So it’s logical to implement a system for generating client related correspondence and other documents that’s client focussed too. Then you can do the same for incoming letters and documents.

What’s more you can choose to archive selected documents by date or by client to off-line storage such as CD-ROM. So your document archiving is fully integrated with your system for document generation, document capture and document retrieval.

You’ll have heard of Customer Relationship Management systems – indeed you may already have one. It may be an integral part of your business - it should be at its very core.

To achieve this requires a CRM product that’s flexible enough to hold whatever information you need to know about your clients or customers, contacts and prospects. Many CRM products are implemented as basic card index systems.

To be truly effective your system should include a relational database. So that information is entered once only. Associated records are simply linked together.

If you need to know the bank details for all your customers you store the relevant bank names & addresses once. Then for each customer you simply record the bank reference.

Not only is this more efficient it also means that it’s incredibly easy to extract a list of all customers who bank at a particular branch.

Take a few minutes to think of examples for your business ……

Your CRM solution should also be integrated with your document management system.

Unless your CRM and document management systems are integrated you’ll be generating paper between them. You’ll also miss out on the immediate access to information that a totally integrated solution can bring.

If you’ve managed mailing campaigns you’ll know how time consuming they can be.

•   Identifying your target market

•   Producing the personalised letters or emails to those selected clients

•   Keeping track of those who’ve replied

•   Following up those who haven’t.

This should be an easy process if your CRM database is integrated with your document management system. It’ll be very inefficient if it’s not.

So are we there yet?

Not quite. There are two more aspects to consider …..

It’s impossible these days to underestimate the impact that the Internet and Email has on businesses. I’ll guess yours is no exception.

Everyone seems to be using the Internet and email has taken over from the fax – but is your business benefiting? The problem is one of control. And not just people access. How do you ensure a copy of every email is retained in the client’s file?

If you can’t provide a satisfactory answer to this question it’s holding back your business from the many benefits the Internet and email can bring.

No prizes for guessing the answer.

Your email must be integrated with your CRM and Document Management system. And because your client documents are held electronically it’s quick and easy to email them to your client.

If your client’s email address is held on file then you can be assured it gets to the right person – no embarrassing typos.

Outgoing email should be easy to control. Incoming though can be more problematic without the right solution.

How often do you get email from clients’ personal accounts such as daler@hotmail.com rather than dalerogers@practicenet.co.uk? And do you play email ping pong so that only the last response gets filed?

To store incoming email automatically in the right client file your system needs to have a record of every email address used by your clients. Otherwise you’ll need to select the client file for each unrecognised email address. This should only take a few seconds once you’ve read the email.

The benefits you get are …

Tight control over your email

If anyone in your business needs to refer to a particular email they simply look in the client’s electronic file.

The final element on the way to the paperless office is your Office Diary & Reminders …..

Look around your office and see how many telephone messages, yellow post its and various handwritten notes you can see. And how many hand written diaries does your office keep?

How much better would it be if you were automatically informed of documents you needed to see, telephone calls you needed to return, messages to reply to and who’s available for an urgent meeting.

Being reminded of meetings you are due to attend and dead-lines you have to meet mean you become proactive. Integrating your office diary to your CRM and document management system means that everyone who is permitted to do so can view and possibly update it.

What’s more as it’s integrated you can link appointments and actions to your people and your clients. So you see the whole picture.

But what about invoices, statements, tax returns, accounts filing, company returns, payroll year end reports …..

Well I’ve addressed those aspects that you control. You’re dependent on others such as suppliers and the government to help you address these other issues.

Some things you can do now, others will have to wait until later. You can submit company annual returns electronically and about 20 other forms as well. Payroll year end returns too.

Personal tax returns can be filed via the Internet and corporate tax returns accompanied by the accounts will follow shortly.

Using a simple "PDF" module it’s easy to create an electronic copy of your report as a "PDF". Your document management system should then prompt you to file it in the appropriate client file.

So to benefit from a virtual single database your application software doesn’t need to be from the same supplier.

The important thing is to make a start with those areas that you can easily improve.

The Profitable Benefits …

•   Quicker access to documents

•   Client information when you need it, e.g. when responding to a telephone call

•   Automatic reminders of dead-lines, actions and appointments

•   Standard letters that can be produced by everyone authorised to do so

•   Low cost and effective marketing to your clients

•   Reduced storage cost

•   Reduced stationery costs

•   Lower photocopying charges

... I’m sure you can think of many others relevant to your business.

If you’re still not convinced of the benefits then think of the time saving alone by doing this simple calculation:

Time taken to find a document =

No/docs needed per day/person =

No. of people =

Average charge out rate =

No of working days/year (220?) =

Now compare the total time to that from implementing a computer system – typically about 10 seconds per document.

Add on the time savings in creating and amending correspondence and you’ll be amazed at the potential increase in chargeable time running into thousands of £’s.

And don’t forget about the photocopying you currently do making copies of documents when several people are involved.

