The concept of the paperless office has been around for as long as business computing. But for many advisors today, it seems about as likely as the paperless bathroom. What is it going to take to get us there?

The biggest challenge for paperless office advocates is that even if you resolve to stop generating paperwork, chances are others outside your office will keep sending you information in printed form.

> Scanners. So, the first thing you’ll need is a scanner to put those paper documents into digital form. When shopping for a scanner, consider resolution and speed.

Ideally, if you’re scanning text, you’ll want a scanner with resolution of at least a 600 dots per inch (dpi), so you can adequately scan printed words.

And do the math when it comes to speed. If you have to scan 100 documents a day, a unit that takes a full minute to process each page is going to leave you tapping your foot and trying to get on with other work. Does the scanner have an automatic document feeder to support the scanning of large, multi-page documents? Does it come with optical character recognition software so that it can convert your document’s image into editable text?

If you also need a light-duty printer, then consider an all-in-one unit — a scanner that doubles as a printer.

> Storage. Once your scanner is in place, you must also store your information. For non-sensitive documents, you could explore online document-management services. One such service, Evernote, serves as a “bucket for your brain.” The software — available for both the Mac and PC, as well as for various mobile devices — lets you drag and drop a variety of files into “notes,” which are then stored in a searchable format.

The software replicates with an online service that stores and analyzes each note, performing text recognition on any images that it finds. The service then synchronizes the text-recognition data with your software, so your scanned files are all searchable.

> Expenses. Managing receipts is always a challenge. Ideally, you want a system that will be able to tabulate your receipts and add up expenses as it scans them. Solutions are available that can read your receipts as they are being transformed into images, then they attempt to understand the totals and add them together.

One online service called Shoeboxed (www.shoeboxed.com) lets you upload scanned images, and then automatically deduces the totals for you online. You can automatically categorize receipts based on whom they are from, and produce basic reports for the categories. The system does not work with multiple currencies, but if you use foreign currencies, you can create separate categories for each, then simply organize the receipts accordingly.

Another option is the Neat receipt scanner, from the Neat Co. (www.neatco.com). This device scans receipts on your desktop, and feeds them into a dedicated PC or Mac application that adds up the receipts for you and keeps a tally of your expenses and bills.

Neat Co. also sells the Neat desktop scanner, which scans receipts, documents and business cards together. At $399, the unit is relatively expensive compared with an all-in-one printer/scanner, but you are paying for intelligence in the software. It automatically extracts information from bills and business cards and can export that data to a variety of programs — including Outlook for contact information or Quicken for financial data.

> Mobile Scanning. But what about when you are on the move? Your mobile phone can now double as a document scanner and business card reader.

I am a big fan of BC Reader, an application that lets you take pictures of business cards using your iPhone, then extracts the information from the business card and adds it to your contact list. However, you will need a new iPhone 3GS, which includes a higher-quality, three-megapixel camera, to make the software work properly.

> Storage. Of course, getting your paper-based documents into a computer and storing them is only one part of the challenge.

Ideally, you should back up your data off-site, so that in the event of a fire or flood at your local office, all will not be lost. Online backup services such as Mozy (www.mozy.com), operated by storage specialist EMC Corp., can manage those backups for you. A small program installed on your computer can run automatically in the background, uploading any changes you make to your data during the day.

The downside with these backup services is that they can take a long time to back up your data for the first time. However, after that, disruptions are minimal.

That still leaves the archiving problem. Storage is cheap, but at some point you will probably still want to move your old data to another medium. CDs and DVDs have reportedly begun to deteriorate after several years. Iomega (also owned by EMC) says the technology used within its REV removable storage devices will protect your data for at least 30 years. Each disc can store up to 120 GB of data (or 240 GB compressed).

> Security. Finally, don’t fall into the trap of assuming that your data is secure just because your computer is locked in an office. There have been many media reports of organizations losing millions of sensitive client records because computers have been stolen from offices.

Encryption of your data is an important part of any paperless office solution. Consider using Bitlocker, a technology from Microsoft Corp. that is included in Windows Vista and Windows 7. This technology can be used to encrypt specific volumes on your hard drive automatically, so that you don’t have to remember to encrypt data manually and restore it locally. That way, if your machine goes missing, you won’t have a legal issue on your hands.

Ultimately, your paperless solution will encompass several products and services. But the key features to remember are: ease of use, ease of retrieval, security and availability. Get these four fundamentals right, and you’ll be well on your way to escaping from the mounds of paper littering your desk — and moving into the 21st century. IE