Paper Files: Here To Stay, Here’s Why

What happened to the paperless office? Nothing. It never existed. But what about the Digital Revolution? Aren’t records supposed to be electronic? Yes, though it depends on various factors, including an organization’s IT systems, its records management policies and procedures, the preferences of employees, and their concerns about the security of electronic resources.

By Guy Robertson

Guy Robertson is a senior emergency planner, auditor and trainer at TMC and an instructor at the Justice Institute of BC and Langara College. He has written five books and hundreds of articles on disaster planning, and offered workshops and lectures at conferences across North America and in the UK.

Paper in the C-Suite

You’d expect senior managers to be less inclined to use paper than anyone else. After all, they are often computer-savvy and able to adapt to new technologies quickly, especially those that facilitate greater efficiency. But while they rely on electronic resources in many ways, their offices can be filled—even crammed—with hardcopy: contracts, marketing and accounting records, planning documents, current project files, maps, charts, diagrams, and correspondence. Hard to believe, perhaps, but true.

Cam, a senior manager at a BC credit union, told us: "We have digitized many of our vital records. We spent a lot of money on the conversion of old paper documents to electronic formats, and the results are great. Now a large number of our documents are available with a few keystrokes, and our former file rooms have become cafeteria space and storage for extra furniture and Christmas decorations. We have reduced our off-site storage bill by more than 50%. Our management team regards this as a success.”

“However, there will always be concerns about the security of our e-documents,” he says. “A systems failure could wipe out a lot of our vital records, and the loss would be catastrophic. I worry about power failures in our region, which could occur owing to severe weather, flooding, and wildfires. These risks are not going away. In fact, they seem to be getting worse. And lately there have been several small earthquakes in southern BC, and my management team has discussed what might happen if a bigger earthquake hit us. How long would our power be out? We’ve backed up our electronic resources, but what if the backups were unavailable for a lengthy period?”

Why Paper?

Jordan, who manages the office of a structural engineering firm in Toronto, noted “With paper, we worried about floods from faulty plumbing. Occasionally a paper file would go missing, but usually we’d find it on somebody’s desk, or in the wrong place on the shelf. But somehow, we could always trust it, perhaps because it didn’t involve the risks inherent in online systems.”

She has converted much of the firm’s paper to electronic formats, and many of its current documents are available online only. Her concerns have increased as more reports of Ransomware attacks have appeared in the media.

“No organization is safe from cyber-criminals,” she says. “Small firms are hit even more often than big ones, for a variety of reasons. Most obvious in many cases is a smaller firm’s lack of up-to-date IT security. But even with their sophisticated security measures, the largest and most powerful firms in the world remain are at risk from cyberattacks.”

Jordan has a storage closet beside her office. It contains more than 50 document boxes of “old-fashioned paper”, including contracts, warranties, non-disclosure forms and HR files.

“Sure,” she says, “I have digitized most of our less sensitive material. But the super-sensitive documents I prefer to keep in my office closet, which is unsprinklered and securely locked. Our CEO wants me to digitize all of it, but when he heard about substantial data loss at a local architectural firm, he admitted that my locked closet full of hardcopy was probably a practical asset.”

When To Digitize

Jordan’s approach to records management is commonsensical. She has an ongoing contract with a digital service bureau, which regularly converts the firm’s paper to convenient PDFs. The bureau has also assisted her with the design of online forms to replace those that were once available in hardcopy only. But employees at all levels continue to use hardcopy for various purposes, and Jordan believes that hardcopy will continue to be in demand. Most of it will eventually be shredded and recycled, but a small fraction will be permanently retained for archival purposes.

“We will never be entirely paperless,” says Jordan. We’ve developed a hybrid information system that includes digital and paper records, and we’re happy with it.”

If you’d like to discuss document archiving, or to comment on this article, please email me at guy.