How to Bring Business Knowledge to Life

Albert Einstein said that “The only source of knowledge is experience”. So where do you store your experience? And when you need it, how do you access it?

Any company that prioritises growth relies heavily on streamlined processes. From onboarding new staff, to identifying prospect needs; access to information can be the difference when it comes to achieving your quarterly targets. Let’s look at how paper is a barrier to information access, and the steps that can be taken to supercharge the democratisation of knowledge that can scale your business.

1. HR & Administration

Human resources and administration processes are a vital part of any business. Not only do these departments handle recruitment and employee information, but they must also ensure that company and legislative policies and codes of conduct are maintained throughout the company, as well as monitoring of the wellbeing of staff. This is a large and difficult undertaking which becomes even more complex the larger a company grows. It is made all the more complicated by all of this information being kept in physical documents.

To misplace or lose an employee’s personal information, or other sensitive data managed by HR, is a violation of both GDPR and the trust of staff. It can lead to severe consequences, such as loss of employment for the person/people responsible, the suing of the company, and/or significant fines of up to €20 million or 4% of your business’ global turnover due to breach of GDPR. Furthermore, the amount of time spent by HR on tedious administrative tasks is 73%, the majority of which consists of organising and finding files. This wastes precious time that could be allocated to tasks that would better benefit the company. These files can also take up significant space which could also be better utilised.

2. Accounting

When working within an accounting department, one deals with many different documents from supplier invoices to staff payroll. Each of these files hold importance and must be maintained and tracked accurately. This is made difficult by this information being retained in hardcopies only. If an error is made in accounting, it can have considerable knock-on effects for the entire company. If a client or supplier is overcharged/undercharged, or staff are paid incorrectly, it leads to awkward interactions. Not only this, but in the majority of cases, it makes people lose trust in the company and clients are more likely to leave for a competitor.

The loss of any financial documents can lead to leaked information, which is na infringement on GDPR. The loss of files can cause further issues in a company’s finances including failing audits. A lack of a clear audit trail can lead to or exacerbate other issues. The consequences of failing an audit include damaging the company’s image, and the loss of revenue and jobs. For example, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, in the aftermath of failing audits, was forced to close costing 14,000 people their jobs and the loss of $1.85 billion for some one million bank depositors.

3. Information Management

Managing the information of a company is a process that must be done well. The volume of information processed by an office annually, and in some cases weekly, is immense. The sorting, filing, organisation, and storing of files that hold this information is laborious and time-consuming. It has been found that the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper annually and typically an employee will spend 30 – 40% of their time looking for information held in filing cabinets. This is an inefficient method of handling information management.

Environmentally, the amount of paper wasted in this process is significant and increases the carbon footprint of a company. Time is wasted on searching for information and file storage is cumbersome and inhibiting, each 4 drawer file cabinet takes up 9 sq. ft. of floor space and costs around €1,500 per annum. Furthermore, physical documents are a leading cause of clutter in an office. Clutter and mess can have a significant negative impact on one’s mental health and productivity. Current Psychology found that disorder has a considerable link to procrastination and can provoke various negative physiological responses, such as increased production of the stress hormone cortisol. This accumulates to decreased productivity, which combined with the time and space used for file storage, costs the company.

A Simple Solution

These problems can be easily solved. Physical paper creates a multitude of needless complications and difficulties for any business that are avoidable through the digitisation of these processes. In Kefron we utilise the Kodak i5000 Series scanner, the Opex Falcon Red scanner, and IQ Quattro 4400 scanner to digitise any existing or future documents a client has. Once all files are scanned it is easy for any company to switch to digital to streamline their business processes. All scanned material can be made searchable, as well as the text contained in it, so the search for information is made quick and simple.

The space saved by this option can be better utilised for your employees. It also helps facilitate remote and hybrid working as files and information can be retrieved from any location, there is no need for staff to travel to the office for information. All data held on the Kefron server is encrypted, kept secure, and backed-up so that only those authorised to view the documents can access them, keeping them out of ill-intentioned hands. In addition, all of your information is safe and easily recoverable should any disasters befall your office.

For more information on scanning and digitisation for bringing your business knowledge to life, click here.