How to Become Truly ‘Paperless’

Like the personal jetpack or the flying car, the paperless office is yet another New Millennium concept that has not yet come to pass. Certainly there is less paper fluttering around today’s office.  But instead of handling paper, we are filling out electronic forms, re-keying data from one system into another and forwarding endless e-mail chains.  In other words, we remain slaves to many non-value-added workloads. When all is said and done, paper isn’t the problem after all. The problem is the process.

Take the daily process of requesting tasks from other departments (“engineer this concept, make a prototype, deliver an item for me, service my computer”, etc). Usually this involves filling out a form. This form was once a piece of paper that had to be manually filled out and put in a physical inbox; it’s is now a document on the company intranet that is filled out electronically, saved as a document, and then sent to a colleague’s e-mail.

Certainly getting rid of the paper form is progress, but it doesn’t eliminate much from the overall process. The person getting the form (the manager) will re-key the info into their tracking spreadsheet. The person submitting the form (the customer) needs to wait to hear back if and when it will be done. The manager will have to forward the form to the person who will actually do the work (the resource). All subsequent interactions between the manager, customer and resource -- status inquiries, promise date notifications, completion messages -- are cumbersome and will involve more e-mails, more voice mails, and general ‘business chaos’.

How can this communications process truly become both paperless and efficient?  How do we optimally harness technologies to become more effective?

Research the Situation

• What are the task(s) that you dread having to perform each week or month? Identify a process that uses too much of your time or is mind-numbingly repetitive.
• What is the real impact of this process? Define and diagram/flowchart the process. Simply putting it down on paper will help everyone understand the challenges.
• Who is affected by this process? Define all interactions between individuals/groups, from documents sent to communications required to approvals needed.

Identify the Problem

• What is the bottom line?  Define hard metrics associated with the situation…items like hours spent, number of transactions and queue time.
• What are the problems inherent with the “as-is” process? Identify all problems in the existing system but do not yet solve them or jump into how to change the status quo.
• What should be solved, and in what order? Don’t get stuck trying for perfection right away...”perfect is the enemy of better”. Document and prioritize the problems.

Define the Solution
Now the fun part – finding solutions. While looking at your flow charts and list of problems ask yourself and your team these questions:

• What process steps can be eliminated as redundant or unnecessary activities?
• What process steps can be simplified?
• What information needs to be visible to all interested parties?  When?
• How can the interested parties (customer, manager, resources) collaborate better?
• What technologies can be harnessed to share information online, provide instantaneous feedback or eliminate tasks?

In the typical cross-departmental process of requesting tasks, there are numerous interactions, interruptions and duplication of activities. Extensive time is used just managing the electronic form flow, updating each other on job status, and overcoming lack of visibility throughout the process.

Consider this real-life example: A sizable medical device manufacturer struggled with the multi-layered inefficiencies of its paper-based work requests. After the process and its problems were clearly analyzed, the solution was determined to be a web-based Work Request System that automated repetitive tasks, simplified interactions, and created a central source for task submission, management and reporting.

They are now enjoying greater productivity and savings by utilizing this online Work Request System across eight departments. Each department has learned from the others how to optimize the use of their online work requests and develop simplified reporting systems. Implementation of this one application saves the manufacturer a healthy $100,000 annually.

If going paperless with online work requests is this beneficial to the bottom line, what other internal processes are candidates? My recommendation…look for any routine process that takes up too many employee hours, lacks integration or flow, involves paper or online forms or has no central store of information. Do your research on the process, document the problems and harness today’s efficiency technologies to become BOTH paperless and cost effective.

JDB Associates is an IT consulting firm focused on helping clients harness technology to unleash their business potential. Dave Vernon is a Founding Partner of JDB Associates (www.jdb.com) and can be reached at dvernon@jdb.com.