because people find it reassuring. Paper is
tangible; something you can put your hands on as opposed to a virtual
document somewhere. It is really a matter of comfort and confidence.
Other than devoted technophiles, most people are less likely to soak in
the bathtub with a PC than they are with a magazine or newspaper. And
people often lack the confidence in technology to access documents
when they need them. If it is something important, chances are you are
going to print it. There are few Ph.D. candidates, for instance, that don't
have several copies of their dissertation printed on paper and safely
tucked away.
In the corporate world, many people still need to work with physical rather
than virtual documents. One reason for this is that more than 60 percent
of organizations still process, store and retrieve documents manually.
While many organizations will eventually adopt digital documents, many
have elected to hold back in order to learn from the efforts of early
pioneers and wait until the risks of conversion are negligible.
The Co-Existence of Digital and Paper Documents
The tenacity of paper does not displace the evidence that digital
documents are quickly overtaking paper documents as the preferred
method of business communication. For instance, the Internet provides
nearly boundless access to customers, and companies are jumping on
the e-bandwagon. A recent poll of 371 chief financial officers conducted by
Duke University reports that 56 percent of the executives surveyed plan to
sell their products over the Internet. This sentiment is growing, up from 24
percent in 1998.
A 1999 study commissioned by Xplor International, the leading printing
industry association, clearly indicates that digital documents have
infiltrated the formerly ink and paper intensive world of corporate
communications. Xplor reports that 77% of member companies archive
documents in digital form. 68% of companies use digital documents as
an alternative to printing - up from 47% in 1995. And 40% of companies
use electronic forms that never get printed on paper - up from 27% in
1997.
Conclusion
Corporations must confront the co-existence of digital and paper
documents for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the timing, the
transition into the digital world of documents will not be made without
building upon the legacy of paper documents. Information-savvy
corporations will look for ways to better understand and manage
documents that populate new digital systems, and continue to seek
improvements in the handling of documents using P.O.P. - plain old
paper.