News Articles - Document Management Solutions

2010 - News & Articles

News articles & Press releases that are relevant to the business of digital archiving.

20/01/2010 - A convincing case for document management

29/01/2010 - 2010 snow costs business £3 billion !

02/02/2010 - High flying law firm appoint Click2Scan and move closer to the paperless office

24/02/2010 - Can you scan & shred wills and EPA's ?

A convincing case for document management

Even though a 100% paperless office might not be a realistic possibility, using document scanning and digital storage should be the goal for every business from both an efficiency and eco friendly standpoint. Document scanners allow for the storage of data and conventional paper records with NO physical and expensive floor space requirements; an important consideration with today’s high sq ft office rentals Many offices have entire rooms devoted to paper file systems and in some cases, such as legal offices, the original document is the only one that matters. But in any office all documents can be stored digitally and be instantly accessible at the PC.

Document scanners can be used for sending faxes by email or over the internet. When used in this manner, the fax may be scanned from a paper document, sent electronically, read by the recipient, who stores that information on their computer without the need to produce a paper copy. Because so many people carry PDA's today, many documents can be scanned and made available to employees even when they are away from the office.

Directly scanning a document to be saved electronically, stored and retrieved at a later time, is a super efficient method of retaining copies of documents for information and archival purposes. This storage method can result in huge savings for businesses each year in paper costs, actual storage space within the office, and in time spent by employees handling paper documents through the process of filing, retrieving, and later re-filing once a task is complete.

Click2Scan.co.uk, specialists in document scanning and document management provide services and solutions for business's, organisations or individuals who need to capture large amounts of paper documents and then convert them to a digital format such as PDF.

Click2Scan’s founder Martin Peirce said: “By using our document scanning services, office staff can call up an image of any document with a few key clicks and put it away with even fewer clicks.

With the huge hard drive and CD storage space available today it makes sense to keep digital copies of documents even if you still prefer to keep the hard copies on site. Alternatively Click2Scan can handle the entire process for you, collecting documents, scanning to disc and even managing the secured destruction with the necessary certification paperwork. For more information on how Click2Scan can help your business, please visit www.click2scan.co.uk, or telephone 0845 873 8600.

Editor’s note: Click2Scan is represented by online advertising consultancy, Media Solutions Marketing. Please direct all media enquiries to:

Email: billy@mediasolutionsmarketing.com or call 0845 680 9802

2010 snow storms cost UK business £3 BILLION!

(If only someone had told them about document management!!)

The facts and figures:

For the first time in living memory all bus services in London were cancelled, the first time this had occurred since the blitz of WW2.

One in five workers failed to get to work costing UK businesses in excess of £1.2 billion according to the Federation of Small Businesses.

Tube train cancellations added to the chaos in the Greater London area where 10 of the 11 tube lines were out of action.

All London airports plus those in Luton, Southampton and Birmingham were closed for at least part of each day.

In just one hour of prime commuting time a 53 mile tailback built up between an 11 junction stretch of the M25 and at one stage it was estimated that there were more than 1,000 miles of tailbacks right across the UK.

Motoring organisations said accidents on UK roads were “too many to catalogue” and emergency services were forced to respond only to life threatening calls due to the 2ft deep snow drifts.

All of this in a 2 week period that has already gone down as the most damaging in UK history. A grim tale of the damage that ice and snow can deliver, at short notice, and something that surely affected us all.

Now transport yourself 3000 miles west from London to Ottawa, Canada where the snow is drifting 6 feet deep in places and has been for 3 weeks. Mike Allan works for an Ottawa based bank and is not about to brave the treacherous conditions but missing a days work is the last thing on his mind. He is sat snugly at home in front of his PC, accessing all of his company documents via an ingenious piece of technical wizardry called FileDirector. Think of it as virtual filing cabinet. Physical documents are scanned and stored for future reference by any member of the Banking staff and accessible from any networked PC, anywhere in the World, at home or in the office. Any piece of paperwork from HR records to invoices, statements to post it notes are available with a mouse click. So while it continues to snow, and looks like doing so for some days yet, Mike continues to be as productive as he would have been in his office ( more so when you cancel out the commuting time)

So there you have it, snow looks pretty and kids love it, businesses without Document Management hate it!

CONTACT US ON 0845 873 8600 FOR AN ENTIRELY INFORMAL CHAT about the benefits that intelligent Document Management can bring to your business.

HIGH FLYING LAW FIRM APPOINT CLICK2SCAN & MOVE CLOSER TO THE PAPERLESS OFFICE

As a rapidly expanding law practice with 5 offices and an impressive growth in excess of 1000% during the last 10 years, Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors produce more than their fair share of documents of all shapes and sizes. Finding somewhere to securely store and reference this ever increasing mountain of paper became a crucial element in the firm’s expansion plans. Filling 14 industrial containers in secure accommodation off site in archive boxes was just no longer time or space efficient.

In late 2009 Bonallack & Bishop’s Practice Director, Jane Bishop, completed a root and branch overhaul of the company’s document management, establishing some ‘must have’ performance criteria.

