As ‘hard’ copy paper filing systems are becoming more obsolete, one local office supply retailer is capitalising on the vision of a paperless future.AF Smith has partnered with Canadian company, Yakidoo, to offer digital conversion of paper documents and data management services of both paper and existing electronic files. They then will offer data hosting via their ‘cloud’ services.“One of the biggest challenges facing us today is the explosion of information coming in and out of businesses, government and institutions and their inability to capture, use, archive and access it,” said Victor Bensusan, CEO and co-founder of Yakidoo. “Our partnership with AF Smith focuses on helping companies adopt best practices, solutions and services that will capture corporate data and use it to cut costs, improve productivity and be more competitive.”Yakidoo also services clients in Bahamas, Cayman, Barbados, Canada and US in a variety of fields, including banking, insurance, government, retail, healthcare, logistics and transportation.According to AF Smith, the partnership brings to Bermuda companies new services that can help them cut intensive, manual labour costs, automate core business processes, improve productivity and “put important business information at the fingertips of information workers, senior management and executives”.“One thing successful businesses of all sizes do to navigate through this unpredictable world is to make sure the work tools, technology, software and work processes that form the backbone of their organisation are operating as productively and seamlessly as possible,” said Karl Boissonneault, vice-president of workflow at AF Smith. “People, documents and information are at the core of everyone’s work, no matter how large or small. So we provide the products, technologies and services our clients need to manage their work more efficiently and effectively, whatever the situation.”According to Mr Boissonneault, this partnership allows AF Smith to offer clients the entire package.“We offer the entire spectrum, from scanning to data capture to management and hosting,” he said, adding that the service is especially valuable for disaster recovery.