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The oldest operating theatre in England, Bristol Old Vic, has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £220,500 to create a landmark heritage project to celebrate its 250th birthday. The grant will support the nine month development project, and another grant is being submitted for a further £.2.26m in funding.

Already recognised as a centre of artistic distinction for its history and high quality programme of events, the nation’s oldest theatre will now also be an important heritage attraction. The project includes a refurbishment of part of the theatre, a conservation project for the original 18th century theatre façade, the protection of the theatre’s paper records and the creation of new public spaces and programmes, including an online archive.

Not only will the historic landmark be protected thanks to this funding, but also the records of the theatre will be preserved and available to a whole new audience. Archives of theatrical heritage will be brought to life during the project by scanning the heritage records which are currently held between the Bristol Record Office and the University of Bristol Theatre collection.

Creating a digital archive of documents which could date back hundreds of years isn’t without its difficulties – it’s vital to keep the originals in mint condition throughout the scanning process. Pearl Scan are experts in scanning delicate documents and books of high importance, ensuring the technology does not damage the records.

The Old Vic was originally named The Theatre Royal, and was built between 1764-1766. The lottery funding for the heritage project has been awarded at the perfect time so the artistic institution can celebrate its 250th birthday. The building can be restored and enjoyed for many years to come, and modern audiences will have access to some of the theatre’s programmes and archives online.

Emma Stenning, chief executive at Bristol Old Vic said, “We’re thrilled that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support as it will enable us to push forward with our exciting plans to transform the theatre into an internationally-significant hub of cultural and historical interest. This major redevelopment project will allow tourists, theatre audiences, day visitors and schoolchildren to engage with Bristol Old Vic’s fascinating heritage like never before.”

If you have a large collection of historical records or archives which you’d like to protect, we can help you digitise your collection with our heritage scanning service. Get in touch for more details.

The Feng Shui Effect

Do you want to go the extra mile for your employees, and provide a calming work environment? It could promote productivity and improve the health of your workforce – follow our Feng Shui tips and see the results for yourself.

Feng Shui principles can increase the sense of harmony in a room, and can therefore remove stress and increase creativity and inspiration in the office. Here are a few pointers for improving your workspace:

Incorporate more greenery

Don’t underestimate the power of plants – not only do they look pretty and brighten up the space, they also drastically improve the air quality. Many indoor plants have air-purifying qualities, such as the Boston fern and the Peace lily. They will silently remove toxins from the air which may be causing your staff to become unwell or unproductive. Installing plants is really easy for any working environment, so it’s a simple step to take with proven benefits.

De-clutter the space

People generally feel more relaxed in open, tidy spaces and there is nothing more distracting than piles of paper and unnecessary furniture. Part of this comes down to how tidy and organised your staff are, but you can help with the interior design of the office.

For example, are all those filing cabinets really necessary? How often do your staff need to locate records and documents dating back tens of years? Consider upgrading to a paperless office – it’s a lot easier than it sounds. With all business documents easily accessible from individual computers, there will be no need for ugly filing cabinets taking up room in the office.

Improve the light

Office lighting can make us feel tired and can really affect quality of work if it is not sufficient. Nothing can beat natural sunlight, so it’s good to choose a work space with lots of large windows to let the natural light pour in. Then make sure the overhead lights provide enough light, and consider fitting incandescent lamps to each desk so individuals can control their own lighting.
Implementing these Feng Shui practices is a way of investing in your staff and your clients. If people are asked to work in an environment with poor light, no colour and nothing interesting to look at, you can’t expect them to be full of energy and positivity. Create an environment they are happy to spend time in, and their work will be an extension of that positivity.

What We Can Learn From the Past: Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery plans are essential for any business as downtime can cost SMEs up to £170,000 per disaster. Software provider V1 recently found that only 17% of businesses have incorporated electronic document storage into disaster recovery plans. Disaster can strike at any time; past events such as The Great Fire of London and the Boxing Day tsunami have taught us that, which is why it is important to ensure that some kind of plan is in place to protect essential documents.

What is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster recovery is an area of planning designed to protect a business from the effects of unforeseen events such as flood, fire, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Such plans try and limit the disruption caused in the wake of a disaster allowing a business to quickly resume crucial everyday functions.

Past Events

There have been many unforeseen events that have happened throughout history which had a huge impact on businesses and communities. These highlight that no matter how much a business prepares, sometimes circumstances are out of its control.
The Great Fire of London was caused by a bakery, but natural disasters are harder to avoid. On average the USA experiences seven hurricanes over a four year period, with three major hurricanes crossing the coast every three years. This highlights the importance of disaster recovery and shows just how important it is for SMEs all over the world. Some countries may not experience hurricanes and extreme weather - however typhoons, thunderstorms, flash flooding and many more disasters affect various parts of the world, increasing the chances of businesses facing some kind of disastrous event at some point.

