Will the Internet Replace Your Filing Cabinet?

While predictions of the paperless office began over 10 years ago, statistics show that 90 percent of the world's information is still on paper. Can this change? Will it? After spending more than twenty years in offices of all sizes, from one-person home-based businesses to the offices of the largest corporations in the world, I contend that a more important question is "Can you find the information you need when you need it--regardless of the form it takes?"

I have yet to find a company that was able to manage its electronic information effectively without first learning to manage the paper. The reason is that they have not addressed four fundamental questions of information management. (1) What information do we need to keep or create? (2) In what form? (3) By whom? (4) For how long?

The ability of any individual or organization to accomplish any given task or reach any desired goal is directly related to the ability to find the right information at the right time. Unfortunately, statistics show that the average worker spends 150 hours per year looking for misplaced information.

What Information Should We Keep or Create?

Research shows that 80 percent of the information we keep, we never use. The fear of throwing away paper documents is enormous. Seminar attendees frequently make statements such as "Every time I throw something away, I need it again!" When I challenge them to elaborate, the response is often, "I can't think of one right now!" Whether it is the fear of not being knowledgeable in one's field of expertise, or the fear of being asked by a superior to produce information, the results are the same: over-stuffed filing cabinets and hard drives. For fifteen years, I have orchestrated "File Clean-Out Days" for companies. I used to have nightmares that after one such event, someone would call with a horror story about something they threw away and later needed. It has never happened!

Many companies hold their own file clean-out days, and often they fail miserably because management has failed to create criteria, methodology and tools to enable and empower its employees to make decisions. Clutter is analogous to postponed decisions.

So how do you decide what to keep? First, begin with your company's mission and goals. What business are you in, and what information do you need to reach those goals? And of course, what information is required by regulators?