Re: filmscanners: real value? paperless office

[Richard <soho@eircom.net>]

it works for me. nuff said.
-- 

Regards

Richard

//////////////
 | @ @ ------->>> Richard <soho@eircom.net>
  C _) )           
   --- '           
 __ /

> From: "Laurie Solomon" <laurie@advancenet.net>
> Reply-To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 21:00:27 -0600
> To: <filmscanners@halftone.co.uk>
> Subject: RE: filmscanners: real value? paperless office
> 
>> Fact is anyone who sends me an mega important doc will always have a copy
>> themselves if we ever need it.
> 
> How can you count on this if we were actually in a "paperless society" or if
> the other person was or was in a "paperless office" like you.  Why would you
> expect them to have a copy themselves that they could get to you if you
> needed it?  Why couldn't it be possible that they did not have an existent
> paper copy and only had an electronic copy but their computer system was
> down due to a power blackout, a system crash, a hard drive crash, a virus
> attack, a hacker attack, or an accidental erasure of the original file. In
> such a case, what if you needed it yesterday but they could not get back
> online to get you a copy or locate or get access to the backup copy for
> several days.
> 
>> There is always a risk with whatever media you choose. Just recently a
>> hospital here in Ennis was flooded and lost 3 years of patients records. A
>> fire in a local accountants ruined their business. We have a serious daily
>> back-up policy in place. Try backing up 2 ton of paperwork.
> 
> While what you say has some merit; it does ignore certain types of issues
> and situations.  Many people, for reasons of personal security, insist on
> having their own personal copies of important files under their exclusive
> control for their own personal protection - be it internal office politics
> or external reasons.  In many such cases, they do not want said documents to
> be on the company server or even on a hard drive on their personal company
> workstation, which other higher company authorities can legally access and
> which are not covered by personal privacy laws and policies.  For them, hard
> paper copy constitutes real, hard, concrete evidence and/or documentation
> that is less open to question than an electronic version which may be easier
> to alter without leaving any easily recognizable trace of the alteration
> something which will only increase as the digital advances take place.  You
> can scientifically test the age of a paper document, identify the
> handwriting or typewriter that produced it, determine if it is an original
> or a copy, readily recognize any erasures,  whiteouts, cut & pasting, etc.
> It is not so with electronic files and documents.
> 
>> We have the option to print any of the 20,000 docs if we wish.
> 
> I respectfully submit that it is precisely that option which technically
> makes an office a "paper office" rather than a purely and truly "paperless"
> one. If you - the royal you is intended here - decided on each and every
> occasion to exercise that option when reading, writing, or working on those
> documents, what would differentiate your office from a traditional paper
> based one where there is an electronic option equivalent to the option which
> you describe.  In both case, it would ultimately boil down to a matter of
> personal convenience of the user or office worker,
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> [mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Richard
> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 6:08 AM
> To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> Subject: Re: filmscanners: real value? paperless office
> 
> 
>> I would suggest (a) that your office is a rarity,
> 
> I suppose it is.
> 
>> (b) your office
>> technically is not a "paperless office" in that you still receive
> invoices,
>> receipts, etc. from others that you need to scan in, and
> 
> er... obviously, but we then scan it and bin it.
> 
> All contractors invoice us by email, we don't accept paper from them.
> All correspondence is done by email and Word docs, PDF for the more complex
> stuff. All faxes are digital. All bank transactions are conducted on-line
> and we have records of accounts for the past 2 years printed into MarcoPolo
> from the browser. The VAT and TAX office accept the set-up for storing
> receipts etc. Everything is searchable.
> 
> Fact is anyone who sends me an mega important doc will always have a copy
> themselves if we ever need it.
> 
>> (c) most other
>> places which are relying heavily on electronic operations still tend to
> keep
>> paper backup files and archives of their files and records just in case as
>> do their workers for their personal security and use.
> 
> There is always a risk with whatever media you choose. Just recently a
> hospital here in Ennis was flooded and lost 3 years of patients records. A
> fire in a local accountants ruined their business. We have a serious daily
> back-up policy in place. Try backing up 2 ton of paperwork.
> 
>> It is still easier
>> for people to printout and read a hard copy version of a 100 page report
>> than to read it online or off the monitor - and often more convenient as
>> well.
> 
> We have the option to print any of the 20,000 docs if we wish.
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Regards
> 
> Richard
> 
> //////////////
> | @ @ ------->>> ricwalsh@eircom.net
> C _) )
> --- '
> __ /
> 
> 
> 
>