As the digital world grows and technology becomes more available to companies of all sizes, it is becoming easier to operate a paperless business.
A key phrase of the digital era has taken over businesses everywhere. The phrase is “going paperless,” which refers to the process of shifting all documentation, files, and records to a digital format.
According to The World Counts, the global annual production of paper and cardboard is 420 million tons equating to two sheets of paper for everyone on Earth every single hour. Not really a paperless society yet. It is predicted that the demand for paper is expected to double by 2030.
According to the statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, a typical employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper annually. Now if you multiply the total number of paper sheets by the average cost of paper, you will realize that your employee spends $1000 on paper alone. Even if you are a small business firm with 50 employees, you spend $50,000 every year on paper. Don’t forget the fact that out of all the stationery and office supplies, companies spend the most on paper. Paper is not the only cost you bear, you also have to bear costs such as printing ink, storage space for paper files, paper shredder, printer maintenance, and other overhead expenses.A typical office worker produces 160 kilograms of paper waste, 45% of the paper printed in offices ends up trashed by the end of the day.
Here are 9 benefits company should strongly consider going paperless.
- Digitizes Your Paper Documents and Files
- Increases Efficiency
- Improves Productivity
- Ensures Compliance and Security
- Speeds up the Approval Process
- Improves Collaboration Capabilities
- Back-up documents automatically
- Saves Time & Money
- Reduces Future Environmental Impact
Going green does make you feel good about yourself. Many companies are increasingly recognizing the environmental tree-saving benefits of going digital wherever possible. To some, the importance of a paperless office is not just about the business and workflow benefits, but also about being concerned about the environment and reducing consumption and waste as much as possible.
Switching to a paperless office wouldn’t necessarily eliminate paper from your workplace but transitioning your company’s business records from paper files to digital documents can take a lot of pain out of administrative responsibilities.
A paperless office simply takes efforts to minimize paper-based workflows and to use electronic documents. When you apply these principles to your business process, you will find there are lot of small changes that can bring big results down the line.
Switching to paperless doesn’t have to be intimidating; you don’t have to implement changes all at once. Even small reductions in day-to-day paper usage will start to uncover some cost savings. Start your journey to go paperless today and see how much it can benefit you.