Searching for the Paperless Office

There's an interesting article available on CIO.com about the ever-elusive paperless office concept. The piece focuses on Xerox's document management off-shoot, but I believe that the statistics enclosed (only 17% of doctors use digitalized medical records, etc.) make a strong point. For all the talk about cutting back on paper and making the workplace more streamlined and efficient - most companies still aren't there. Employing a professional document management provider like GRM can drastically cut back on your waste, increase the amount of time your employees spend on important tasks and decrease the amount of money you pay on office supplies.

I'll end with a perfect example from CIO:

John M. Kelly, a vice president at Xerox Global Services, says that companies could save exponential amounts of money by digitizing many of these records and decreasing the amount of print devices needed in each office. Xerox recently worked with KeyCorp, a financial services company, to cut its load of printers, fax machines, copiers and scanners from 10,000 to 3,500. They have decreased the amount of paper output, and he expects KeyCorp to save $6 million over the next few years.

The Disaster Recovery Journal

Today's a slow day - news wise, so I thought I would share one of my favorite online resources. The Disaster Recovery Journal is one of the leading names in the document management industry on the subject of disaster recovery. The print edition of their journal is written by industry professionals, for industry professionals, and is the perfect place to learn more about the field.

Their website houses everything from back-issues of the journal to a slew of FAQ's, resources and industry spotlights. If you're interested in learning more about the fast-growing field of disaster recovery, I strongly suggest giving it a look.

AIIM Expo in Philadelphia

GRM is a proud member of AIIM, a non-profit organization that's been helping users understand and navigate the world of document and record management. At the end of March (starting on the 30th, to be exact), AIIM will play host to their annual expo and conference. The festivities look as though they will be both fun and informative. If you're in the Philadelphia area, I highly suggest checking it out.

From an AIIM Press Release:

Despite the difficult economic climate, the organizers of the AIIM Expo + Conference and its exhibitors are looking forward to a successful and well-attended show. The event will run from Monday, March 30 - Thursday, April 2 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, and will showcase new technology and services from 175 content and information management solution providers. Event sponsors include EMC2, Microsoft, TechData, IBM, Ernst & Young, Nuance, Pegasus Imaging, and RSD2. This year's Expo floor will also be home to the Oracle Pavilion, Microsoft Pavilion, Channel Connection and the Doculabs LIVE! Theater.

A Conversation on Document Imaging

The Health Information section of AdvanceWeb has an extremely insightful online chat available on the subject of implementing document imaging systems at medical facilities. Thanks to a gradual shift toward EDM in the medical field during the past few years, as well as a little push from the new economic stimulus package pieced together by the Obama White House - the two industry professionals find that document imaging is becoming more affordable by the day. Follow the link to see what Leslie Ann Fox, MA, RHIA, And Patty Thierry, MBA, RHIA, CCS have to say on the subject.

Here's a clip from the beginning of the chat:

First you need to have the "big picture." Implementing a document imaging system starts with creating a vision and strategy for document management and the development of an EMR. This may sound obvious but it's often a step that is only partially carried out by a small number of individuals instead of by all stakeholders, i.e., a representative mix of providers, executive management and department leaders (e.g., health information management (HIM), information technology, human resources, financial services, medical staff). Document imaging is a tool for delivering document management solutions to several departments across an integrated delivery system, thus solving problems with retrieving, processing and storing paper and electronic documents from employee records to medical records.