Electronic document management (the scanning, indexing, storing, retrieving, and routing of electronic documents throughout an organization) is a major focal area of Fisher's business today. But I was recently asked a very good question from customer about this strategy. He asked, "if you sell and service paper document production devices and if you are converting customers to 'paperless' offices, are you putting you core business out of business?"
It’s a great question. The answer is yes, sometimes we are driving down output volumes and therefore reducing our opportunity to sell and service output devices. But the answer is also no. In some cases we are actually increasing an organization’s total output by taking them “paperless.” And in those cases, electronic document management (EDM) still makes sense.
I heard an un-sourced statistic that an average paper document is copied three times when distributed in a paper format but that an average electronic document is printed seven times. The premise is that when distributing paper documents people make copies for those who only absolutely need them but that when people distribute something electronically, they will “cc” a larger distribution as an FYI. And guess what... people still print out emails and documents to read. So scanning and sending electronic documents can actually lead to more paper production.
Does that invalidate the ROI and justification for an EDM system? Absolutely not. The justification for EDM typically does not hang on the reduction of document output and associated hardware and service cost, it has to do with many other factors: Business efficiency associated with much improved storage and retrieval processes, increased productivity from simultaneous access to documents by numerous, disparate users, reduced risk from loss and damage of paper documents, and mitigated legal risk due to compliance with regulatory requirements and e-discovery obligations.
Dramatically improved efficiency, higher customer service, and reduced risk are therefore the drivers of EDM. If paper output can be reduced as well, that’s the icing on the cake.