Examining the Cost and Value of Documents
Dramatic changes in the ways that organizations define and use documents today have given rise to tremendous opportunities— as well as significant risks. The same documents that can have a negative impact on costs can have a positive effect on helping achieve an organization’s goals. To ensure that documents are used to their best advantage, it is important to have a clear understanding of the kinds of costs they can incur, as well as a sense of the ways in which they can create value. It may not be possible to determine precisely the value of a document in the same way that one can identify the specific costs associated with it, but recognizing that cost and value coexist is vital to managing documents effectively.