Did you know…
On average, 15% of organisations’ revenues involve creating, managing, and distributing documents. The average office worker in America uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year . And, to top it off, 45% of the paper printed in offices ends up in the bin by the end of the day.
Why go paperless?
Going paperless can bring enormous advantages to your company. Not only is it good for the environment, but it also boosts efficiency, wastes fewer resources, and speeds up the processing of documents.
This increased speed of working is an important benefit of paperless working. On average you can save 33 minutes of work per document by reducing the manual and paper-based processes and forms. It also saves staff time consuming administrative tasks such as photocopying, scanning or printing documents. Digital storage can be done in seconds, and retrieval involves a quick computer search.
You can also streamline your processes. When workflows are digital, they create data. Data from processes that use technology can be used beyond the individual process. For example, data can be used to build dashboards and create reports quickly. You can also establish a clear audit trail which has both legal and productivity benefits.
Now let’s consider your clients. Going paperless means you can better serve your customers. Customers want speed and efficiency. They want to be able to do as much as possible for themselves on their own time schedule, without having to stop and complete a form. The use of a customer portal can provide assistance quickly and easily.
Another equally important benefit is that you can save money! You no longer need to consider office space for storage. Freeing up space is one reason that paperless offices tend to be cheaper to run, as there’s no need to invest in on-site storage facilities. You can also save money on minimal annual costs of ink, toner, and postage.
Let’s not forget about the importance of security. Going paperless can be more secure. Companies have to take care to ensure their data is encrypted and placed in a private cloud, or on a company data server, where it’s possible to restrict access. Unlike paper copies, digital files are not at risk of being destroyed in a fire.
It can also play a role in addressing broader ethical and moral responsibilities that are important to consumers, such as deforestation. Going paperless can have a clear impact in helping to save forests and contribute to environmental sustainability. You can also inspire teams to save paper by tracking the environmental impacts of your paper usage with an online calculator.
Is there a need for paper processes?
If your business is still using paper processes, it’s time to look at why. Are there regulatory requirements? Or is it because, “We’ve always done it this way”? Many businesses believe that they need to use paper with processes such as invoicing, but there are ways you can go digital! Many industries have legal requirements for holding onto records. But it’s even easier to store, secure, and create audit trails for digital processes.
Where to start?
So just how easy is it to go digital? Although it’s difficult to become completely paperless overnight, technology can make it relatively easy to start going paperless straight away! It’s a good idea to pick a few areas you would like to change to paperless and focus on these.
The Odoo platform can help companies to go paperless and bring out a paperless environment. For example, Odoo’s Documents app will help you organise and process your documents. Using paperless signatures and making all contracts digital can be achieved using the Odoo Sign app. Its “share” option allows you to create a reusable template for each customer if you sell using a complicated contract.
When looking for inefficiencies in companies, two aspects of possible improvements are spreadsheets and papers. If a process relies on one of those, there are great chances that it can be improved. To see how much time could be saved, try the calculator:
See how much time could you save.
We see technology as one of the tools to help make processes better, more efficient, more valuable, and less wasteful. While it can be a challenge to go paperless, it should surely be a consideration for any forward-looking business. If you are still using paper for important processes in your business or would like to become more paperless, reach out to us. We’ll help you refine the processes and, when called for, build software technology to help bring digital processes to life.
(1) According to data from the Clean Air Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)