Going Paperless: Is Your Organization Ready?

Over a billion dollars’ worth of paper is wasted around the globe every year. We are already in the 21st century and yet some organizations are still suffering from piles of paper stored in their offices.

But with the plethora of online file storage providers and other digital platforms, companies can now decrease paper waste in the office. Employees can do daily activities without having to constantly worry about the amount of paper used.

To help reduce paper in your work environment, here are some ways to do it:

Make use of file sharing

File sharing makes group projects faster and more convenient. Hence, you should invest in file transfer systems for moving and storing large files like Dropbox. With this, you can create group folders for members of the organization so it wouldn’t be difficult to distribute reports. Another paperless option would be SharePoint so you could synchronize files in an online folder system.

Analyze documents online

Essential day-to-day tasks like converting document file format, comparing and resizing documents, scanning and translating documents had never been easier than today with online help. A plethora of mundane, repetitive and manual paper-based works are now easily done through some mouse clicks and drag and drop steps. All credit goes to the modern online word processing and word comparison software, document scanner, resizer, translator and so on, which are affordable and easy-to-use. Imagine, while comparing different document versions in bulk, how much time you could save for yourself and the company you work for. Using online software, you can simply import older and newer versions of word, PPT or PDF files from your computer and then compare them side-by-side with changes highlighted. It’s error-free and time-saving.

Say Hello to Team Viewer

Tired of printing handouts when doing company presentations or pitches? With Team Viewer, you can easily transmit videos, share files, do screen sharing during presentations and teleconferencing and access whiteboards. Colleagues can go through your presentation while you’re busy explaining and demonstrating your ideas in front of everyone. You can then upload those files to Dropbox or Basecamp so everyone can access them.

Google Docs

Bothered on having to take a short trip to the printer? Use Google Docs, a free service run by Gmail. It lets you work simultaneously with your team on a spread sheet or document. It continuously saves your files so you don’t have to worry about losing them. You can download the files you created if you need to email or print them, revert to or compare earlier versions of Google Docs any time and chat while viewing a certain document.

If your company has not started using Google docs, better make use of it now. Also, you could opt for other platforms like Office 365 and Basecamp. The two platforms offer interactive document editing features, collaboration and sharing. You can store loads of files, conversations and documents by topic.

Fax to Email

Despite the on-going trend of digital solutions, organizations still depend on faxing and scanning. But there are better ways to simplify faxing without consuming truckloads of papers in office.

We offer a paperless Fax to Email solution that allows you to send and receive faxes as an email attachment. No need for a phone line or line rental, no need for a fax machine, no more toners or paper to buy.

You can even port your existing fax number to us, thus no need to lose your existing advertised number.Incoming faxes are received as a PDF attachment, directly to your email, anywhere in the world.

Sending a fax is just as easy, simply attach what you want faxed as an attachment, or just include it in the body of the email itself, and send to our special email mailbox, and that’s it. Our servers deliver it to the recipients fax machine within minutes, anywhere in the world.

Online banking and paperless statements. Since banks nowadays let clients manage their accounts online, why not let your organization do online banking. In this way, you can easily track office transactions and finances. You could also email customer their receipts. Hence, you spend less on envelopes, postage and employee time managing checks, invoices and mailings.

When You Go Paperless

Paper has a way of piling up even after you’ve categorized, stored and filed everything. It’s maddening and takes a lot of work to do. When you go paperless, you reap the following benefits:

• The earth loses a lot of trees that are turned into paper for printing. Going paperless means fewer trees are being cut down. Therefore, you save the environment and help make the earth greener.
• For global businesses, going paperless can be beneficial. You don’t have to pay huge sums of money for mailing and there’s no need to wait for documents to reach its destination.
• Just because you have a locked file cabinet doesn’t mean it’s not vulnerable to prying eyes. Sensitive files aren’t safe from those who really want to get hold of them. If you go digital, you can add several levels of security to keep unauthorized persons from accessing sensitive materials. Access to files and folders can be restricted on a need-to-know basis.
• Because of the large volume of documents in the workplace, they also require a lot of filing cabinets to store everything. But when you go digital, you free up space in the office. Thus, you can accommodate more employees and have extra space available for other facilities.

So if you’re ready to go paperless, take small but necessary steps. If you are already going paperless in your personal life, you could apply that same method to your business. This may seem like an overwhelming process at first but with continued practice, your company could be on its way to going green. Showing your clients that your office is enthusiastic in practicing this method is a great way to impress them. It sends a message that you’re not only keeping your business lean and mean but also leveraging technology to do it.