In the beginning, “going paperless” was thought of as an archiving process – a way to preserve paper content for the long term, by converting the paper to digital format. Things have really changed since that first initiative to shrink paper. Going paperless now means digitizing your paper content so it is easily merged with all of the other electronic processes that keep your law firm humming.

Perhaps “going paperless” is in your strategic plan for 2019. No doubt you are carefully sifting solutions providers, considering hardware, and thinking about the details of implementation. What you’ve likely found during your investigation is the range of options in all areas of this project, are vastly different than just a few years ago.

HARDWARE

To start at the beginning, consider your scanning hardware. In many implementations, a high-volume scanner is essential for the “central scanning team” in the copy center. Meanwhile, “convenience scanners” are time savers when placed in close proximity to desks throughout the office.

For the high-volume scanner, consider these features:

• Blank page removal. Makes dealing with a mix of double and single sided documents much easier.
• Scanning tab inserts. Yes indeed, there are scanners that can accommodate scanning tab inserts (feed the hole-punch side into the scanner). This can be a tremendous time-saver, otherwise you are removing tabs in inserting 8 1/2 x 11 pages with the corresponding tab number.
• Hole punch removal. Speaking of hole punches, some scanners can detect-and-remove the image of the 3-hole punch, producing a nicer scanned result, especially if you might be reprinting the document.
• DPI choices: smaller (or less) DPI is better in terms of scan-document size, as long as the scan is legible. Experiment with your scanner of choice to see how well you like 150, 200, or 300 DPI.
• Deskew and Despeckle: these features can really clean up scans that go through misaligned, scans of older documents or scans of 3rd or 4th-generation prints that have lots of “artifacts” on the pages that often originates from residue on the machine glass. These features are worth testing to assure they perform as expected.
• OCR is a typical feature of most scanners today, but quality can vary when compared to OCR tools (like Acrobat for example). Be sure the OCR feature can be turned on/off because you may decide to have OCR performed by software outside the scanner itself.

SOFTWARE

There are several software components to consider when planning your paperless office project:

• Scanner Controller: Almost any scanner you select today, will have an accompanying piece of software to control scanner functions. On lower-end scanners, this software will operate on a workstation connected to the scanner. On higher-end scanners, the software is “embedded” in a built-in device hardware panel.
• Process Controller: This piece of software is the “heart” of your paperless solution. The process controller should let you define workflows so that scanning tasks can be moved among staff.

In either case, take a look at how the software operates. Can you create scan “profiles” for faster access to features? Can you boil down the process to one click or the press of a button? Ease of use is essential. Be sensitive to the end user who is not technically savvy. Other people may not achieve proficiency because they have a role with infrequent usage needs.

What are the tasks in the process? Selection (incoming paper, open file paper, closed file paper?), classifying, document prep, scanning, quality control checking, and disposition. Assignment of paperless office “tasks” to different users so that the work matches the pay grade. That sounds indelicate, but tasks like coding paper documents or doing document prep work need to be performed by employees who are paid much less than knowledge workers.

Look carefully at how the process controller facilitates quality control. Someone should be comparing scanned documents to the hard copy. This is done to confirm the scan is legible and not missing any pages. This is usually done by visual inspection. Random sampling is effective so that checking every scan is unnecessary.

• The system of record for the electronic document: You have one, whether it is Dropbox, a formal case management application or a document management system. Your Process Controller, the core of the scanning solution, should integrate directly with your system of record. Extra steps to move scanned documents into the system of record are a waste of time and money.
• OCR: There are several choices – but OCR is an essential step and a huge value-add when scanning paper. In the ideal world, your core scanning solution, the Process Controller, includes an OCR solution to make the OCR step seamless.

EFFICIENCY

Gains in efficiency can lead to significant gains in productivity, especially when those gains are reflected across the firm with a repeatable process like document scanning. Imagine the number of steps each person completes when scanning and multiply that across number of paper documents and the number of people involved in the scanning process. You get the picture.

Henry Ford discovered this first: Doing work in batches makes a difference. The scanning process in this context looks like an assembly line. Recall the steps recited above:

• Selection (incoming paper, open file paper, closed file paper)
• Classifying
• Document prep
• Scanning
• Quality control
• Disposition

Each of these steps may be composed of several tasks. Arrange tasks in batches wherever possible and assign steps to the right pay grade to achieve significant gains in productivity.

