Challenges of digitalization of documentary material: example of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office

Digitalizacija je širok pojem. Lahko rečemo, da gre tako za avtomatizacijo in informatizacijo operacij, ki jih je človek izvajal ročno za širšo in celovito uporabo informacijsko komunikacijske tehnologije ter prenos podatkov in informacij v elektronski obliki. Digitalizacija poslovanja za organizacije predstavlja velik organizacijski in finančni zalogaj, zato je smiselno, da se je lotimo postopoma. Kljub dokazanim prednostim digitalizacije dokumentacija v papirni obliki predstavlja velik del poslovanja pri mnogih organizacijah. S tem se kopičijo materialni stroški, zmanjšana pa sta tudi učinkovitost in ažurnost dela. Organizacije pri velikih količinah papirne dokumentacije niso več sposobne obvladovati in nadzorovati življenjskega cikla dokumentov. Organizacije bi vse to lahko reševale z digitalizacijo in se zanjo zato odločale bolj pospešeno. V diplomskem delu smo proučevali izzive, s katerimi se je in se še izbrana organizacija, to je Urad Republike Slovenije za intelektualno lastnino (URSIL), spopada pri digitalizaciji dokumentarnega gradiva, ter izpostavili prednosti in težave, ki jih prinaša proces digitalizacije. Pri pripravi diplomskega dela je bila uporabljena raziskovalna metoda študija primera. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da se naložba kljub številnim izzivom ter potrebnim organizacijskim in finančnim vložkom srednjeročno povrne. Digitalizacija dokumentarnega gradiva je namreč prinesla številne prednosti, ki so se pokazale v povečanju učinkovitosti dela in zmanjšanju stroškov. To potrjuje, da URSIL prehod na brezpapirno poslovanje razvija v pravi smeri. Dokazali smo tudi, da izvajanje e-hrambe na lastni infrastrukturi, dolgoročno gledano, lahko pomeni prihranek. Ker se je URSIL odločil za postopno prehajanje na brezpapirno poslovanje, se učinki digitalizacije še niso pokazali v polni meri.Digitization is a broad concept. We can say that it is about the automation of operations that are now performed manually by humans and the transfer of data and information in electronic form. Digitization of business for organizations represents a large organizational as well as financial burden, so it makes sense to tackle it gradually. However, despite the proven advantages of digitization, documentation in paper form represents a large part of business in many organizations. This accumulates material costs and reduces the efficiency and timeliness of work. With large amounts of paper documentation, organizations are no longer able to manage and control the lifecycle of documents. Organizations could solve all this with digitization and therefore make decisions about it more quickly. In the diploma work, we studied the challenges with which the selected organization, i.e. the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Intellectual Property (URSIL), is dealing with the digitization of documentary material, and highlighted both the advantages and the problems that the digitization process brings. The case study research method was used in the preparation of the thesis. The results of the research showed that despite the many challenges and the necessary organizational and financial inputs, the investment will pays off in the medium term. The digitization of documentary material has brought many advantages, which have been shown both in increasing efficiency and in reducing costs, which confirms that URSIL is developing the transition to paperless business in the right direction. We have also proved that implementing e-storage on our own infrastructure can mean savings in the long term. Because URSIL decided to gradually transition to paperless operations, the effects of digitization have not yet fully manifested themselves