Iron Mountain Study: Paperless Office Is Still Not A Reality

European companies risk Hamburg 24 October 2012 by chaotic storage of paper documents data losses. Just in time for the World paper free Day”service provider for document management and data protection, Iron Mountain noted on October 25 in a study, that the paperless office for many European companies is not feasible. Documents on paper continue to occupy an important role in company and will disappear in the near future, probably not from the offices. The study also shows that for many companies the management of large paper archives is problematic on their premises: these companies are reinforced by overloaded and unorganized archiving systems exposed to the risk of losing data or damage. In addition, they are not able to make full use of their information.

In the study, information management decision-makers were interviewed in the legal, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and financial sectors in Germany, England, France, Holland, Spain and Hungary. It turned out, that more than half (58 percent) of companies outsources most of its paper documents in a central archive on the premises. Often, documents in basements are archived, making sensitive customer data and business-critical documents are exposed to risks such as flooding, mold or damage by rodents. More than half (51 percent) of all companies surveyed by Iron Mountain said that most of their important customer data in paper form is archived. 45 Percent said that their resources with respect to retention and access to data are very busy: important information can therefore not fast enough call off. 37 Percent went even so far as messy to designate as their document archiving, with barely recognizable structures; and documents, which never resurface. It is particularly alarming that two percent of the companies have no structures for the archiving of customer data.

Many companies are also deeply concerned that is the management of paper-based information negatively affects their business. Only 24 percent believe that they can have reasonable access to their customer information and operate as effective customer management. 49 Percent fear losing valuable historical documents; a quarter not is able to introduce a system for document management that is both documents in hard copy and in digital format. The paperless office may be an unrealistic goal for many, but reached a paper-efficient environment,”Hans-Gunter Borgmann by Iron Mountain Germany believes. Companies produce, copy and file paper documents and they will continue to do it. Our study shows that only one percent of European companies has created a paperless work environment. We encourage the digitization of paper documents to rush. Instead companies should deal with the question, how they use your information, and then the documents, digitize on which they regular access. Companies need to pool their resources to the most important documents: business documents, customer data, and business intelligence. The rest of the documents can company for a certain time offsite storage as part of a corporate information responsibilty program.”

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