Is it Time to Go Paperless?

Posted by on October 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Are you drowning in paper chaos or struggling to read a fax of a fax of a fax? Are you running out of office space for filing cabinets? Maybe it’s time to go paperless.

Wikipedia defines the paperless office as “a philosophy to work with minimal paper and convert all forms of documentation to a digital form. The ideal is driven by a number of motivators including productivity gains, cost savings, space saving, the need to share information, etc. “The idea of the paperless office has been around for several years, but not until recently have advancements in technology made saving our forests and valuable natural resources a reality. Congress has passed Acts such as “Esign” 2002, Government Paperwork Elimination (1998), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPPA 1996) and Sarbanes-Oxley (2002), that are all driving forces towards paperless solutions in today’s businesses. Even with these Acts from Congress, Small Business Computing, Inc stated in 2005 that “in North America alone, office printers churn out 1.2 trillion sheet of paper per year”. With almost every industry accepting electronic documents, and with the countless benefits that go with paperless environments, why is now the right time for small businesses to consider moving towards paperless environments?

Affordability. Not until recently, paperless software solutions that integrate with network copiers that copy/scan/print/fax (color and black & white output) have been too expensive for small businesses. One multifunction print device in a small office can service up to 20 employees efficiently, and advancements in technology have made these devices affordable for the small business owner. One piece of equipment means one supply and service organization to work with, thus reducing the need to stock several supplies (toner, drum, etc.) as well as multiple service vendors for each piece of equipment (copier, scanner, fax, printer). Now that you have a machine that can do all these things, what does that mean to your workflow and document handling? That is where software like Paperport, Omnipage Pro, eFax and a variety PDF creating/editing software has come a long way in price and capabilities. This gives the MFP the ability to manage documents based on your needs: receiving faxes electronically and distributing through email, scanning and storing documents on a shared network storage (virtual filing cabinets), disaster recovery & business continuity, etc.

Price of Office Space and Offsite storage continues to rise. Would you rather pay to store hard copy documents in your office or at the local storage place? The investment in a paperless environment will allow you not only to eliminate the cost of storing documents, but also allow you to quickly search and retrieve documents from your digital filing cabinet. Often times there is the need for you to provide a document to someone immediately, paperless solutions allow you to quickly find a document and fax or email to who is requesting it. This ability will give your business a completive edge when a customer or vendor asks for it.

Accessibility. Today’s small businesses are operating more and more in a virtual world. Small business owners want to be able to manage their business without being shackled to one geographic location. Paperless environments allow users to access functions and workflows through a secured connection making them fully functional in their work environment from anywhere there is an internet connection.

Taking your office paperless doesn’t need to be an overwhelming procedure. You can start today with any new accounts or vendors, and then gradually create workflows and virtual filing cabinets that make your paperless office work for you. With a few simple processes, you can free yourself from the weight of all that paper that is cluttering your work life. Try it, and you’ll quickly find out why the successful small businesses go paperless.

Filed under General Business