How to Avoid Disaster

Even if disastrous events are unavoidable in some cases, it doesn’t mean that SMEs shouldn’t take precautions to limit the impact they have. Pearl Scan offers many different document scanning solutions for all businesses, so that no matter the event they can be sure that important documents are safe.

Online cloud storage such as Halogen is also a good idea for businesses looking to implement a disaster recovery plan. This allows employees to upload files to the cloud which can then be accessed from anywhere in the world, on any kind of device. This way if disaster does strike and a company finds themselves out of the office for a while, work can continue as normal in a temporary location. Also, it means if paper documents and records were destroyed, information can still be accessed digitally.

Offices that operate a paperless office can draw on a number of benefits including increased employee productivity and a greener work environment due to the reduced use of paper. There are many ways that offices can convert to paperless operations. However, to transition seamlessly there are a few tips that can help make the experience smooth and seamless.

Start Small

Attempting to implement paperless operations in one big project can be detrimental to business. This can be avoided by starting small and working up in conversion size. Consider transitioning one office or department at a time, and ensuring that all employees are comfortable with the new operations before asking another area within the business to embrace the digital era.

Offer Employee Training

Switching to digital operations is easier when addressing issues with how a new system works straight away. Investing in time before converting an office to digital operations gives employees the chance to ask questions, develop their understanding and get to grips with plans before they are rolled out through a business. Such time investment can save time, money and make the transition easier as companies can be sure that all employees are singing off the same hymn sheet.

Spread the Word

Ensure that all members of a business are aware of the upcoming change and educate them on what going paperless means for their day-to-day activities. Slowly begin to discourage devices that use reams of paper such as printers, fax machines or photocopiers. Reducing paper usage means that staff will simplify day-to-day tasks.

Be sure to spread the message to the outside world too. This is a great way to generate publicity and is a unique selling point for any business. Paperless activities help make businesses eco-friendly. This can save money and boost brand reputation as well as bring in new earth-conscious customers.

Choose a Long Term Provider

Many companies offer paperless office services however, it is important to choose a company that will help make the transition easier not just at the beginning but for months and years to come. Some reputable companies offer as much or as little support as needed, giving customers the chance to draw on company experience and utilise the paperless experience in the best possible way.

Specialist document transition experts such as Pearl Scan Solutions can assist companies embracing the digital revolution at every step. With over a decade industry experience, Pearl Scan Solutions are experts in paperless operations and give companies everything they need to make the transition as seamless, effortless and beneficial as possible. That includes free search and retrieval software and a lifetime of support.

To find out how we can help your business why not give us a call and speak to one of our document specialists today!

Networking 101: Why It’s Important to Keep Hold of Old Business Cards

With so much of our personal and business lives turning digital these days, it can be easy to disregard business cards as a thing of the past. But we think you’d be wrong – the business card is such an integral part of networking that it’s not going to be replaced anytime soon. However, likely what you will do after receiving a business card will be digital, for example storing an email address or phone number. But it’s the act of conversation and sharing business cards which is effective and cannot be replaced.

Be Memorable

A business card gives you the opportunity to be remembered when networking. If we were to simply swap information digitally, there is no personality to the digital storage and you could be easily forgotten. However, a memorable and creative business card can be all the difference. Not to mention the likelihood that if it’s kept in a wallet or pocket then it’s a reminder of your conversation when the person comes across it.

Collect an Army of Contacts

It’s not just about giving out your business card – keeping your own collection can be very useful, too. Whether they could be potential B2B clients or you think you could work together in some way or form a partnership, having a mass of contacts to hand is helpful in a multitude of situations. However, it’s not so helpful if you have to search through a huge file or box full of business cards to find the particular contact you are looking for.

Scanning Business Cards

So what should you do to make locating people and their contact details easier? It would take hours to manually input all the data into your mobile phone, laptop or email address book. That’s a lot of time wasted, especially if you haven’t established a proper relationship with half of these contacts just yet. The easy way to do it is with business card scanning.

It’s so fast and easy to capture the data on any kind of business card, and store it in the format of your choice. Whether that’s an Excel spreadsheet, Outlook address book or into a Salesforce database, it can all be done automatically thanks to Pearl Scan’s innovative scanning technology.

Of course, you can always choose to keep the physical business cards too. They have a personal touch, and may help you to put faces to names or remember certain personality traits or business credentials of each contact. But for ease of use, it’s definitely more efficient to have data stored digitally as well.