As economic conditions improve nationwide, Fargo, North Dakota is one area of the country leading the way. Business there runs smartly, and Forbe’s recently recognized this fact in their 2010 report of “Best Places for Business and Careers”. Fargo placed in the top 10 on the list… in ninth place to be specific, of best small metros across the entire U.S.

Craig Whitney, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead stated, “As the labor department releases the news that the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless aid is soaring, Fargo Moorhead earns a national spotlight for its reasonable business costs, strong economic outlook and solid quality of life.”

Within the buzzing business ecosystem of the Fargo Moorhead area is a good friend of ours, Information Management Systems (IMS), who has been doing their part helping businesses in the region since 1995 with “precise-fit” technology solutions. One of those solutions, of course, is document management software. And in an area where business is buzzing, document management makes a perfect fit.

Here’s one reason why: Research has shown that, on average, one-half of information workers spend as much as 2 hours a day searching for the information they need. That amounts to $625,000 per year spent on “searching” in a company with 100 employees at an average cost $50,000 each. Reducing the time it takes to search and find information means that a portion of that $625,000 in time will instead be spent doing other more productive things that have a higher return on investment than thumbing through filing cabinets.

IMS will be at the Fargo Moorhead “Business After Hours” event this Thursday, April 22 with other leaders in the area. Stop by and visit with them to learn more about information management and how they can help you lead the way.

So much ballyhoo was made recently about the University of Wisconsin’s novel cost-cutting measure: Changing the default font in their email system from the standard Arial typeface to Century Gothic. They discovered that Century Gothic is a lighter, thinner font that uses about 30% less ink than Arial when printed.

As news of the university’s discovery streamed over the radio, the question I asked myself (like I’m sure so many others did) is why would anyone be printing emails in the first place? Sure, everyone prints an occasional email now and then. But enough to save thousands of dollars a year in printer ink?

As the story went on, it became less clear if so many emails are really being printed as to save a lot of printer ink using the different font. So, it’s the discovery itself that is most interesting here. Not the discovery of Century Gothic over Arial as a toner-saving typeface… rather the example that such small, seemingly insignificant steps can lead to big benefits over time. If reducing the ink used when printing emails saves money, just imagine what savings can be had from managing email files electronically?

For fans of quick videos, our design team recently updated the Document Locator introduction movie. It’s just a document management snack. You can check it out on our document management YouTube channel and our Facebook as well.

Every year ColumbiaSoft, like so many corporations, is eager to extend a cheerful holiday “best wishes” to customers and friends. It’s a way of showing our gratitude and appreciation, and just staying in touch.

But being a developer of electronic document management software, it just doesn’t fit our style to send paper cards the old fashioned way via the post office. We made the jump from paper greetings to electronic holiday cards a number of years ago, and despite some initial apprehension, it’s now so natural that we’d never go back.

Sure, paper cards do still hold some advantage. There’s something to be said about tangible, physical things that can actually be held in hand. It seems more permanent. But the fact is, holiday cards are by-and-large fleeting moments in a day. While the message (hopefully) will be held in the head… most people file, route, or toss the paper card just moments after they read it. 

I was reading somewhere that in the United Kingdom alone there are over 1 billion paper holiday cards mailed, and that one tree is needed for each 3,000 of the fleeting holiday thoughts. (That’s over 300,000 trees!). The numbers seem a bit high, and perhaps might be inflated. But regardless what the actual number is… I’m certain it’s staggering.

So… this year again we saved another couple of trees (not to mention several thousands of dollars in printing and mailing) by delivering our greetings electronically. Happy Holidays to you too!

Moving a company headquarters office from one location can trigger discussions on all manner of topics, from how close one department is located to another, to how much of that expensive real estate is allocated to document storage. 

Fortunately for us, the latter discussion over document storage space will not be an issue when we make our big move in just a few months.

That’s right, in just a few months time ColumbiaSoft will be moving a short distance to larger, more spacious digs with room to grow our document management brain trust, and expand our on-site training facilities. (But, it’s not the extra space that solves our document storage dilemma.)

From our own experience in helping customers who are on the move, we know that document storage is a common topic when office  locations change. We hear it all time: “We’re moving, and we don’t want to waste space at our new location for document storage and filing cabinets.”

Our answer, of course, is always the same: document management software.

I noticed today that ARMA – the national association of Records Managers and independent authority on all things records management related, was getting some attention on their Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP). I thought that readers here might be interested as well. For anyone developing policy, putting together a new operational plan, or just interested in the concepts behind records management and document management software, it’s a great place to start.

A quick note to welcome Spectrum IT Services into our referral network of Solution Advisors.

Spectrum IT Services is a division of long-time Document Locator customer Spectrum CPA Group.With Spectrum’s IT division now offering outsourced IT services direct to customers, and having knowledge and expertise of the document management system from internal installations, joining the Solution Advisor network and recommending Document Locator to customers made a lot of sense.

Jonathan Biviano, IT Manager at Spectrum IT Services said… “Many of our customers are looking for better ways to manage information and lessen their impact on the environment, yet not everyone has IT resources on hand to tackle the challenge. We can recommend a proven software package in Document Locator as all or part of a solution that maximizes human and equipment resources. Spectrum IT does this either in partnership with existing IT staff, or as a company’s entire IT department.”

Welcome aboard, Spectrum! Read the full story in our document management news.

Studies have shown that the average office worker uses as much as 10,000 sheets of paper a year. Where does all that paper go? It’s thrown away, filed away, shuffled among co-workers, and shipped around in slow, costly, delivery processes.  So, going paperless has some real advantages, and here is just a few examples…

First, it eliminates hard dollar costs. Not just the cost of paper itself, but things like storage and mailing, and the cost of using valuable office space for filing cabinets.

Paperless information can be searched and retrieved much faster, without leaving your desk. Filing and retrieval is reduced from minutes to seconds – a real productivity gain.

Plus, it’s easier to share information. Not just because files are electronic; A paperless system supports collaboration tools like check-in/check-out, document version control, email archiving, and remote access.

Even more, in a regulated environment, a paperless document management system reduces risk because you can find documents immediately, control access, and record history.

You can also automate business processes. Electronic notifications, document workflow, and approval steps can be used to automate everything from invoice approvals in accounting, to employee evaluations in Human resources.

Finally, there are advantages for business continuity. Digital documents are more easily backed-up, and can be made available quickly in the event of a disaster.

Together with our partner Kodak, ColumbiaSoft discussed and demonstrated some paperless benefits recently in a webinar that highlighted Kodak’s Capture Pro scanning software together with the Document Locator document management system. If interested in going paperless, you’re welcome to check out a recording of the seminar to learn more.

“Going paperless” isn’t just good for the planet, there are practical business benefits as well. Sure, saving trees is a great added bonus. But, on April 22, we’re going to be discussing some business reasons for a paperless office in a webinar: Document Scanning: Best practices for a Paperless Approach using Document Management. All who are interested are welcome to join us.

From time to time, members of our team here at ColumbiaSoft are called on by various magazines and other media publications to contribute articles extending their knowledge of document management. For those in the construction industry in particular, you may be interested in the latest article by ColumbiaSoft product manager Scott Zieg who writes in Modern Contractor Solutions about the “Top 5 Document Management Solutions.” Scott says…

Remember when contractors focused on construction, not paperwork? Construction document management software can restore the balance.

You can read the entire article here: http://www.moderncontractorsolutions.com/articlesdetail.php?id_articles=504&id_artcatg=5