Here are a two examples:

SCANNING

The actual process of scanning paper is much more efficient when documents can be scanned in batches. Imagine a solution that allows users to select, classify, and prep paper documents, and accumulate multiple documents into a batch for scanning.

This batch could be handed off to someone using a high-speed scanner, making the scanning step much more efficient. Some scanning must be done immediately for individual documents. This is referred to as convenience scanning and that is what a desk-side scanner is ideal for.

QUALITY CONTROL

Another example is quality checking. The person doing quality checking must be in possession of the paper that will be compared to the scanned image. This implies that the person doing the scanning is also doing the quality checking, but that is not the case with batch scanning. Once you have a batch scanning process in place, it is logical that quality checking is executed in batches as well. Designate a QC person to perform the inspections and approve the scanned results. They will set the paper documents aside for shredding once they are approved. Otherwise, a paper document is set aside for a repair process when it is rejected for any reason.

Look carefully at your scanning workflows and consider which steps can be “batched” because that is the essential part of any workflow, especially one like scanning.

PAYOFFS

Why go paperless at all? Law firms have operated perfectly well for years using paper as the currency for information, but a confluence of factors makes this change necessary. Here are some reasons why:

• Space: Reducing office square footage is a common priority these days. Whether it’s the cost per square foot, or a desire to design better more efficient work spaces, a move to offices that do not accommodate rows of filing cabinets is a clear trend. To squeeze into less footage usually requires a hard look at document polices and an aggressive and concerted effort to digitize relevant paper.
• Redundancy and security: If someone said… “Make a copy of every paper document and lock it all in a vault.” You would ask; “How?” It is simply not feasible. But once paper is digitized, it is an easy feat to accomplish. To rely on the paper record as an official matter file is risky for a number of reasons, including misplaced, lost, stolen or damaged documents. Paper is a great user interface for the 2% of the time you are using it while it is actually in your hands, but for the other 98% of the time, paper adds risks, costs and inefficiencies for your law firm. A physical paper file does not meet today’s standards for information governance.
• Any information anywhere any time: Lawyers and clients are mobile. Making relevant documents available to mobile users simply cannot be achieved with paper. Only when all documents are digitized, can they be accessed remotely within very secure electronic confines. Then you can you meet the needs of mobile lawyers and mobile clients.
• Velocity: Ever since the invention of the telegraph, the time factor between an information request and the information retrieval/response has been shrinking. Today, the expectation is an on-demand “instantaneous” response. The velocity of information is impeded by paper and enhanced by digital information.

Think of it this way: Paper is like the cholesterol of information flow… Digitizing removes the sludge.

• Information Governance: There are a raft of information governance issues beyond the scope of this article that drive us to digitized paper, but a central issue for law firms is establishing the official record for a matter. This means that all relevant information about a matter should be collected in one source. For law firms, that is the document management system or case management system. To get there means digitizing the paper so it can join the collection of “already digital” content you create or receive each day for any given matter.
• Profitability: If for no other reason, go paperless because it is profitable. Even with the up-front cost to transform your systems to support a paperless office, the returns are significant.

What are some of the benefits besides those discussed above? Searching through pages and pages of digitized paper in ways that simply cannot be accomplished with a hard copy. Re-use of documents, access and sharing of documents, and controls … all mean lower costs, greater efficiency, and substantially stronger information security. Then there is the data.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” That is certainly true with your paperless office.

Your paperless office “process controller” software should be able to collect and report on a raft of paperless-process statistics. A few examples:

• Who is cataloging paper documents into your system of record? And how many documents are they cataloging? The “who” might be viewed as individuals or practice areas.
• How many documents are identified for shredding? A percentage measure is important because it will disclose trends. How does this compare to the “before paperless” shredding practices?
• How many documents are identified to be returned to practice or filed in records? Why are these paper documents being “preserved”?
• What volume of printing is sourced from documents in your DMS or records management system?

Data can paint a very clear picture of what is happening inside your paperless office. Don’t overlook this when selecting a solution.

SUMMARY:

We’ve come a long way since the days when scanning was the means, and archiving was the end result. Today’s paperless initiatives are transforming firms into agile, efficient, and profitable organizations that are connected by digital information.