Do you still use the printed page?

[kre8tor]

I would be interested in knowing how many of you still need printed literature in the promotion or day to day workings of your business, or do you predominately use the web for these?


Thank you.
Andy

[Webstuff]

I use a notepad for figuring out how something will work (drawing "thinkbubble" diagrams), but almost everything else is stored on PC's / CD's.

[sparklyscotty]

I have lost info through e-mail suppliers going bankrupt, computer crashes, hardware incompatibility, software incompatibility- you name it! Still, I only make paper copies of the most crucial stuff. Once I have a paper copy relevant to an account, I tend to scribble important info on it in case of any additional ITdisaster. As far as promotional uses, I would be 100% online if my customers were. At the moment, my webstore acts as a fancy brochure.
-Angel-

[Amber]

I actually use print quite often, particularly for proofreading and editing, or if someone sends me a large amount of information by email - I just find it much easier to read from a printed page than from a screen.

I also tend to print out anything important, like invoices or paypal receipts etc.

[Julie]

I'm the same. I love the web but need to work from paper printouts when it comes to editing/reading. I never print out my emails though, I know some people do that and file them! I just stick them all in folders and back it all up every now and again.

I must say, the only problem with relying on saving everything on your computer is that awful moment when it all fails! I sleep a whole lot easier since I set up an offsite automatic backup system with a local company. £5 a month plus VAT and it backs up as you shut down. I love it!

Julie

[Rob Holmes]

For us invoices obviously get printed, most other stuff is online although I have magasines delivered, all notes are held in .txt files on my local systems that are backed up to a seperate hard drive every hour (because I've had 2 major local systems failures in the last few years)

Rob

[daveashton]

The last time we printed info for clients was just over 1.5 years ago.

Emails are sent out at least every 3 weeks to very targeted people and even the customer surveys are email based.

The exception is obviously proposals that are now template driven. As this is a key part of the sales process, a lot of work has been done to create the right image even down to the weight of the paper.


Hope this helps

[Julie]

Dave's post about proposals being sent out on paper makes me wonder whether there is still an underlying belief that emails are somehow less formal. If I want to say something more formal I would always do it on paper -- do other people do that? Or am I just being a 'stick-in-the-mud'?

Julie

[Rob Holmes]

All our design contracts are paper - how else would people sign them ?

I think the act of signing something and having a copy to refer back to is far more powerful than an email.

Rob

[Julie]

Have you used digital signatures at all? I used them for signing off pdf proofs (at least I did when I was designing, rather than publishing <smile>). They worked really well for us because we then didn't have to wait for the post to go back and forth.

You're right about the act of signing, though. It certainly is more powerful if you have to put pen to paper -- but I'm quite impressed with the whole act of adding a digital signature. It's a very final thing to put on a pdf document, and locks it at the point of signing.

Julie