The benefits of a digital filing system are numerous, and include reduced costs to the company, benefits to the environment, and increased ease of sorting and finding, and moving documents. The initial process of setting up a digital filing system can be a bit more challenging, but many offices find that a paperless office, or even a semi-paperless office, is beneficial to the company over time. Another one of the benefits of a digital filing system such as this is that it allows the office to operate in a smaller environment, because a great deal of space is not required for storing documents in a paper filing system.
A digital filing system, in which paper documents are either scanned into a computer or simply created on the computer in the first place, can be established in many different office environments. Documents may be printed if necessary, such as to be mailed to a client, but otherwise the office employees may access the documents on the computer without needing to waste paper. Cutting back on paper and printer use can save the company a great deal of money. In addition, it is much more beneficial for the environment; even if an office recycles most of its paper, the production of paper still causes harm to the environment.
The storage of a digital filing system takes place entirely on hard drives. This allows thousands of documents to be stored in one small area, saving valuable office space. Hard drives continue to increase in storage size while they decrease in physical size, which is yet another benefit. In addition, copies of documents can be backed up on numerous other hard drives in separate locations for security purposes, and they can be made more secure through the use of tools such as passwords and encryption. Searching and pulling up documents becomes much easier.
Performing a search on a hard drive typically only takes, at most, a few minutes. The document may then be easily accessed, and modified, emailed, or printed as needed. Some companies find that they cannot go entirely paperless, but even cutting back on paper usage, such as using a digital filing system to store newer documents, can make a difference. Offices wanting to implement a digital filing system will need to get additional tools such as scanners, and it can take a sizable amount of time to convert documents to digital forms, but once the system is set up, it becomes relatively easy to maintain.