Business Information Systems: Transitioning to a Paperless Office

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report analyzes the transition to a paperless office.

MITS4001 BUSINESS INFORMATION
SYSTEMS

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Q1. Why is it important to strip away old ways of working when introducing systems such as
those brought in by Liverpool Direct and Hyde?............................................................................4
Q2. Using the Internet as a resource, locate information regarding a simple document
management system, such as Scansoft's PaperPort Office. How useful is such a product likely to
be within a department of a large company or a small business?....................................................5
Q3. What is the likelihood that the paperless office will ever be achieved?...................................6
Q4. If a company implements a workflow management system such as the one described in the
case study, what would be the expected changes in the business processes. What do you think
would be the drivers for success of such a project?.........................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
In this report there is an analysis and research about various aspects of a business who wants to
go paperless. How will it help the Liverpool Direct and Hyde to stay a float in this tough time?
How to find effective ways to go paperless and increase productivity in a company?

Q1. Why is it important to strip away old ways of working when introducing
systems such as those brought in by Liverpool Direct and Hyde?
The reason of stripping the old methods of working because in order to make space for new ways
we have to make strip away the old ways which is a step in the right direction. Liverpool Direct
paper consumption is very high and which is automatically resulting in high costing in
companies’ budget. The performance standards are also getting lower and lower because of
increasing price. After analysing all this, the conclusion is that, in order to survive this hard time,
the company has to stop using the old ways and start implementing new methods which can save
cost and still maintaining the efficiency. According to old methods, searching a file will take
more than 4 hours and it will cost nearly 750,000 euros of company earnings. But after
digitization this cost is far less than it was before and the average time taken to search a file is 4
min which is a big improvement from the 4 hours. The biggest challenge that company faced
was to make their staff adapt to the new ways especially the senior staff. As most of the people
are comfortable with their old methods of working but to survive these crises, implementing new
ways was a necessary step. Communication channels were also improved as the employees are
communication digitally which results in saving expenses. Digitizing the interview process also
helped the company to save over 55,000 paper per year. Not only that it also helps the
recruitment process to get more faster and sturdier. But after all this the challenges cannot be
ignored. The biggest challenge is yet to convince the senior staff to learn the new system of
working.

Q2. Using the Internet as a resource, locate information regarding a simple
document management system, such as Scansoft's PaperPort Office. How
useful is such a product likely to be within a department of a large company
or a small business?
PaperPort is a software which is used in managing various documents and records in a well-
maintained manner. This software also allows the user to share the file and store them over the
cloud network. The benefit of storing the files over the cloud is that they can accessed from
anywhere around the world. This software can also e use to create and share electronic forms
which can be later share in the cloud network so that everyone can have the access to it from
anywhere on the planet. Data can also be captured by using devices like scanner and digital
cameras. Pictures taken from the digital camera can be stored on the cloud network. For a single
person, PaperPort provides a very well- maintained interface for organizing and storing private
files. Using scanner for scanning files and converting them into PDF version so that they can be
uploaded to the cloud network for global sharing and feasibility. This software is not limited just
for office documents or records, it can also be used for storing bank statements, tax information,
pictures, phone bills, electricity bill etc. one more advantage of using cloud storage is that it open
various communication channels which can improve efficiency
This software is beneficial for both a large and small business. As it is a fact that there is
shortage of data storage so everyone is switching over cloud storage. By using PaperPort there
will be an assistant to store and organize the important file of business and employees can use
them to upload files which are being required for development and documentation.[1]

Q3. What is the likelihood that the paperless office will ever be achieved?
To go completely paperless, the company have to build the infrastructure from ground up.
Paperless office will be very easy and feasible to manage. Going paperless will make a huge
difference because it will reduce the time it takes to manage paper records. Having all the
records digitally can really help the company to improve efficiency. Digital files are very easy to
search and maintain, they can be backed up without applying many efforts. In the above study, is
has been researched that maintaining paper record are very costly and time consuming. It can
cost over 700,000 euros and can take up to 3-4 hours to search a file. But going paperless is not
easy as it seems. Liverpool used those technologies to maintain their records and their senior
staff learn and get train in the new working ways by the new systems. Going paper less will
decrease the cost of communication channel as all the communication will happen digitally.
Using computer system in company’s recruitment process will save up to 58,000 paper in a year.
Stripping away the old ways is not only about cost it is also about providing financial and social
aid to the company and to its employees. The hiring process will become much faster if all the
procedure has done digitally. Using digital system for hiring and firing can be very time and cost
efficient. Also, through digital system the information can travel so much more distance that it
can through the medium of paper. So, in addition it can be said that there are more and more
chances of many companies like this one to go paperless and implement digital system in their
daily office tasks.

Q4. If a company implements a workflow management system such as the one
described in the case study, what would be the expected changes in the
business processes. What do you think would be the drivers for success of
such a project?
Various companies adapt to different workflow management over the time to improve efficiency.
Many methods are introduced to make a company more and more efficient. But changing the
workflow process is not sufficient, the company also had to make their employees learn and
adapt to changing circumstances. In this case study the challenge face by Liverpool was to make
their employee adapt to new ways of working. It was a big step from the traditional paper
system. Employee must understand that efficiency and cost is not the only reason behind this
change in workflow, there are environmental concerns too. If the company keeps in using more
and more paper every day then more and more trees are going to be cut down to feed the demand
of paper which will increase the rate of global warming.
Just thinking efficient is not enough, doing proper analysis and research is also very important.
Because going digital also require some capital. So, to implement this new way of working, there
should be proper facts and figure with charts and graphs to make the board understand the
necessity of this change. Liverpool used those technologies to maintain their records and their
senior staff learn and get train in the new working ways by the new systems. Going paper less
will decrease the cost of communication channel as all the communication will happen digitally.
Digitizing the interview process also helped the company to save over 55,000 paper per year. If
facts like can be presented then the workflow management system such as the one described in
the case study will cause the change but they will be very beneficial to the company and
employees.

Conclusion
This report is the answer to various question of information system in business. It provided
analysis and summary of the case study of the brief. There was discussion about how a company
is surviving this tough market by going digital. Using software like PaperPort for maintain
records and statements in a well-organized way. How the recruitment process will become more
efficient after applying this workflow management system.

References
[1]"Online Form Builder with Cloud Storage Database | Wufoo", Wufoo, 2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.wufoo.com/.
[2]"PaperPort | OCR Software", Nuance Communications, 2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.nuance.com/print-capture-and-pdf-solutions/optical-character-recognition/paperport-for-
pc.html.
[3]2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-benefits-from-paperless-document-
management.
[4]"Allstate Verification Services", Facebook.com, 2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.facebook.com/allstateverifications/posts/1246897978715047.