Have you been thinking about how to make your business more sustainable in 2019? One way to make an impact is to help your business go paperless. Now, we know it might sound intimidating to go completely paperless. But, in addition to saving the trees, you’ll also be pleasantly surprised how using less paper affects your business in several other ways. Here’s how going paperless can affect your business:
Increased productivity
Businesses that go paperless have more productive time than those that still heavily rely on paper. According to ImageOne, nearly 25% of technology-related help-desk calls are related to printing. When a company goes paperless, printers become a thing of the past. It also means that the company no longer needs a copy machine.
Consider how much time is saved when no one has to stand around a wait for copies. Or, take time to clear out a paper jam. And, consider the way that employees congregate around the copy machine for conversation – that’s also wasted time. Removing the need for paper, you not only take away that expense, but you take away opportunities for productivity to decrease.
Document security increases
When all of your documents are digital (and you have a top-notch digital security system in the cloud), the risk of damage to paper documents is nil. You never again have to worry about documents being exposed to:
- Fire damage
- Water damage
- UV damage
- Theft
- Misplacement
- Copy-machine mishaps
- Accidental shredding
Improved communication between employees
Going paperless actually improves work-related communication between employees. According to a study conducted in 2018 and reported at a informatics meeting in Athens, Greece, cloud computing has proven to be fiscally beneficial for small and medium businesses (SMB), especially when it comes to productivity. Cloud computing lets employees share documents efficiently, because they no longer rely on someone else managing paper copies.
Reduced consumption benefits the environment
Reducing consumption of any natural resource benefits your business. According to the State of the Global Paper Industry, paper consumption is at unsustainable levels. It might seem like one business can’t make much of a global impact, but once one business makes the change, more are sure to follow. You can be the trendsetter in your community. But, once you decide to go paperless, share it from the mountaintops and encourage your neighbors to do the same.
