Readers Speak: Tips for Managing the Paper Tiger

The Paper Chase (Continued)... My March 7 Dispatch, Hey, Whatever Happened to the "Paperless Office? generated some great e-mail.  The bottom line: Paper isn't going away any time soon.  But there are companies that are making significant progress toward reducing the paper burden.   Below I've excerpted some interesting thoughts.  I'll conclude with more comments in the Dispatch next Friday, March 23. 

Barb Hazlett at Cushman & Wakefield. ... "One of the tools that we are using to cut down on the quantity of paper in our office is eFax.  A large amount of paper in our office is received via fax.  By using eFax, all incoming faxes arrive as e-mail.  We then can electronically file the document or print out a hard copy, if one is needed.  This has worked wonderfully in being able to store copies of contracts, leases, etc. without actually having hard copies."

Norb Callahan at Leggat McCall Properties in Boston. ... "We're using Notes document libraries to hold, index and categorize PDF files.  We create the PDF files in a variety of ways.  (1) Paperport Scanners - useful for small files, letters, etc.   (2) AHT OneRip server with Minolta copiers.   Our Minolta copiers can handle 100 sheets.   The OneRip transforms the copier into a high-speed scanner that automatically converts documents into PDF files.  (3) Fax Server.  Each user has a personal fax number.  Faxes come into the user's email as PDF file attachments.  (4) Millennia Group also provides scanning services that we use.  This is very useful when you have a large backlog of large documents like leases and/or closing binders.  ... They have a doc management system but they also provide you with a nice CD with all of the digitized PDFs right there."

Reverdy Johnson is an old friend. ... "From the vantage point of a real estate attorney, I don't see the paperless office happening.  Quite the contrary.  Because some documents are necessarily retained in paper, one wants a complete paper file for reference purposes.  (It is still much, much easier to refer back and forth to various documents in a paper file than digital.)   Thus I find that I automatically print all e-mails and put them in the relevant paper files.  Digital communication as well as document preparation and transmission is extraordinarily efficient, but it expands, not contracts, my paper files."

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com