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I must confess, I recommended to a client this week that one of their departments need not scan their records.  Their paper records and the procedures they were following could not be improved by using an electronic management solution. I know, I know some of you may feel that I am being totally disloyal to the profession, but I truly believed in this instance that choosing an electronic solution would not provide the department any benefit or value.  Let me explain.

In this particular situation, I found the manager to have developed extremely efficient processes and procedures and to be knowledgeable of the business and client situations.  The records they created/used/generated/distributed had a very finite life span.  Actually the life span was very short, and they had never had a need to go back to the records once that life span had passed.  The record was created with an electronic system, but the distribution could not be done electronically, because not all of the customers have access to or use the computer. 

In this day and age, it is almost unheard of for people not to have computers, but there are still a few hold outs.  If your process must guarantee that "every" customer receives the information, then you will need to use both a paper and electronic distribution.  Your process may require that you send the record via snail mail as well as email.  You could post it on a website for people to access, but if the individual does not go to the internet (hard to believe, but my mom doesn't) that does not work either.  There are still individuals who do not use computers or even own them.

We must continue to use all the means and methods available in determining the "best" approach a customer might need to do their business.  There is never a “one-size-fits-all” solution that meets the need of every organization or that can be passed from one business to the next.  Each organization or company is unique.  Unique in culture, business processes, customer base and work flow.  When determining a solution, the solution must address all these areas.  Leaving one area unanswered usually means the vendor has left a situation where more work will need to be done; another procedure needs to be added for a customer to complete a task.  Then the proposed solution really does not achieve the level of success that was promised. 

After I left the meeting, I felt that we had provided the best recommendation for our customer to that particular situation.  If any of their conditions change, I might just change my recommendation too.  Until that time, there will be at least one paper filing solution in this world.