eBridge Blog

Going Paperless 101: Schools Embrace Initiatives to Reduce Waste

cpellett@ebridge.com — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:41:13 Z

Much like a growing number of city councils, district attorney offices, courts and government agencies, more and more schools and school boards across the nation are going paperless.

How Document Management Can Help Governments 'Stay in the Sunshine'

cpellett@ebridge.com — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:26:13 Z

One of the many things that our government clients have found eBridge useful for is in helping them comply with public record requests in a more timely and organized manner. Separate from the federal Freedom of Information Act, which excludes local and state governments, the state-based open government regulations, often referred to as “Sunshine Laws,” differ slightly from state to state. All of them, however, have the similar intention of making public records accessible to the public in a timely manner.

Some states have no proscribed timeline in which they must respond to the request and either disclose the information requested, or decline to do so; others have mandates to respond “promptly” or “within a reasonable time period,” often somewhere between five and 15 business days of the request being received. Many states don’t necessarily require the record custodian to send the requested information within that time period, but rather to acknowledge the receipt of the request. They’ll then have additional time to disclose the information or deny the request.

One of the highest missions a local or state government has is to serve its citizens, and public record requests are one of the more quantifiable examples of this service. When an agency or department is asked to provide information, their hope is always to do it quickly enough to benefit the person requesting them. But both in the case of states that have no timeline and those that require response within a certain time period, it definitely benefits any state or local government agency or department to have that information readily accessible.

When decades of records are stored in file room upon file room, it can understandably take longer than a record custodian would like to pull that information. Even worse, it can become nearly impossible in certain cases to meet a 3-day or 5-day window, often requiring the agency or department to reach out to the requester for an extension, or delay the request otherwise.

Many cities, counties and other municipalities across the nation are adopting hosted document management services to manage their paper files in secure online accounts. eBridge currently works with 16 public health departments throughout Florida, as well as several counties across the states, helping them to streamline their workflow and meet numerous compliance guidelines.

Insuring the Uninsurable: Tips from eBridge in Funeral Business Advisor

cpellett@ebridge.com — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:34:11 Z

Our most recent article, "Insuring the Uninsurable: How Safe Are Your Funeral Home's Documents?" was recently published on pages 46 and 47 of the May/June issue of Funeral Business Advisor. It's a topic that became even more important for us to cover in t

They Went Paperless - Can You?

cpellett@ebridge.com — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:13:21 Z

I love reading success stories about businesses going paperless. This morning, my Google news feed was filled with such headlines as “Move Toward Paperless Filing Improves Efficiency in Minn. Judicial System,” “Hattiesburg to Implement Paperless System,” and “At Social Security, A Paperless Wave.”

One of my favorites, though, was a piece by PC World’s Michelle Mastin about her move to a paperless operation in her private viola and violin lesson business. In “How to Make Your Small Business Paperless: A Success Story,” Mastin offers several practical tidbits based on her own experience. Hop over there for the full read – it’s a good one.

Ask around in your professional organizations to see if someone [in your industry] has already found a good tool. Try Google with terms like “(your industry) online management” or “(your industry) Web tools.” Also try variations on how you describe your industry. For example, I get many more useful results when searching for “music teaching” as opposed to “music teacher.”

Mastin also links to an older PC World story by Doug Smith, “Paperless Office Solution Rescues Ambulance Service.” Smith, the owner and proprietor of the IT firm Computer Troubleshoorts NRD, explains the particular solution he and his staff developed for National EMS, an ambulance service that was in dire need of a document management system.

Until they called us, National EMS had been working out of file boxes and large file cabinets. A file room with six vertical file cabinets was used to store files, and every couple of months those cabinets would fill up. At that point, the files would be moved to long-term warehouse storage, where they would sit for seven years. Meanwhile, the company hires couriers to retrieve documents and deliver them between the office and the warehouse.

Also, since the company works with Medicare and Medicaid, they have to make multiple copies of documents for use in multiple files. A few dozen times a day, employees have to pull existing files from storage, which takes about 15 minutes to get up, go to the file room, find the file, pull it, and return to their desk. We calculate that they were wasting the equivalent of two full-time employees pulling files every day.

What strikes me most about these stories is the variety of options available for a document management solution. Mastin’s suggestion on doing your homework is a particularly good one, and it’s been useful for the customers who have found us by word of mouth. Our insurance client base grew by referral. Our adoption by 16 environmental health departments in the state of Florida, as well as one (so far) entire county, also came about through professionals talking to one another about the solutions they’d tried that had been successful. It’s important to choose a company that understands the specific challenges you’re having, and that’s worked with others in your field.

Moving to an online document management system isn’t so hard, after all – take it from Mastin and the folks at National EMS. Or, even better, check out our archive of case studies from customers in a range of industries who have found eBridge to be a solid solution for them.

5 Mistakes You Can Avoid With Web-Based Document Management

newsletter@ebridge.com — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:07:31 Z

Everyone is talking about document management these days. And while you may know that it is a way to store paper and electronic documents together, you might not have considered how document management – especially web-based like eBridge Solutions' – can

Just How Secure Is Your Data?

cpellett@ebridge.com — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:45:16 Z

On Feb. 15, a Connecticut hospital discovered that the personal information of more than 90,000 patients had been transferred to a hard drive – which was then taken from the hospital and promptly lost. MidState Medical Center – which has since dismissed t

3 Steps to Reducing Your Paper Burden - Step 1: Assess Your Problem

techsupport@avviato.com — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:56:15 Z

Are you still suffering the inefficiencies of a paper-based office workflow? Making the move to a practically paperless office – or a less-paper office – might seem way too daunting. But once you see how reducing the paper in your system can improve your

3 Steps to Reducing Your Paper Burden - Step 3: Measure and Assess

techsupport@avviato.com — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:53:32 Z

The most satisfying thing about change is the results, so make sure you’re keeping track of what paperless document management is doing for your operation. This is like the cookie at the end of the chores: it makes any effort worthwhile, and motivates you

3 Steps to Reducing Your Paper Burden - Step 2: Make a Plan

techsupport@avviato.com — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:51:18 Z

You’ve decided your paper-based workflow is causing your business too much pain. It’s creating a storage burden, draining productivity, putting your records at risk – or all of the above. In step one of your path to reducing your office’s dependence on pa