How Can Businesses Go Completely Paperless?

Many businesses are now starting to realise the benefits of going completely paperless. This can have environmental impacts as well as cost saving and efficiency benefits to name just a few of the reasons for shifting from paper to digital.

However, this is proving to be difficult for some so in this article, Rads Document Storage take a look at some of the best ways for businesses to implement a paperless office strategy.

What is a paperless office?

In a paperless office, you should be looking to eliminate or at least reduce the number of physical documents that you have. This could be the paperwork that you use, or simply what you store. It should be an attempt to consciously cut down on the amount of paper that you are using by digitising your documents and creating as many processes as possible that will prohibit the use of paper. Whilst it can be difficult to eliminate paper entirely, many are able to reduce their paper consumption to an absolute minimum.

Look at your communication strategies

As the number of people in your business starts to grow, the number of documents that you need in order to manage it is likely to grow as well. This can have a direct impact on the amount of paper that you use, so it is important to look at ways you can leave manual processes behind as you begin to expand. This might mean implementing communications software such as video conferencing or online boards where tasks can be viewed, assigned and completed. This not only makes it easier to eliminate paper from your business, but it also improves visibility into projects and allows for greater levels of collaboration amongst teams.

Digital storage

Many businesses need to store important documents such as contracts, medical records, certificates and important data. Traditionally, these will all have been kept in filing cabinets and folders, but now they can be scanned and stored digitally. This means they can all be kept in encrypted, password protected folders that ensure they remain secure and easily accessible without taking up huge amounts of valuable space in your office.

Electronic signatures

One of the reasons many businesses still stick to traditional paper documents is because they require a wet signature. This meant that they needed to exist on paper and that parties had to be present in order to get them completed. By introducing electronic signatures, it is possible to sign contracts and other documents from a device from anywhere in the world without the need to print them off.

Have paper process is in place

There may be some cases where you still need to use paper, or it comes into your office through other sources such as the post. It is therefore important to have processes in place to make sure that any poor paperwork is dealt with as efficiently as possible. This could include ensuring that all documents are scanned and digitised as quickly as possible, or that any paper is reused or recycled wherever it can be. You might also want to reduce printing credits within the team to make sure that they think carefully about whether something really needs to be printed out.

Going paperless can seem like a challenge, and there may be a lot of upheaval in the initial process, but once policies and procedures are put in place to handle this, it is much easier than you might think. Being paperless can not only make your office more efficient, but it can ensure that everything is kept more securely than it was before, saving you huge amounts of space-time and money.