As previously discussed, plenty of businesses have yet to embrace the idea of a paperless office with electronic document storage. A recent example of this comes from the third-most populous county in Iowa.
Divisions of the Scott County District Court are going paperless, according to a Quad-City Times story. The criminal division will begin all-electronic filings on Oct. 14. The civil division will join them on Nov. 12.
Interestingly, the article mentions that Scott County is the first county in the 7th Judicial District to go paperless. The other counties are forecasted to make the switch in early 2015. However, paperless conversions began in Iowa in 2010.
Changes are moving west to east across the state with over two-thirds of counties converted. All 99 counties will be paperless by the end of 2015. At that point, Iowa will be the first US state with an all-electronic filing system, Iowa’s Judicial Branch communications officer told the paper.
The cost of the conversion, which includes training, software and hardware, is estimated at $19 million. What cannot be measured quite yet is the total savings with regard to increased efficiency.
Documents will be accessible to law enforcement officers, lawyers and judges. Also, the public will be able to print out fillings from the courthouse.
Another reason for the switch includes storage issues. County offices were running out of room to store their paper documents. Future documents will be stored electronically.
In some cases, paper documents will be allowed as it is necessitated, such as with someone who has no internet access and lives in a rural area. These individuals will have to file for an exemption.
So far, counties, lawyer and judges who have gone paperless in Iowa are finding it to be working fairly well, according to the article.
Scantronix helps businesses and companies make the transition with ease. If you have questions regarding prices and process, please call us to learn more. Contact us at (212) 400-6484 or (718) 253-8787.