Lexmark 60 User Manual

A Guide to Going Paperless

Introduction

The paperless office is being transformed from a much ridiculed cliché
into a cost saving reality. Especially now it ties in with worries about
the ecological consequences of endless printed paper documents and
forms. One in six pages printed in the workplace is never used – the
equivalent of over 1.2 million average sized trees – according to printer
supplier, Lexmark. Yet a Capita survey into paper use in the UK found
that 47 per cent of offices store more than 50 per cent of their
documents in paper format.

Businesses that survived the dotcom crash have already taken action
to cut their outgoings significantly. Yet many have also overlooked the
cost of document production which, according to research done by
Gartner, accounts for between one and three per cent of a company’s
total annual revenue. IDC says it’s more like five per cent.

If a business can cut down significantly on the amount of
paper it uses, then there are obvious savings to be had on
the costs associated with printer consumables and postage.

If a business can cut down significantly on the amount of paper it uses,
then there are obvious savings to be had on the costs associated with
printer consumables and postage. That’s a major advantage given that
the UK’s Royal Mail is moving towards a more complicated system
which charges for size as well as distance from August 21st.

1

The hidden costs of paper-based processes

Aside from the obvious direct cost savings, it’s even possible to save the office space
required to store paper and on energy costs as fewer printers will be required. Gartner has
estimated that it costs £15 just to file a piece of paper and £500 a year rental space for a
single filing cabinet.

Another major incentive to move towards a paperless office is document retrieval. There’s
a hidden cost derived from the loss of productivity when it takes so long to find paper
documents. A prerequisite of impending legislation with the forthcoming UK Companies
Act will be that documents should be made accessible to auditors, regulators or internal
staff at any time. Electronic storage will then become the only viable option.

Document security is a further risk. Electronic documents sent via email can be protected
by document security including passwords and encryption, meaning that they cannot be
read by an unauthorised recipient. The same can not be said for paper documents.
Documents sent in the post can be intercepted by any number of people, and may not
even arrive at the intended destination. Even if they do, it can only take a moment’s
carelessness for a confidential document to be viewed by someone other than the
intended recipient.

With the increasing risks and costs involved with paper based processes, it seems that
the paperless office offers a compelling alternative. How should companies embrace it?

With the increasing risks and costs involved with paper based processes, it
seems that the paperless office offers a compelling alternative. How should
companies embrace it?

The benefits of document automation

There are a number of ways to reduce the amount of paper used in
the office, and the cost associated with document production. One
increasingly popular option is to deploy document automation
software across the company.

Document automation software can enable companies to reduce the
physical cost of printing, posting and storing paper documents, but it
can also reduce the time spent producing and sending business
documents. Companies are often not aware of the hidden costs
created from inefficient business processes. For example, the Institute of Management
and Information estimate that it costs more than $50 to process and manage a paper
invoice. And other business documents are likely to be just as expensive.

Consider what is involved when producing an invoice for a customer. An employee must
first locate the account on the system, generate an invoice, print the invoice to a printer
(on expensive company stationery), retrieve the printed document, put the invoice in an
envelope, address the envelope and finally add postage, before the document is sent
through the post for the customer to receive the following day, at the earliest.

Now consider how document automation software could improve on this process. With
such a solution the employee simply needs to select a batch of invoices to be processed;
at this stage, their intervention would then be complete. The software would then
automatically extract the contact information from each individual account, merge each
invoice onto company stationery and add any other important documents such as terms
of business before converting to PDF or TIFF format, ready to be delivered immediately via
email or fax to the recipients.

2

But can document automation software handle the management and archiving of
business documents? The International Data Corporation claim that knowledge workers
spend three and a half hours each week searching for information that is never found and
another three hours recreating that lost content.

IDC claims that knowledge workers spend three and a half hours each week
searching for information that is never found and another three hours recreating
that lost content.

Document automation software allows companies to store commonly used documents
centrally, and also to archive sent documents to a network folder or to existing
applications such as document management, CRM and ERP or accounts packages. This
means that when documents are needed, they can be found quickly, which is especially
useful for customer facing teams.

Security is an important consideration for all businesses. Concerns over moving to a
paperless office are often based on fears of electronic documents being intercepted or
manipulated. There are essentially two ways of formatting and distributing business
documents that reduce this risk – fax and PDF. Document automation software allows
users to decide how their document is sent, by fax or as a PDF by email, and ensures that
the document is sent securely. The best solutions hook seamlessly into existing
applications such as Microsoft Outlook, to automatically apply security to documents.

Conclusion

The reliance on paper isn’t cost effective for any business. For companies to move away
from paper-based processes and embrace electronic document production, we have to be
sure that it doesn’t just replace paper, it improves on it.

Document automation software not only removes the cost of printing and posting paper
documents, it also reduces the time involved in document production, archiving and
retrieval, whilst offering a more secure way to correspond with customers and suppliers.

Document automation at a glance

Paper problem Document automation advantage

Paper processes account for up to 3% of
annual revenue

Costs of storage and lost productivity and
wasted time retrieving filed documents

Concerns over document security Document security automatically applied

Eliminates the cost of document
production and generates time savings

Quick retrieval saves time and leads to
better customer service

to electronic documents. They can’t be
viewed by unauthorised recipients or
unknowingly amended

3

About Zetadocs PDF

Zetadocs® helps network users create, deliver and share electronic business documents.
The simple to use user interface allows users to combine multiple documents to create a
single PDF file that can be merged to company stationery and sent across mixed media:
email, fax, or to a shared network printer or folder.

Commonly used documents, such as product brochures are stored centrally and can be
applied automatically. Sent documents can be saved to a central document archive, CRM
application or document management system for fast retrieval of historical customer data.

Zetadocs can eliminate many of the costs associated with document production and
delivery. The business documents it produces have a consistent look and feel, and can be
shared with other users, enhancing customer service.

Zetadocs is designed for use right across businesses – in sales, marketing, finance,
operations and customer service teams. It brings improvements in productivity, efficiency,
compliance and quality control.

4

CAPTURE PROCESS DELIVER

printer

ERP

About Equisys

Equisys produces software packages for document production and delivery, including the
award winning Zetafax® network fax server and newly acclaimed Zetadocs® PDF software
that creates and emails personalized PDF documents. Equisys software products are
designed for small and mid-market businesses, and for departmental use at multinational
companies. They stand out from the competition by being simple to install and manage,
reliable and great value – backed by outstanding service and support. Equisys has over
60,000 customers, in more than 100 countries, who are served through an international
partner network of distributors, VARs, resellers and ISVs.

The company’s market leading fax server, Zetafax, speeds the flow of critical business
documents by enabling users to send and receive faxes on their PCs. It integrates with
ERP, CRM, accounting and other applications for automated faxing from those systems,
providing auditable records of fax communications. Zetadocs helps users work smarter by
creating and emailing PDF documents, streamlining business processes to remove tedious
manual procedures and help companies improve the service levels they offer.

Equisys was founded in 1987 and has offices in London, UK and Atlanta GA, USA.

© Copyright Equisys plc, 2006. All rights
reserved.

No part of this document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, without the prior written
permission of Equisys plc.

Information contained within is subject to
change without notice and does not represent
product specification or commitment on the
part of Equisys plc.

All trademarks are acknowledged.

www.equisys.com
Equisys plc

Equisys House, 32 Southwark Bridge Road,
London SE1 9EU, UK
Tel [phone]

Email [e-mail]

Equisys Inc

3000 Milk Creek Avenue, Suite 335,
Alpharetta, Georgia 30022, USA
Tel [phone]

Email [e-mail]

5