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HR, Accounting and Legal Departments Still Printing Too Much

A new study conducted by Wakefield Research and Infotrends has revealed the extent of the printing crisis in small to medium-sized businesses. Printing and other paper-based activities are still flourishing in the corporate office, despite new eco technologies, and the main offenders are those in HR departments, legal offices and accounting firms.

The studies show just how dependent businesses are on paper for daily routines – with 73% of owners and decision makers at companies with less than 500 employees print at least four times a day. Paper is still a major part of the workflow in many sectors, including legal and HR.

The Research Vice President of Gartner, Ken Weilerstein, says that companies have tried to go paperless but failed to eliminate it altogether. Today, he says employees print an average of 400 pages per month – that’s A LOT of paper. He says many companies have figured out the easiest ways to “go paperless” by scanning and storing documents online, but it wasn’t possible to eradicate all in-house printing and scanning completely.

The Key to the Paperless Office

The trouble with implementing a paperless office isn’t the in-house documents. Once all records are scanned and in an electronic management system, employees can convert to the paperless process quite easily. Being completely paperless becomes an issue when dealing with other businesses and sometimes clients, who still have a reliance on paper.

They may ask you to post a hard copy of a contract to sign, rather than use a digital signature. Some companies may want to fax or post you a shared document instead of email it across. Others may not accept a digital invoice...the list goes on. The secret of successfully implementing a paper office is cooperation. One company has to be brave and take the first step, start the tidal wave in the corporate world. Everything is being transferred to digital, it’s just a matter of time before those businesses which resist the movement have to conform.

So why not be ahead of the times and be the first company in your area to make the move to a paperless office? It’s something you could brag about in the future as a cutting edge forward thinking business.

Pearl Scan specialises in HR document scanning and legal scanning services. Join a number of businesses who have ignited the digital revolution and benefited from exceptional document management.

Improving GP Services with Digital Records

The NHS is in crisis at the moment, described by many medical professionals as ‘at breaking point.’ The latest disaster is a series of strikes, held by junior doctors in a row over new contracts, weekend working and pay. This comes after surveys highlighting public dissatisfaction with NHS services, and countless A&E waiting time targets missed.

Hospitals and GP services are under increasing pressure, and with the government looking to introduce a 7 day NHS in the near future, the whole system is about to change. Ministers say that people need access to GPs at weekends as well as in the week – but is it viable? With many GPs planning to quit the profession or retire in the next few years, the NHS may find themselves in a recruitment crisis, without enough doctors for the amount of patients.

Paperless NHS

Another reform which is currently under way is the paperless NHS initiative – services must become digital by 2018. Many NHS organisations have already made the switch and recorded multiple benefits to patients and staff. Recently an extra £4billion of funding was set aside in a new push for a paperless and digital health service.

Going digital is estimated to save the NHS £4billion per year – a figure which surely has the potential to be spent elsewhere and improve services. As part of the move to paperless operations and a plan to increase remote services, the NHS is planning to:

• Allow patients to access health records online
• Introduce remote monitoring so patients can be treated at home rather than in hospital
• Make sure digital medical records are used rather that paper files in GP surgeries and hospitals
• Create new online services and apps. This will provide extra patient support and allow them to book services and order prescriptions online. Patients will also be able speak to doctors via a video link.
• Free Wi-Fi in NHS buildings

Medical Record Scanning

Switching millions of paper medical records over to digital records won’t be an easy task – but it is achievable with a professional scanning service. At Pearl Scan, all records are scanned by fast hi-tech scanning equipment, and instantly transferred into OCR digital files. The digital medical records can then be searched using the document storage and retrieval software. Staff can search using a patient name, date of birth, date of last appointment, patient number or consultant name.

The medical record scanning process is efficient and confidential. The qualified team at Pearl Scan have worked with numerous public and private health organisations to improve their document management, and all services are quality assessed by national boards. The company also complies with Data Protection 1998 regulations.

A GP is usually the first point of call when someone is feeling ill. They can identify serious illnesses and recommend other professional services if needed. This is why it’s essential that GP services are effective and help patients as much as possible – and going digital is one step in the right direction.

Poor Paperwork Management Blamed for FSA Sting

A respected hotel in the Isle of Wight was recently shocked when the Food Standards Agency gave them a rating of zero – and has said that a paperwork error was to blame. The George Hotel in Yarmouth used to be a Michelin starred restaurant and has played hosts to celebrity guests.

A rating of zero means that an establishment requires ‘urgent improvement.’ A manager at the hotel has said that an administration problem was the main contributing factor to the unforgiving rating, after the inspection in September. The paperwork error is said to be resolved, but the hotel will have to wait until the next visit to be rated again.

