From Paper to Productivity

Do you have massive piles of assignments, notes, and other school related documents stacked

haphazardly on your desk?

Is your current system of keeping up with paperwork and deadlines ineffective or nonexistent?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, there is room for you to maximize your

potential and productivity as a student. Like most people, college students rely on technology

to help them stay connected and manage tasks in nearly every area of their lives. Additionally,

technology is often equated with efficiency.

A disorganized student can encounter a number of problems including:

Misplacement of important assignments Missed deadlines Unprofessional, disorganized appearance

Do not allow your academic career become susceptible to hindered productivity because of

hours spent searching for lost documents. There is help to overcome a paper management

crisis.

Let’s look at some common problematic scenarios…

The Project Handout

You are in the computer lab on campus to work on an important class project. There are a

number of specifications that must be addressed in the finished product. Though you thought

you placed the project sheet in your bag, mysteriously, it has disappeared. What do you do?

Call your roommate and hope that they answer so that you can try to direct them to rifle

through your desk among the other piles of paper in search of your missing assignment sheet?

Walk back across campus to your dorm to search for it yourself? Time is ticking away and both

choices lead you to the same road: a loss of time spent on task.

Test Time

Quizzes, midterms, and finals are words that can be the source of much anxiety for the average

student. If you are like many students, then test time can be the most stressful time of the

semester, if you are unorganized. Digging for lecture notes, articles, and other class handouts

can be a frantic process if you lack a systematic way to keep track of your materials. Also, think

of the loss of sleep and productivity that you may suffer as a consequence of paper

pandemonium.

General Clutter

Clutter can be a major hindrance to your daily productivity if you have to search for your

materials to either get your day started or to keep it going smoothly. Or, perhaps you have

roommates and a communal workspace that is regularly in disarray. Whatever the case may

be, disorganization is the last thing you want to deal with when facing a deadline.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? They no longer have to be an issue…

Your reputation as a student can be synonymous with productivity, excellence, and success!

Previous Solutions

In the past students have relied on the following tools to help structure and organize their selves for

success:

Syllabus Taking, organizing, and reviewing notes The Student Planner

More often than not professors are choosing to assign, collect, and grade work electronically. Although

the use of the syllabus, notes, and planners are still relevant (and essential) to keep up with tasks and be

an effective student, keeping up with the actual materials can prove to be a challenge. The solution for

maximum effectiveness and productivity in an increasingly digital world is the synthesis of your

information into one defined space.

Imagine the possibilities…

Your school life can become the organized, efficient, and virtually paperless dream you’ve

always envisioned. Recent advancements in technology have made it possible to not only work

with mobility, but to also thrive. There are many applications and programs that are designed

to help students be creative and productive. With so many options to choose from and with

each program designed to so something different, how does one determine which one will

most effectively help a student to stay organized to increase productivity?

Would you consider using a software or product that is versatile and

flexible to suit your academic needs?

Portable Designed with productivity in mind User friendly Offers outstanding customer support Designed for MAC &PC users Compatible with existing programs

(MS Outlook and MS Word, to name a few)

Introducing NEAT RECEIPTS… From Paper to Productivity

It’s not just for businesses…this is the theme of The Neat Company, that manufactures the

innovative system which enables the digitization and storage of your important school

documents. Neat Receipts has made it possible for students to organize themselves in a way

that maximizes their productivity by reducing time spent sifting through mountains of

paperwork.

The Neat Company Story

The Neat Company was born as a small business that sold their product from airport kiosks

across the United States. They began as a group of software programmers who recognized

firsthand the need for small business owners to simplify their life. They knew that people

needed an efficient system to maintain and organize their important documents.

Since 2002, the company has grown exponentially, and so has the scope of its usefulness in

every day life. Because they listened to their consumers in terms of product development and

functional needs, Neat Receipts became a top-selling brand and the talk of trade-shows

nationwide. The Neat Company embraces technology to help solve the organization challenges

that people face.

Portable Scanner

Versatility

The makers of Neat Receipts recognize that each person is unique and individual’s needs tend

to vary depending what their organizational challenges are. Therefore, there are several

versions of Neat products to choose from.

Neat Desk

Includes a desktop scanner & digital filing system for your PC Is ideal for people who deal with high volumes of paper Suitable for small office needs

Neat Receipts

Includes a mobile scanner and digital filing system for ease of mobility when traveling Is the consecutive best selling Neat Company product since 2002

Neat Receipts (For MAC users)

Designed by MAC users for MAC customers Includes a mobile scanner and digital filing system

Neat Works for MAC

Scanning software & digital filing system for MAC users

It’s not just for receipts….

