OCIE(TM) vs. Paper
Paper costs are skyrocketing due to environmental concerns from both sides (i.e., landfill problems and the "save a tree" philosophy).
Knowing that your firm has invested heavily into networking technology, ask yourself:
- "with all this computer hardware,
- why are we burdening ourselves with all the inherent costs of paper?"
To examine the impact of OCIE, consider the "life cycle" of each sheet of paper which would be eliminated by OCIE:
- Paper is purchase based on estimated need and must be stored until needed.
- Paper requires the need and expense of high volume printers.
- A person must carry paper in and load the printer(s).
- Reports must be re-run if there is a printer/paper problem. Often these print jobs are done at night and the problem is not discovered until the following day.
- After the job is run, a person must take the printed stack from the printer to a workplace where...
- The print job is broken down; separated if multi-part forms were used.
- Performations are torn to create separate documents/reports.
- Labels, file folders, binders are used. All require human intervention and added cost.
- Reports must be delivered to the desktops of the necessary people.
- Copies must be delivered to the archive storage area or separate facility.
Now that the paper reports are available to the user:
- Users keep reports for a certain length of time then put them in the trash.
- Users must file information at their desks/file cabinets for later viewing.
- Users often get much more information than they need. Some users seldom need to look up
the information.
With OCIE, a user's interaction with reports becomes paperless (unless they choose to print specific information for a customer). No more handling, filing, discarding, etc. of printed reports. No more waste!
What about when there is a need to look up some information:
- The user must locate the proper report. This often involves going through several reports and can become very time consuming.
- The information desired is often a miniscule amount of the information actually printed out in the reports. Perhaps the user only needed to see a past due amount for a customer or a bottom line total of monthly sales or a quantity on hand of a particular item.
- If the imformation is needed in hardcopy, the user must go to the copier and generate even
more paper!
- When the phone rings, the time involved in retrieving the proper information usually means
the customer is told "I'll call you back." The phone bill can usually verify this call -- along with the charges!
With OCIE, the labor involved in getting report information gets reduced to seconds and call backs to customers and their related charges become drastically reduced!