Poor paperwork management has obviously been a recipe for disaster for The George Hotel. Unorganised paperwork can be a problem in all businesses, but to many it would seem unlikely to affect a hospitality establishment. But all businesses have files to keep and standards to upkeep, so having an efficient system is a must.
In November, a spokeswoman for The George Hotel said that the administrative problem had been rectified, to the satisfaction of Environmental Health Officers. She said, "Although we now have a clean bill of health we have to wait until the New Year to be given our official new rating which we are confident will be back to our previous high standards. We apologise to our customers for any concern caused by these administrative errors."

Improving Document Management

If your paperwork was to be inspected by an industry body, do you think you’d pass? Businesses drowning in paperwork should take action before it starts to affect quality of work and compliance. Electronic document management has already been embraced by many organisations, and these forward thinking companies have seen results.

Firstly, using digital files instead of paper frees up lots of space, which can be put to better use. Some businesses can even save on storage costs or choose to move to a smaller office.

Implementing an electronic document storage system also increases productivity and efficiency. Your staff will no longer have to search through filing cabinets to retrieve information – it’s all available at the click of a button. Basic admin tasks will take less time which means that valuable time can be spent on other important jobs or business development.
If you think you need to improve your document management, see how Pearl Scan’s scanning services can help.

How Business Card Scanning Can Improve Your Life

How many business cared have you collected over your lifetime? Hundreds, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands?! Searching through all of your business cards is a massive waste of time, not to mention frustrating. Even if you’ve made your own digital list of contacts you can add to each time you receive a business card, there is still the risk of typing in an email address or phone number wrong – and you’ll probably only find out when it’s too late.

Business card scanning is the future – it can collect all the important data from each business card and format the data into any format. Here are some ways this fast scanning service can genuinely improve your life.

Create a Digital Address Book

It’s probably something you’ve been meaning to do for a while – but really, who has the time?! Sitting down and manually entering the contact details for your entire address book or sales database is far too time consuming. Plus, it leaves room for errors. A business card scanning service can quickly scan all the details and sort them into the correct columns for name, address, phone numbers and emails. You’ll be able to access your digital address book from anywhere, on any device.

Say Goodbye to Losing Phone Numbers

We’ve all done it – had a really good business meeting or opportunistic chat with a client, and stuffed their card in a pocket in a hurry. When you go to follow up, you can’t find the business card anywhere, and have to struggle to get in contact with them. Once you start your digital address book it is easy to keep on top of, so you can enter the details straight away. Alternatively, Pearl Scan has a scan on demand service so each time you receive a business card simply arrange for it to be picked up and scanned into your system.

Increase Leads and Sales

Once data is captured effectively, it can be transferred into Salesforce or CSV. This means that you’ll instantly have a larger sales database to work from, and some of your contacts could be years old and make new leads. Instead of trying to contact people individually, involve them in your marketing and outreach and you’ll almost always find new leads and sales.

Business card scanning is convenient and will make your office and briefcase much more organised. Not only this, but it also has the potential to improve your business operations and increase sales. It makes total business sense.

There are big changes on the horizon regarding the way the EU approaches data regulation. To ensure that your business is on the ball, we’ve put together a complete guide covering everything you need to know about the new EU Data Protection Regulation laws set to go live.

EU data protection regulation – 101

Earlier this year the European Commission revealed a draft of its new set of laws that will replace the previous Data Protection Directive. They’ve renamed the decree the ‘European Data Protection Regulation.’

The release of the new regulation is designed to streamline the current data protection laws that exists across the EU member states. By switching to a ‘regulation’ as opposed to a ‘directive’ all EU member states will need to comply, thus eliminating the need for national implementing legislation.

So what does the new European Data Protection Regulation mean for European businesses?

Read on for our overview of what to expect.

The right to be forgotten

One of the most noticeable changes will be the introduction of the right to be forgotten. This will allow people to request the deletion of personal data, with organisations obliged to comply.

Integrated data protection measures

While in the past privacy has been somewhat optional, the new regulations rule that businesses must incorporate data protection measures into products and services from the very beginning.

The right to portability

Another new right sees consumers entitled to portability. This refers to the easy transmission of personal information from one data controller to another.

Taking a stand against profiling

While subject to certain exceptions, the majority of consumers will be empowered with the right to remove themselves from corporate profiling.

Greater understanding

Under the new regulations EU citizens will have the right to request insight into how their data is being used.

How your business can prepare

With the new changes set to take effect any month now, it’s important for British businesses to have an in-depth understanding of how to comply with the updates. One of the most effective ways to boost compliance credentials is to invest in document scanning services that digitalise all data, as it rolls in. This will ensure that all documents are safely stored in an electronic database. Should an audit be initiated your business will be able to produce all key documents in a matter of minutes.