Document Digitisation: A Paperless Office in 90 Days

Paperless companies cut operating costs by 40% and improve productivity by 35%. Ready for the change?

Immediate benefits of getting rid of paper:

💰 Financial savings:

• 80% reduction in printing costs
• No more filing cabinets or the space they take
• Less time hunting for documents
• Lower spend on supplies

🌱 Environmental benefits:

• A smaller carbon footprint
• Lower resource consumption
• A greener corporate image

⚡ Operational efficiency:

• Instant document search
• Simultaneous collaboration
• Remote access to files
• Automatic backup

A 90-day digitisation plan:

Days 1–30: preparation and planning

Week 1: document audit

• Inventory of document types
• Current paper volume
• Processes that require paper
• Identification of critical documents

Week 2: tool selection

• High-speed scanner
• OCR software
• Document management system
• Team training

Week 3: initial setup

• Hardware installation
• Software setup
• Creating the folder structure
• Defining the naming convention

Week 4: pilot run

• Digitise one small department
• Validate the processes
• Adjust the workflows
• Resolve the early problems

Days 31–60: mass digitisation

Weeks 5–6: historical documents

• Contracts and agreements
• Invoices and tax documents
• Legal documents
• HR files

Weeks 7–8: operational documents

• Processes and procedures
• Manuals and specifications
• Important correspondence
• Project documents

Days 61–90: rollout and optimisation

Weeks 9–10: digital workflows

• Electronic signature
• Digital approvals
• Document flows
• Integration with your systems

Weeks 11–12: refinement

• Process optimisation
• Advanced training
• Physical disposal of the paper
• Establishing policies

Tools by budget:

Low budget (€500–2,000):

• Scanner: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600
• Software: Adobe Acrobat DC
• Storage: Google Drive Business
• OCR: ABBYY FineReader

Mid budget (€2,000–10,000):

• Scanner: Brother ADS-3000N
• DMS: M-Files or DocuWare
• Storage: OneDrive + SharePoint
• Workflow: Microsoft Power Automate

High budget (€10,000+):

• Scanner: Kodak i5850S
• DMS: a full enterprise ECM
• Infrastructure: dedicated servers
• Integration: custom APIs

Document types to digitise, by priority:

High priority:

1. Contracts currently in force
2. Invoices from the current year
3. Legal documents
4. Certificates and licences
5. Employee records

Medium priority:

1. Important correspondence
2. Project documents
3. Manuals and procedures
4. Historical invoices
5. Marketing documents

Low priority:

1. The general historical archive
2. Reference documents
3. Training material
4. Old catalogues
5. Routine correspondence

Optimal OCR settings:

• Resolution: 300 DPI minimum
• Format: PDF/A for long-term archiving
• Colour: greyscale for text
• Compression: balanced quality vs size
• Languages: configure Spanish + English

File naming:

Suggested format: [YYYY-MM-DD][TYPE][DESCRIPTION]_[VERSION]

Examples:

• 2024-03-15_CONTRACT_ITServices_v1.pdf
• 2024-03-15_INVOICE_001234_SupplierXYZ.pdf
• 2024-03-15_MANUAL_BackupProcedure_v2.pdf

Folder structure:

/Company_Documents
  /01_Administration
    /Contracts
    /Invoices
    /Legal
  /02_HR
    /Employees
    /Payroll
    /Training
  /03_Operations
    /Procedures
    /Manuals
    /Projects
  /04_Archive
    /2023
    /2022
    /Historical

Retention policies:

• Contracts: 10 years after expiry
• Invoices: 6 years (tax obligation)
• Payroll: 75 years
• Legal: permanent
• Operational: 3 years

Security and access:

1. Access levels:

   • General read access
   • Departmental editing
   • Full administration

2. Audit trail:

   • Who opened the document
   • When it was modified
   • What was changed

3. Backup:

   • Automatic daily copy
   • Document versioning
   • Distributed storage

Expected ROI after 12 months:

• Printing savings: €2,000–5,000
• Space savings: €1,000–3,000
• Time savings: €5,000–15,000
• Supplies savings: €500–1,500
• Total: €8,500–24,500 a year

Common mistakes to avoid:

1. Not defining naming standards
2. Digitising without disposing of the original paper
3. Not training the team properly
4. No backup of the digital documents
5. Not setting up digital approval flows