The benefits of a paperless office are being adopted by increasing numbers of businesses. Those benefits include savings of time, money, space, better security and communication among team members and clients, as well as a positive impact on the environment.
Here are a few reasons why your business can benefit from a paperless office strategy.
Benefit #1: Save time
How many times has someone on your staff been bogged down by having to meticulously make their way through folders, searching for something that could have been found with the click of a mouse? A paperless office has its documents digitized and that means putting them in one central location where they can be easily accessed.
Studies have shown that each person in an office uses an average of 1 hour per month searching through files. Even for a small business with 25-50 employees, that adds up to a lot of lost time.
The time-saving benefit is not limited to the paper files in your own office. If you opt-out of receiving as many paper documents as possible and instead get them electronically delivered, your staff no longer has to spend time sorting through mail and shredding it.
Benefit #2: Save money
The cost of paper can be a significant one for any business and it doesn’t stop there. Printing documents requires printers and ink cartridges. Photocopiers aren’t exactly cheap, from their upfront costs to ongoing maintenance. Electronic storage also means you’re spared from making duplicate copies.
Benefit #3: Save space
Filing cabinets take a lot of space in an office and the files often accumulate quicker than they can be organized, leaving your office with a lot of clutter.
What if you could get rid of the file cabinets and the clusters of files waiting to be organized?
You and your staff will almost certainly get a psychological boost by no longer seeing a mess around you and feeling the benefit of open space. Another factor to consider is safety. A jammed up office is more likely to have an accident, which may result in someone drawing workers’ comp benefits.
Benefit #4: Better security
Privacy is a vital issue in today’s world and customers expect that their financial information will be safe and secure. While concern over hacking is legitimate, the reality is that your sensitive files are safer in a well-secured cloud than they are on a piece of paper that could easily be lost during any kind of reorganization or simply from being passed between staff members.
Benefit #5: Better internal communication
Let’s say there’s an important document that a number of people in the office have to review and offer feedback on.
Wouldn’t it be easier if they could all just log in to a centralized location and leave their comments electronically?
With paper files, the document has to be passed around, more paper is used to create each individual analysis and it’s a less efficient process all around. A digitized document can also be accessed remotely, something that’s taken on greater importance in these COVID-19 times.
Benefit #6: Better client communication
Are you sending invoices out in the mail? What if you could just email the invoices to your clients? And what if you were set up to take payment right within that email via credit card?
That’s easier for your client and you get paid faster. And if you’re a B2C business, an email of discounts and other special offers is more efficient than filling up customer mailboxes with direct mail advertising.
Benefit #7: It’s easier going green
Office paper accounts for more than one-fifth of the total paper usage in the United States. Reducing paper usage is one big environmental benefit, but there’s more—energy savings are to be had by reduced usage of printers, faxes and copiers.
It’s all better for the environment and better for your business!
