The earliest electronic document management (EDM) systems were either
developed to manage proprietary file types, or a limited number of file
formats. Many of these systems were later referred to as document imaging
systems, because the main capabilities were capture, storage, indexing
and retrieval of image file formats. These systems enabled an organization
to capture faxes and forms, save copies of the documents as images,
and store the image files in the repository for security and quick retrieval
(retrieval was possible because the system handled the extraction of
the text from the document as it was captured, and the text indexer
provided text retrieval capabilities. EDM systems evolved to where the
system was able to manage any type of file format that could be stored
on the network. The applications grew to encompass electronic documents,
collaboration tools, security, and auditing capabilities...
December 11, 2007: A campaign launched today by Planet Ark founder
Jon Dee, is urging business end-users to reap the financial and environmental
benefits of slashing their paper usage through an initiative called,
‘Project Paper-less.’
Supported by Redmap, Toshiba and Iomega, the campaign is well aware
their best intentions will never see a completely paperless office,
but can make a difference by urging business users to rethink their
paper based practices.
Further, the campaign urges Australian corporations to get involved
and take up a number of process based initiatives to change their paper
hungry habits.
John Dee, managing director of Issues Solutions, says electronic document
management is a very real solution to the problem. “Many companies are
finding that they become far more efficient and cost-effective when
they store information electronically instead of printing it on paper,”
he says.
“Australians realise that we have to reduce paper use, but consumers
need to be educated about the electronic alternatives available to them
such as electronic storage, multi-functional devices and document management
systems.”