SMEs waste over £40m per day in revenues looking for documents

22/12/2008

A recent YouGov survey has shown that managers and directors waste masses of time trying to locate information whether E-mails, paper or electronic documents. 80% of the individuals surveyed lose an up to an hour each day looking for documents. Despite this only 1 in 4 companies are trying to do anything about it and only 3% are operating a paperless office.

The root cause of the inefficiency is paper; paper is easily mis-placed or mis-filed and with increasing legislation across all industries the volume of paper that has to be kept is an ever increasing burden. Only 6% of respondents said there was no point in creating a paperless office, so the obvious question is why more companies have not taken the plunge especially when considering the current climate.

When asked what they would do with the time if they weren’t looking for paper, the top answer with 31% was business development, completing admin tasks was second with 26% and going home on time was third with 21%.

“I find it difficult to understand why more companies haven’t taken the leap. We ourselves are a SME and I want to ensure my staff and I spend as much time as possible on core duties. Considering the barriers for electronic document management have fallen considerably over the past few years there is no reason for not looking” commented Damian Cull, MD, Cull Micro Imaging.

George Derbyshire, Chief Executive of The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, says, “This research is quite frightening and is an example of how everyday inefficiencies can have a very damaging effect on small businesses. It’s vital to prioritise on a daily basis, but it is also important to take time out from time to time and review your processes and systems to ensure they are supporting you – not holding you back.”

Around a third of businesses cited cost as the reason for not pursuing electronic document management. Damian Cull, MD, Cull Micro Imaging, says, “Document management used to be cost prohibitive for SMEs but we now sell electronic document management systems that cost as little as £10 per month per user on a subscription basis. With the average user saving over half an hour each day the monthly rental is paid for within two working days!”