We are currently living in a digital age, where it’s possible for companies to go completely paperless. Documents can now be read, shared and edited on a computer. Creating a paperless office not only benefits the environment, but it can also save costs, increase productivity and improves customer service. There are document management systems which allow you to create an electronic filing cabinet to store all your documents and data.
Below are the reasons why you should become paperless.
Easy access to information:
Getting hold of paper documents can be very time consuming, searching through paper files and filing cabinets. A typical employee spends 30-40% of time looking through documents in filing cabinets and each misfiled document costs £97. Each lost document costs £250-£545, large organisations lose a document every 12 seconds. When becoming paperless and using a document management system, it takes just seconds to access electronic documents online. With the use of document management systems, collaboration tools have made it possible for people to work on the same documents at the same time, no matter where they are located. Offering quicker and easier access to information, document management systems also help to automate workflows and greatly reduce reliance on manual intervention.
Improved security:
Going paperless also allows much better security over your business data, although this does depend on the systems you use for storing confidential information. Paper documents are subject to two risks: physical theft and destruction from a variety of disasters (fire, flood, etc). When you scan confidential documents, you can restrict access to them in a granular manner. For example, you can limit the access of sensitive information or specific case files to select people. The paperless approach is also better for disaster recovery, since it allows you to easily store multiple digital copies of your data in different physical locations. If disaster strikes your workplace, your business applications and data will be unaffected, provided they’re hosted in the cloud.
Automatic Data Capture:
With digital workflows come automation, using web-based forms to collect and exchange information not only speeds up the process, but improves data quality. Going paperless makes it easier to capture data automatically. For example, you can use forms to collect and share information while improving data quality. Digitally captured data is more reliable and means access to better information, faster turnaround and lower costs because pre-printed forms and mailing expenses can be eliminated. In addition, inbound data can be integrated with back-end applications, and custom forms or documents can be generated from applications automatically, eliminating manual processing.
Increased productivity:
With paper documents, the amount of time it takes you and your team to manage, maintain and process the documents can be frustrating. With the use of digital technology to collect, edit and exchange information and data not only speeds up business processes, it also improves data quality and reliability. Scanning in paper documents and converting them into electronic documents provides better access to information, faster turnaround times and lower costs due to the elimination of form printing and mailing expenses. With the use of electronic management systems, it provides a universal place for documents to be stored, allowing authorised users to search for documents easier and efficiently. Whereas with paper documents, searching through filing cabinets and documents can be time consuming, which is hard within a business as time means money.
Improved Customer Service:
Using digital documents enable businesses to help and deal with customer service issues far more effectively, creating a more responsive customer service process. A digital document management system allows businesses to access customer data and retrieve information such as invoices, customer orders and documents quickly, allowing the business to proactively provide customer service and respond to enquiries faster.
Fewer Expenses:
Paper documents require a lot of money to maintain. It’s not only products such as paper, ink, toner and printers, it’s also the expenses of filing cabinets and onsite storage. Once all the costs are put together and added up, it can be very expensive. Buying a scanner from our sister company Scanner Superstore would greatly reduce these costs, as you can now scan in the documents you have around your office, uploading them to the Cloud or a document management system. Therefore, saving you space and costs, allowing you to redirect funds towards more important areas of your company.
Here are some tips on becoming paperless.
Discourage Paper use:
One way to becoming paperless is to discourage employee from using paper. A few ways to do this can be:
Make it less convenient to print. Reduce the number of printers in the office and place it in an inconvenient location. If employees have to make a journey to print, they’ll be less likely to do so unless it is necessary
Creating a recycling policy within the company. If employees become more actively involved in becoming environmentally friendly, as a result of this, they may decide to use less paper
Track the number of pages being printed by each person. This will help to show each employee exactly how much paper they are using.
Digitise your documents:
Scan documents that you need to keep, and store them electronically on the computer hard drive. Scanning old documents saves a lot of space and reduces clutter. However, if you don’t correctly label documents, finding them again will be time consuming. Set up a system for labelling documents, and maintain consistency as you label and scan your files.
Rethink printing and paper use:
Look for ways to cut down on your printing and paper use. You can save paper even when you have to print a document. Reduce the font size of the document to 10. Adjust the margins, so the words take up more space on each printed page, and print the document on both sides of the paper. By utilizing these tips, you can use less paper when you print documents. Think twice before printing anything, and when possible, read documents on your tablets or laptop instead. If you need to share a document, use email.
Below are the benefits of having a paperless office:
Quicker access to information - Searching through papers can be a nightmare. If the documents are stored online, you can not only search by file names but also by the document content. You can also access these documents on your smartphone, even if you are away from the office.
Security and easy sharing - If the documents are stored in digital format, you can implement various access controls. It is very easy to share those documents quickly with your peers.
Save time - Imagine that you are moving your office to a new location. When it comes to moving your box folders, you will have one less thing to worry about. You can save time while sharing documents over an email or through document storage services.
More space - Your desk will be free from piles of files. When you get rid of that huge filing cabinet, you will have space for one more desk.
Cost reduction - While saving paper is good for the environment, it is also good for your pocket too. You will save printing, postage and other indirect expenses.
Document Management Systems:
We offer Document Management Systems, a digital filing cabinet. Allowing you to manage and control all of your information and documents in a secure and central location. It is the electronic images of paper based information captured through the use of a document scanner. Document management systems show how your organisation stores, manages and tracks electronic documents. Here are the two most popular systems we offer:
FileDirector:
FileDirector brings the future of company management and data distribution into today’s world. This Electronic Content Management solution shortens the time required to organise and handle documents within an enterprise, enormously. This noticeably more productive and more efficient way of working reduces costs significantly.
Scan and Upload: Capturing information is a very quick process using FileDirector. Scanning was never easier, using pre-definable scan profiles. FileDirector records electronic documents as flexibly and quickly as paper documents. The particular format and source are not an issue and thanks to the included integration with Microsoft Office, you and your staff can archive documents, tables and emails with a simple mouse-click
Sort and Index: Indexing and sorting documents is handled manually or via OCR (Optical Character Recognition) zones in the document, via full text or barcodes. Index data can be imported via ODBC from other databases or files or transferred automatically when importing or recording.
Search and Retrieve: FileDirector leaves you free to decide how to conduct your keyword search. You can use the defined index fields to search for information you need, either within an entire filing cabinet or within a given document type. You can also use full text search to locate the documents you need via their content.
Thanks to its extensive range of functions, FileDirector meets all your document management requirements – today and tomorrow. Ease of use, scalability and a wealth of expandable components make FileDirector the perfect partner for businesses of all sizes.
The benefits of an intelligent document management system are self-evident, for instance, improved efficiency: documents are located, stored and distributed more quickly. What’s more, staff do not waste time or money on duplicating or distributing documents. Digitising avoids all these unnecessary steps and gives your staff more time to concentrate on the essentials. On top of this, document storage costs are reduced because a considerably smaller storage area is required.
To find out how using a document management system can help you go paperless, please call us on 01785 785 650 to chat to one of our experts.
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