“Solicitors have a considerable overhead in keeping old files - some of which have to be archived for as long as 15 years. I determined that the only expandable solution would be to electronically scan and securely store the information contained in paper documents, making them immediately accessible by everyone at their computers. Ultimately I wanted to remove the need to maintain 14 industrial containers to store our archive files at an annual storage cost of £14,000 and create a far more efficient system. In due course the electronic storage of all those documents will mean we no longer have that cost -- nor the considerable cost of dedicated manpower in actually retrieving and re-archiving those documents. ”

Following lengthy consultation Bonallack & Bishop awarded the project to document management experts Click2Scan, based in Mere, Wiltshire. Director of Click2Scan, Martin Peirce commented, “While the promise of a truly paperless office may not be 100% achievable, electronically managing the vast quantities of paperwork that we are obliged to archive is not just a dream but a far reaching reality” “Having met the clients brief perfectly there are real cost saving benefits too and working together with this forward thinking law firm has been a real pleasure”

Using advanced and user friendly file retrieval software Bonallack & Bishop will soon be accessing archived documents in a few seconds, not days. It would certainly seem that the future of efficient document management is literally just a mouse click away.

Jane Bishop of Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors can be contacted on 01722 422300

www.bishopslaw.co.uk

Martin Peirce of Click2Scan can be contacted on 0845 873 8600

www.click2scan.co.uk

SCANNING LEGAL DOCUMENTS, WILLS & EPA's

Guidance - The concencus on electronic scanning, storage and destruction.

We were recently invited to meet with a large south west based law firm who wanted to explore the options available to them for the secure and legal management of thousands of Wills and EPA's.

They had been advised by one document management company that the best and cheapest option was to scan to disc and destroy the originals. Naturally the senior partner was horrified at this suggestion but it did raise some important questions that are answered here:

IS A SCANNED IMAGE OF A WILL OR EPA LEGALLY ADMISSIBLE?

A scanned image of a Will is a back-up and not a substitute. It can be used where an original has been lost or destroyed i.e. through fire etc. The Law Society requires solicitors to keep original Wills "as if people had reached 100 years old". So many probates now become disputed and this is often because of the provenance of the wills themselves - signatures of the deceased and their witnesses become vital evidence together with any issues of tampering (removing staples, seals, opening sealed envelopes etc)

CAN I COPY A WILL AND THEN DESTROY THE ORIGINAL?

Absolutely not. Keeping originals safe is one of the key code of conduct rules. Knowingly destroying them could result in you being struck off!

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO STORE ORIGINALS OF WILL's and EPA's

Storing originals of Wills and EPA's on open shelving or non fire proof safes is certainly not recommended. Imagine losing all of your clients signed and witnessed originals through theft or fire? The consequences really don't bear thinking about. The Law Society of England & Wales, Standard's and Guidance Committee's view is that storing of deeds and other legal documents for clients is a professional service. The loss or destruction of such documents could, therefore, give rise to an investigation by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors on the basis of inadequate professional services.

Storing Wills off site can also be risky as witnessed by the 2006 warehouse fire of a London based storage company. Hundreds of thousands of legal documents including Wills were destroyed. A fire proof safe is the safest option and ideally not stored high up in your building.

CAN I STORE CERTAIN OTHER LEGAL DOCUMENTS PHOTOGRAPHICALLY OR ELECTRONICALLY AND DESTROY THE ORIGINALS?

Original documents, such as deeds, guarantees or certificates, which are not your own property, should not be destroyed without the express written permission of the owner, Where the work has been completed and the bill paid, other documents, including your file, may be stored for example on a CD rom, computer system or microfilm and then destroyed after a "reasonable" time. In cases of doubt the owner's written permission should always be sought.

WHAT IS THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF A PHOTOGRAPHICALLY OR ELECTRONICALLY STORED DOCUMENT WHERE THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN DESTROYED?

This one is a bit of minefield and there is a dearth of judicial authority on this topic and, until the law and practice on the subject of microfilmed or electronically stored documents are clarified, it is only possible to provide general guidelines. The Law Society advises that:

(a) A microfilm of any document in a solicitor's file will be admissible evidence to the same extent, no more and no less, as the document itself, provided that there is admissible evidence of the destruction of the document and identification of the copy.

(b) Written evidence of the destruction of the original and of identification of the copy will enable the microfilm to be adduced in subsequent civil proveedings (under the Civil Evidence Act 1968) and in criminal proceedings (under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984)

CAN I DESTROY DOCUMENTS ONCE I HAVE HELD THEM FOR THE RELEVANT PERIOD?

Before deciding to destroy a file it is essential to consider who owns which documents (see opening paragraph of this article) No documents should be destroyed without the prior consent of the owner. You may always invite clients to take possession of their own paper, balancing the potential saving of space and expense against a possible loss of goodwill.

Note: This article has been compiled using a combination of Law Society of England & Wales guidlines and the views of a practicing Legal Industry professional. As such Click2Scan accept no responsibility for any actions resulting from advice given here. Independent clarification should always be sought and is advised.

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