Back to school – why paper is not going anywhere anytime soon!

The end of August and start of September brings with it a fresh start – school bags are emptied out and crumpled bits of paper are discovered amidst the discarded Kit Kat wrappers and mouldy apple cores. Here are details of that summer project they were supposed to do and isn’t that the missing page of the school report you had thought ended rather abruptly! Now is the time to turn over a new leaf. New school bags and a new era of organisation is about to be implemented. Is it time to invest in that eye-wateringly expensive iPad or tablet?

It’s worth noting that just as children still have exercise books which have a place alongside their digital screens, so offices still have plenty of paper documents to process and manage. Although scanning records is an effective tactic on the road to digital transformation and ensures that documents are easily accessible online, there is also a huge cost implication.

Scanning every single document in an inventory can be a daunting task for businesses which store millions of documents but do not have a big budget for a digital transformation project. In fact, did you know a comparison of the cost of storing a physical box versus the cost of digitising the content demonstrates that it could take more than 10 years before there is a return on the investment of going digital?

‘You would say that!’ I hear you cry, but here are a few more reasons why physical documents and the paper they are written on are not going anywhere anytime soon.

Not all items are suitable for digital format – some documents still need to be stored on paper – by law. The format in which some documents have been historically made doesn’t always lend itself to scanning. For instance, the size of a document or how it is put together can add complications.

For documents pre-dating the digital era it can sometimes be impossible to change the way they were designed retrospectively. There are still examples of documents which, by law, must be kept in physical form. In fact, in the UK, the very laws themselves, the Acts of Parliament, are printed on vellum, a type of parchment made from animal hide, before being archived.

In 2016 an announcement in the House of Lords declaring paper would be used instead was overturned by former Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock. An inability to agree on moving Acts of Parliament to paper, means it’s unlikely to imagine the system going digital any time soon! Birth certificates, adoption papers, marriage and civil partnership certificates, decree absolute divorce papers, wills and power of attorney documents are all still kept on paper.

There are still documents which require a ‘wet’ signature by law in case they need to be produced at some point in the future. Digitising doesn’t provide a solution in this case because the wet signature needs to be there. Examples include:

• Wills and power of attorney
• Adoptions
• Bank accounts, including ISAs
• Court orders
• Mortgage documents
• Evictions
• Documents related to setting up Trusts
• Divorce proceedings

Things are slowly changing with the rise of digital signatures which can legally be completed online, but these are a long way off this being accepted

Some documents are of national interest – which means they will always be kept on paper, even if they are also digitised. Keeping the original document is vital.

If you want a prime example, look at the Magna Carta which was issued in 1215 but is still stored at the British Museum. It has no wet signature and no seal, and although you can browse it on the British Museum website, seeing it in real life is a very different experience from seeing a digital version.

There’s something about a paper document that still makes people feel it is more authentic and more trustworthy. A physical record with a wet signature, for instance, provides assurance. The rise of cybercrime and security breaches online also adds to the feeling that keeping your documents on paper in a secure building provides fewer risks.

It turns out you don’t need to go back to school to learn that paper is going to be with us for a good few years to come. Importantly you can be assured that Filofile has everything your business needs to store those important documents and files. Filofile works with firms across the West Country, and clients can request Next Day or Same Day delivery, safe in the knowledge that their files are not stored hundreds of miles away. Clients can make priority / emergency requests that can be delivered within two hours of their order. Depending on the volume stored Filofile offers a free NEXT DAY retrieval allowance tailored to meet individual needs. All Filofile customers therefore benefit from a very cost effective retrieval service.

Keep your papers and files safe and secure – find out more by contacting Filofile for a free audit.