Top 3 Reasons to Go Paperless in the Office
Running a business can be very expensive which is why you should consider trying out a period where you go paperless. I know it sounds crazy but thanks to the web - businesses can now conduct a large majority of your daily activities without the need of hard copy.
To go paperless in your office, you'll need to make a few sacrifices in the beginning but the long term rewards for going paperless will certainly make up in less costs for office supplies.
Additionally, going 'green' is a great way to show that you're making an effort to reduce your businesses impact on the environment which, in the long term, is a benefit for everyone.
Here's how to go paperless in your office ...
1. Better Organization
Anyone that works in the office can tell you how jumbled up documents can get when the filing cabinet begins to get packed. In time, the filing cabinet is so stacked with documents that it takes ages to find the files you need.
To go paperless allows you to easily organize your documents with ease through proper folder structures on your computer. To make things easier, you can use search features on your computer to quickly find documents instead of trying to remember where you've stored them in the office.
In all, a paperless office will reduce the amount of time your employees will be hunting down documents which can be vitally important when the are dealing with clients and customers; time is everything when it comes to business!
2. Reduced Costs
Anyone that has purchased printer ink or toner knows how expensive the items can be; some printers have toner cartridges that cost hundreds of dollars!
Add in the cost of office supplies like pens, paper, staples, clipboards and all other supplies that work around a 'hard copy' office and you will see a great deal of profits going toward the simple maintenance of keeping things running.
To go paperless in your office means that you no longer need to pay for the vast majority of your office supplies. It's difficult to get people to completely switch to 'online only' but there are thousands of programs and software tools that aid the process from email to instant messaging.
All in all, you can dramatically cut down the cost of running your business by going paperless so you can focus that money toward marketing and developing products (or giving your employees a raise).
3. Security
Adding your business documents to 'the cloud' (web) frees you from the stress of one of the worst things that can happen to your business: natural disasters.
If your business were to suddenly become flooded or a fire breaks out - all of your business documents are lost if they are only stored through the traditional methods like filing cabinets and in desk drawers.
To go paperless in your business lets you gain a better control over the security of your business. You'll want to secure your documents online but the shift from paper to paperless will let you easily access your documents whenever need be and prevent disastrous events from crippling your business.
All in all, going paperless is very smart for any business that can't afford to lose it all because of a natural or man made disaster - aka. all businesses.
Conclusion
As you can see, a paperless business has plenty of benefits but do have a few hurdles to overcome. The technology out there, on the web and on computers, will certainly aid you in the transition from filing cabinet to paperless but it's really about convincing your employees to make the shift and build habits of computer based communication.
In the end, you'll not only create documents that are more accessible and secure but greatly reduce the cost of running your business which benefits everyone, including your customers, in the long run.
