In a recent business strategy session with a mid-size customer, we asked their technology leader a few questions about the way they were managing their documents.

Here was one of our questions that he had a hard time answering:

 “What percentage of your business information is still in a paper-based format?” 

He wasn’t sure. How would you answer this question for your business?

In case you’re wondering what the answer might be, here are some interesting statistics that may get you thinking about how important it is to start thinking about the transition from hard copy to digital documents.

STAT: 80% of business information is still paper based in most organizations.

Of course this may be higher in some paper intensive industries like legal, healthcare and accounting. The point is, if you are still creating, using and storing paper based files, you may not be as efficient and secure as you should be.

STAT: 7.5% of all paper documents are lost.

What if you lost a critical financial document or an employee record you really needed? The downside of losing an important document could be very expensive and damaging to your business.

STAT: 3% of paper documents are misfiled.

Most misfiled hardcopy information occurs due to human error. Where digital documents allow search capabilities to be found, hardcopy files rely on a person to know where they are located.

STAT: Paper records double every three years.

You may find this one hard to believe with all the technology that surrounds us, But take a look at how stuffed your desk is and how your filing cabinets are overflowing. The sad reality is that until Gen Y represents the bulk of your workforce, paper may continue to be the go-to medium of business communications.

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers

So what’s the point to these statistics? If you look around your office and see people printing, copying, editing, sharing or searching for paper based documents, maybe now is the time to consider a document management system. Technology advancements have now made it extremely affordable and easy to use. Any organization that adopts a document management system will immediately improve access to information, screen user access for security reasons and strengthen business decisions with more productive collaboration.