ICM Document Solutions

Now… let’s discuss your day.

E-mail
How often do you check your e-mail?  It does not matter what the answer is; both you and I know it’s way too often.  Will the world end if you only checked it once or twice a day?  Do you feel the need to respond to all e-mails?  How much time does that take?  If you feel that you must respond to all e-mails, craft some canned responses that you can copy and paste into a response.  Over time you can answer a majority of your e-mails this way.

Phone calls
You do not have to answer the phone.  Use caller id to your advantage.  If you know you need to take the call, then do so.  But when you answer, thank the other person for calling.  Then let them know you were busy, but saw it was them so you picked up the phone.  This makes them feel special.  It also allows you to get right to the point on the call and not waste time.
For the calls that go into voice mail, call them back after hours.  You can leave a detailed message in under two minutes that would answer any question.  This eliminates long conversations and at the same time lets you be responsive.

Meetings
Just say no.  If you have to go to a meeting, make sure there is an agenda.  Keep everyone on track in the meeting.  And here’s the hard part, leave if it’s not productive.  You do not have to be the boss to do this.  If questioned by your boss about your new practice, explain that it’s all about getting things done and being productive.

The Internet
What a time sink this has become.  We think of the Internet as a place to get information.  Instead think of it as a dangerous destination similar to the island in Greek Mythology where the Sirens sang their songs.  For those not familiar with the Sirens, they were a group of creatures who looked like beautiful women, but were really man-eating beasts. They sat on the shore and sang with voices so beautiful and compelling that anyone who heard their song became absolutely mesmerized. So mesmerized, in fact, that they became obsessed with reaching the shore to get closer to the sound. 

And then the Sirens would eat them.
This describes the Internet perfectly.  We get so mesmerized by pages upon pages of information that we don’t notice that our time was eaten by the Internet beast.  If you use the Internet, schedule time to use it and please, please set an alarm or alert to remind you to stop!!!

Next we look at your office….

Too much information, a phrase that has a number of meanings.  For some it means that a friend is sharing way more than you ever wanted to know about some aspect of their personal life (TMI as many would say).  For others it’s the constant deluge of news, emails, RSS feeds, search results, Tweets, LinkedIn requests, Facebook status updates and pokes, text messages, the long-lost phone calls, and so on.

Sorting through all this information to find useful or relevant information is what separates out the productive people from the overwhelmed.  It separates out the successful from the frustrated and it sometimes it even separates the happy people from the sad people.

Think about your day. 
•    How many emails did you receive today?  How many of those were worthwhile?
•    How many calls did you get today?  Were any of them productive?
•    How many meetings were you in?  How many hours were you away from your desk? Did you want or need to be in any or all of them?
•    How many web pages did you read?  Did you learn anything useful?
Now look at your office.
•    How many piles of paper do you have?  Do you know what’s in them?
•    How many documents are you supposed to read today?  Are they right in front of you?
•    How many deadlines do you have?  Do you know when they are? Are you prepared to meet them?

This is a problem in society.  This is the same problem at work.  Too much!  Too much information and most of it is not relevant. 

So how do you solve this problem in both your personal life and your work life?

Turn off the autopilot and take charge of your life.  Don’t let the information drive you.  Instead use the relevant information to get to your destination.  Choose where you want to go; choose what you want to accomplish.  Then delegate, automate and ignore the rest!
 
Next step, we’ll dissect your day…

Is your business moving offices in 2011? Perhaps your lease is up, or the rent is becoming too expensive, or you are just trying to downsize to save some extra money to help your business grow. Or even better, you are growing into a large new headquarters and need ample cubicle space for the new sales and development teams!

Whatever your reasons may be, there is one thing you should not bring to your new office: PAPER FILES AND RECORDS!
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As time goes on, the volume of a company’s documents continues to grow and so does the challenge of managing those documents. Companies generate thousands of documents for many reasons and filing them becomes a hassle.

A document management system (DMS), such as ViewCenter, will ensure that your documents are easy to find, manage, secure, and keep compliant.
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