School Syllabi Lecture Notes/Assignments Research papers Quizzes/Tests

Personal ID cards/birth certificate Medical information Financial Aid documents Track monthly spending (books, supplies, food)

Business Receipts Business cards Other important documents

Product Features

Besides its portability, Neat Receipts has a number of outstanding features:

Scanning capability for Important documents Intelligent Text Recognition can identify and input pertinent information

from scanned documents Keyword search ability on scanned documents Archiving capability to free up software space and allow faster processing

Here’s how it works:

Scanning Features

Documents Organizes and archives information to a digital filing system Equipped with text editing capabilities Searchable PDF files

Receipts Records dates, vendors, and amounts on receipts Creates expense reports to manage business expenses Accepted tax documentation for the IRS

Business cards Keeps images and contact information Exports data to Microsoft Outlook and other programs

Neat Receipts is a great time-saver.

Scans multiple documents

Keep track of assignments, financial aid paperwork, and other school

related documents.

The Future

With the advent of new technologies, the world is moving quickly towards a digitally inclined

environment. Now more than ever people look to digital sources for information consumption.

Not only is it more economical, but it is also environmentally responsible. A number of factors

have been attributed to society’s lessening reliance on the traditional paper trail:

Pressure on businesses to cut costs where they can, especially in a weak economy. Technology that will reduce paper output, erase printouts and make reading off a

screen easier. Concerns for the environment with paper manufacturers being the fourth-largest

user of fossil fuels on the planet

The rise of "digital natives," or people younger than 25. (MONTGOMERY)

Hear what others have to say about the benefits of going paperless:

Patti Bisson Says:

April 22nd, 2009 at 10:35 am

With the advent of laptops being more common place than desktops, and more

affordable, it makes perfect sense that the next step is integrated digital records.

I am personally planning to convert my personal and business records to digital

files. The convenient size and versatility of the NeatDesk and NeatWorks system

is exactly what I have been looking for.

Gregory Dracoulis Says:

April 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm

As a college student and a web developer, this would be GREAT for me. I have

looked into using NeatDesk integrated through its API with web services to

upload documents for some of my corporate clients looking to ease their

workflow, and I can see how this would be incredibly useful to me as a

contractor and a student to be able to scan my homework and assignments and

keep them as PDFs on my computer, scan and email contracts and leases, keep

business cards in order, and just use to file my files easily!

Featured Articles and Reviews

The Tech - MIT

June 12, 2006 Gadget Review: NeatReceipts Professional Scanner and Software

The Neat Receipt Professional Scanalizer is a software and hardware package that enables you

to un-clutter a life mired in paper. Any fellow entrepreneur, student group leader, or anal

individual that is compelled to save receipts can relate to my disposition (I know, that’s not a

word, but its the feeling of despising something) of paper receipts. Every meal, every home

improvement, every T token results in an inch by inch advance in the machine’s war on trees.

Not that this system fixes that problem, but it does provide me a quick way to organize the

paper trail into some manageable fashion, rather than a discombobulated Diaspora of disparate

documents. In short: scan, the software processes & organizes; you stick receipt in folder and

forget.

The New York Times - Circuits Holiday Buying Guide

December 7th, 2005

"The NeatReceipts Scanalizer is a scanner that eliminates the clutter in the kitchen junk drawer

by allowing you to store restaurant menus, lunch receipts, plumbers' business cards and other

small documents in your computer. Resembling a small desktop printer, it is simplicity itself:

slide your document in one end, and the machine reads it and spits it out. The documents can

be converted into almost any format and exported into any word-processing program for PC's.

The scanner is also helpful come tax time."

A word about environmental accountability…

The Neat Company not only makes products to reduce overall accumulation of paper in your

everyday life, but it also strives to practice good environmental habits in their daily operation.

A few notable company practices…

In-office recycling of paper and cardboard products Refurbished versions of Scanners are available for purchase Packaging materials are 100% recyclable and made from post consumer content

Final Words

Say goodbye to the burden of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack hidden under mile

high stacks of paper. Work smarter, not harder in school by making your papers work for you

instead of working to find your important papers. Imagine the possibilities of what you can do

with all of the extra time you will save yourself with easy access to your important school

information. “Get an ‘A’ for Organization!”

With Neat Receipts at your desk you CAN conquer the paper monster!

Works Cited

The Neat Company. The Neat Company. 2008. 13 February 2010 <http://www.neatco.com/our-

company/newsroom>.

MONTGOMERY, RICK. "Printout passion has started to fade; Digital Age finally rips into paper use." 23

December 2009. Lexis Nexis. 15 February 2010 <http://0-

www.lexisnexis.com.library.scad.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb

=21_T8577641609&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T8577641612&

cisb=22_T8577641611&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8355&docNo=6>.

About the Author

Talia Witherspoon is a Freelance writer and MFA student at Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta.