Perks and Perils of a Paperless Office

After much hype and anticipation, the age of the paperless office is finally here. As technology has improved, an increasing number of businesses are choosing to store their original paper documents electronically by scanning and destroying the originals. Given this growing trend among businesses to move to purely electronic storage of day-to-day business documents and other records, one important question remains: Do business documents have to be stored in hard copy form after scanning?

The answer to this question rests in two key inquires. The first is whether the electronic version of the paper record satisfies retention requirements imposed by federal and state statutes and regulations, so that the document can be used if the organization is audited by a federal or state agency. The second is whether the electronic copy can be admitted into evidence during litigation. Of course, the latter inquiry is of particular significance to counsel who may subsequently face questions of the admissibility and authentication of the scanned documents.