4 Ways to Optimize a Business by Going Paperless

Technological advancements continue to reshape modern business environments and workplaces. Although technology is disrupting the industries it affects, no one can deny the numerous benefits it brings along. Nowadays, technological innovations are experiencing mainstream adoption across numerous companies of all sizes. One of the newest trends is a paperless office. In this digital age, paper documents, broadsheets, files, and other things are slowly becoming obsolete.

Everything can be converted into a digital format these days and can be stored either on a hard drive within the company or stored remotely online. This advantage allows companies to effectively manage their document workflow and streamline the creation, storage, and distribution, among other things, of various files. What’s more, digital files can easily be accessed and passed around within a company in a more efficient and seamless way, thus greatly reducing the chances and risks of human error. With that in mind, here are a few ways to optimize a business by going paperless.

Opt for an online storage

The first step towards optimizing your business for paperless is to choose an online storage. Technology’s advancements in the field of cloud-computing are what made a paperless office possible these days. Cloud storages allow you to store any documents in remote datacenters. The files are encrypted and secured making this option quite beneficial. Moreover, you can access those files any time you need, from any device and from anywhere in the world.

What’s more, cloud services offer more benefits than a simple storage solution for your digital files. In fact, you can subscribe to cloud services that will provide you with the necessary software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and even hardware infrastructure as a service (IaaS). That way, your business can not only properly go paperless entirely, but it can adopt other systems that will make the entire process more seamless as well.

Digitalize payrolls

Nowadays, paychecks are pretty much the standard when it comes to paying your employees. Although this method has worked well so far, you have to consider the time and costs required for this method to operate smoothly. You have to spend money on postage, envelopes, and papers, as well as spend a lot of time on administrative tasks. The more employees you have, the higher the costs are.

If you’re considering going paperless, you can automate and digitalize your payroll process with reliable employee income cards. A pay card solution would provide better advantages than handing out salaries to employees via paychecks. Employees will have quick access to their funds and they won’t have to waste money on extra costs and the waste of paper checks. In addition, it’s a more convenient and seamless way to pay your employees their hard-earned salaries that benefit both your company and your employees.

Implement a filing system

Even though there are numerous advantages to going paperless, a lot of companies haven’t adopted this system yet. The main reason is that most companies have invested a lot of money in traditional filing systems that include printers, storage spaces, organization management and so on. However, going paperless doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow and demanding process that may take years based on the number of files your company creates and stores. If you decide to begin the paperless process, you’ll have to implement a digital filing system.

There are various tools and software that can help you achieve that. However, the important aspect is to start scanning your paper documents and files and slowly start filing them. Moreover, don’t forget to shred sensitive documents after they’ve been digitalized. After all, you don’t want any paper to go missing during the process or tackle inconveniences of having to scan the same document multiple times.

Consider electronic communication

Many businesses are drowned in papers after meetings, negotiations, presentations and so on. What’s more, some companies print emails to have a paper backup of the conversations. That’s all quite unnecessary and costly. Instead, consider the electronic way of communication. When holding meetings, the attendees can take notes on digital notepads instead of paper. Also, consider allowing employees to deliver reports and summaries in digital format instead of paper.

As far as communication goes, there are various communication tools and instant messaging apps that allow you to record and save copies of conversations in the cloud. That way, you won’t have to print any emails or such. Electronic communication methods and modern technology can also replace calendars, reminder notes, paper billings and any other aspect which required paper up until now.

Going paperless has numerous benefits for both companies that adopt this trend and the environment. By going paperless, your business can implement a more seamless process of creating, storing and managing documents and files while reducing the paper consumption and waste in the process. That will not only improve your company’s overall performance but also make the world a slightly better place.