So there you have it – you’ve created a structure to your previous unstructured data and turned it into valuable information.

How to get there and what’s involved?

Start with Document Generation

You’re probably already using Microsoft Word and have created document templates for your standard letters. These can be imported for use straight away.

You may need others but are finding it too time consuming to write the complicated macros. Think how productive it would be if you could produce standard templates without macros.

Writing personalised letters from document templates is incredibly easy and encourages managers, directors, partners and business owners to write their own with immediate benefits. Or simply draft a letter for completion by your secretary.

Reviewing a draft on screen saves much time and avoids the need to print draft copies.

Your selected product will probably include a document tracking element. This will enable you to track changes to a document whilst it’s at the draft stage.

You may be using dictation software such as Via Voice or Dragon Dictate that generate Microsoft Word documents. It should be straightforward to integrate this with your Document Management System.

Your document management system is now client centric so to locate any document you simply select the client record. Then from the displayed list of documents choose the one you want.

If you prefer you can choose to categorise client documents by activity or person – so a particular group sees just their correspondence.

Your client files should contain everything that you’d expect to see in a paper file. Including - Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, incoming & outgoing email, "PDF" reports, scanned images and forms.

Whether you’re producing an individual letter or a bulk mailing requires the relevant information to be held within your database. You decide the data you want to hold.

Start with basic data such as the products or services you supply, the type of business, details of directors, critical dates. Add more later on as you realise the benefits from having valuable information at your fingertips.

You can choose to limit those who are permitted to access and update the database - by implementing a method of user identification and password control. So you decide those in your business who are allowed access. And keep out intruders!

You may decide that some people only need "read only" access. So they can look at information but cannot update it.

Now Onto Document Scanning …

Some businesses start with document scanning because of a special need. Possibly they’ve a physical storage problem and see the advantages of electronic filing. Most though tackle document generation first.

Either way you’ll only realise the full benefits from a document management system when both these aspects are fully integrated.

First you need to choose the scanner and this will depend upon several factors …

•   The daily volume

•   The type and size of documents to be scanned

•   Who opens the mail

•   Who decides who sees what

•   What sort of network you have

•   Whether you intend to scan your existing paper files

If your volumes are very small then a low cost flat bed scanner costing less than £100 should suffice. This typically takes up to 1 minute to scan an A4 page. So check your average daily volume in terms of number of pages and you’ll soon see the time it will take each day.

For larger volumes a 15, 25, 40 or faster page per minute scanner with sheet feed will be needed. Many scanners have an optional flat bed too and this is recommended for thick documents, odd shaped or torn pages that cannot be accommodated by the sheet feeder.

You may need to scan A3 pages so consider this too before you make your choice.

If you can’t justify a scanner with a flat bed then you’ll need to photocopy odd shaped or thicker than normal pages. You may also be able to photo reduce an A3 document to A4.

Then you need to decide whether your scanner can simply be attached to a PC. This means that only that PC can be used to scan documents - although once scanned anyone on your office network can see the scanned documents. Provided of course they have the authority to do so.

If you want more flexibility then you should consider a more expensive network scanner. Then any PC on your network can scan documents. You can think of this device as similar to a photocopier. Indeed there are many multi-functional devices that will scan, print, fax and photocopy.

The method you choose to adopt will depend upon your volume and your existing office procedures. You may though decide to use the new facility as a catalyst for change.

I’ll describe three examples that are commonly used. There are others & lots of variants …

Method 1 …. The post is opened by someone who can determine the clients to which each document relates and who should see it. Then each document will be scanned directly into the relevant client file and an electronic referral message sent to the person selected to deal with it.

Method 2 …. Scan each item of post and leave it unallocated. It can then subsequently be dealt with as previously described. Any post that remains "unallocated" is readily identified as not dealt with.

Method 3 … Decide who should deal with a particular item of post. Then scan it to an in-box. Every person in the office can be assigned their unique in-box. Then they can view each scanned document and allocate it to the client. Again, any item remaining in an in-box has not been dealt with.

A director of an accountancy practice said …

"We scan the post to an in-box for the appropriate director. Once dealt with, the documents are stored against the relevant client. Any item remaining in an in-box is either not dealt with or in progress."

Either way you avoid the photocopying of correspondence and related documentation for a multiple readership. Scanned documents are stored once but referred to by anyone who is allowed access.

There are some documents that need to be kept in their original paper form. But do you need to store them? We’ve all noticed the change in procedure adopted by mortgage lenders whereby a truck-load of papers is delivered to you for safe keeping.

So once you’ve scanned documents sent to you by a client you can decide those that can be shredded and those that must be retained. Then if you choose you can return those to the client.

As you’re no longer printing paper copies of your outgoing correspondence you must ensure that the electronic copy is secure. So decide for how long a document is amendable before it becomes "read only". You may decide this should be 1, 2 … 5 days.

The automatic document history or tracking procedure must reveal what’s happened to any document …