Technology for solo practitioners 2: Going paperless

In part two of her IT advice column for sole practitioners, Anne Fairpo offers some ideas on how to get from paper to electronic documents.

So you have a laptop (or netbook, or iPad) and are heading out of the office: do you carry a stack of papers with you? Paper can defeat the best intentions in working on the move – not to mention the security problems that could be involved with loose paper.

Increasingly I find that most of the documents I need are in electronic format, either to me by clients, or created by me. To deal with the ones that still arrive in paper format, and to keep track of admin paperwork, I scan the papers to the computer. I use a dedicated document scanner, the ScanSnap from Fujitsu, which scans both sides documents and turns them into PDF files. The software that comes with it can also be used to perform optical character recognition on the files so that the PDFs can be searched for key words. The ScanSnap has the advantage of being small and portable (the version I use can be operated by connecting it to the computer with a USB cable, without an external power supply).  The important thing, though, is to get paper into electronic format - any scanner that you find useful will work.

Working in the cloud
You have your laptop, internet access, and electronic documents: how do you join all this up?  I use Cloud computing, taking advantage of the more-or-less ubiquitous nature of the internet to get access to my documents anywhere and anytime.   “Cloud computing” means using the internet to access resources, software and information on demand.

However, “more-or-less” in the context of internet access often means “anytime except when you really need it”, particularly when travelling. So I use and recommend a variant of Cloud computing that allows to me to work on documents and retrieve information whether or not I have internet access. My “synching” internet service makes sure that the same documents and information are stored on all my computers and, if necessary, accessible on my iPad and/or phone.     

Documents: anytime, anywhere
The traditional problem with using a laptop on the move and a desktop computer in the office and/or at home is keeping documents synchronised across the computers. Amendments to a document made on the laptop need to reflected on other computers, or there is a danger of confusion as multiple versions of the same document spring up, with different amendments.  Documents can be synchronised manually - by emailing documents to yourself, for example, so that you pick up the amended document on your home computer; or by using a USB stick to store all documents.  Emailing documents is a brute force option, and means that you need to remember to do it.  You can still end up with multiple, different, versions of the document.  The USB stick route may mean that you only have a single version of the document, but is not very secure and also not backed up regularly. If the USB stick gets damaged - and the various laws of fate can conspire in horrible ways - you may lose a day’s work.  This is where synchronisation services come into play.  I use Dropbox, but other similar options are available.  When looking for a synchronisation system, make sure it works with whatever you plan to use to access the documents - laptop, netbook, and smartphone.

Reference: anytime, anywhere
Besides the files that you create, there is usually another kind of document that you will want to have access to: reference material.  A good scanner gives you the ability to capture articles to read, or access later by searching. You may also want to capture information from the internet relating to a client, or to a market sector, or just for general background.  You could just save web pages, or scanned documents, into a reference subfolder that is synchronised to all your computers.  Depending on your computer, this may be searchable, but it’s usually a relatively slow and clunky search function.  There are better options.  I prefer to use Evernote - this is a free service, although there is a paid-for upgrade option which offers more functions.

Connecting to another computer

There are various software programs that allow you to connect to (for example) your office computer from your laptop, using the internet.  These will allow you to run programs on your office computer, controlling it from your laptop - or iPad; there is at least one app for the iPad that allows you to access your home computer and run programs there, using the iPad as a remote display and keyboard.  These can be useful but are limited in that you must be connected to the internet to run the programs or access documents: not so helpful when you’re in a mobile black spot.

Email: wherever, whenever
So that’s your documents and reference material available anywhere you want it.  The next step is email: clearly you can access email whenever and wherever you have internet access, but the trick for a solo practitioner is making sure that this means full access to emails - so that any “sent” emails and archived emails in particular are accessible, no matter how and where you are getting at your email. For this to work, you need to make sure you have an IMAP email system; most email providers offer IMAP and POP3.  The difference between them is that POP3 email is removed from the email server when you first read it - this means that you can’t read it on any other computer.

Back-up
As noted above, none of this synchronisation removes the need for a good back-up system.   Hard drives can and do fail.  Having material synchronised to other computers will usually mean that a failure of one computer means you can pick up and carry on with another but, in rare circumstances, the failure of one computer that wipes data (such as through a virus - although you are running anti-virus software, aren’t you?) can result in the data being lost from synchronised computers as well.

Data Protection
All tax advisers will be handling personal information and so are required to notify the Information Commissioner’s Office giving details of how personal information is processed and held; there is a small fee for notification. Failure to notify is a criminal offence. Notification can be made by online application on the ICO website.  All of the suggestions above (apart from connecting back to your home/office computer) involve storing information on a remote computer server - be that a document server or an email server.

Further reading
Technology for solo practitioners 1: Computers
Practice technology - expert guides, tips and Any Answers

Taxation magazine
This article includes extracts from a longer piece originally published by Taxation, the market-leading weekly magazine providing news and features on UK tax law, practice and administration. A subscription costs £319 a year and includes full access to the online Taxation archive.  Next week: Going from paper to electronic documents.

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