The paperless office has been a goal for businesses for decades, but it was the COVID-19 pandemic that made the paperless office less of a nice-to-have and more of a necessity. What used to be expensive and complicated to implement has become far easier to do and saves costs in the long run. In this blog post, we will share some tips on how to go paperless and transition to a digital office.
Embed Paperless in the Company Culture
The first step to transitioning to a paperless office is to embed the concept of going paperless in your company culture. Change comes from within, and every effort to change the way a business works will start from within and from top to bottom. Moving towards a paperless work environment can be challenging, but with careful planning and implementation, plus the right tools, it can be done.
Establish an Enablement Team
Depending on how big your organization is, an enablement team or person can be a helpful resource that can support change and offer advice and training. Going paperless means having to digitize and maybe even automate multiple company processes. This will require having the right people lead by example and train employees who might not be technically savvy. A paperless office requires every employee’s commitment to change, which makes training an important upfront investment.
Check for Compliance
Before investing in tools to digitize documents, it’s a good idea to first check whether some compliance regulations require you to keep hard copies of documents with an ink signature for a certain period. Depending on where you are in the world, electronic signatures are generally accepted in place of physical signatures, but it’s recommended to check in with your local laws around signatures and legality.
Switch To Paperless Billing
Switching over to paperless billing not only makes business processes easier, but it saves on costs. A few benefits of digitizing invoices include avoiding late fees from misplaced, forgotten, or lost bills, improved security (paper billing can leave businesses vulnerable to theft), cost savings on postage and mail, and saving time on tracking down invoices.
Have Paperless Meetings
Switching from paper to digital platforms during meetings might seem challenging at first, but it’s worth it. Digital documentation has many benefits for both the organizer and attendees, such as setting up complex agendas in minutes, having all participants stay up to date on changes to the current agenda, preparing and updating material in an interactive environment, getting all meeting information upfront, and having all meeting notes easily accessible in digital format.
Paperless Tasks and Memos
Switching to paperless task lists, memos, and notes is easy, especially with a host of clever document management software on the market. Most options also come with the possibility of collaborating and syncing with teammates.
Mobile-First Work Environment
Even in a fully paperless office environment, there may well be a measure of paper consumption. This is mostly because of being in constant communication with external vendors, partners, and clients who have yet to go paperless. The best and most proactive way to mitigate this paper usage is to equip employees with a mobile avenue such as aivika Capture Mobile to digitize documents compatible with the business’ paperless environment.
Printing, signing, scanning, sending, and storing contracts might be one of the most time-consuming tasks to take place at work. A compilation of statistics shared by Finances Online shows that it takes an average of five days to get a traditional signature, while an electronic signature takes only 37 minutes.
In conclusion, the move from paper to digital may seem daunting, but it's a journey worth taking. By embedding a paperless culture, establishing an enablement team, switching to paperless billing, having paperless meetings, using digital task lists and memos, adopting a mobile-first work environment, implementing paperless signatures, investing in a document processing software, providing recycling solutions, and monitoring progress, you can achieve a more efficient and sustainable workplace.
With the right tools and the right mindset, a paperless office is within reach. So why not take the first step today and start your paperless journey?
For more information on the Efflux suite of products, please contact us at bps@efflux-solutions.com
