Going Paperless Is a Great Way to Cut Expenses, Increase Efficiency

A lot of businesses have made the transition, or are planning to do so, to a paperless office for eco-friendly reasons, which is an admirable cause. But what many people don’t realize is that using electronic document management systems and cloud software are also great ways to cut expenses and maximize your employees’ productivity.

Create a digital culture 

Encourage employees to take individual steps toward reaching the paperless goal, and help them understand how beneficial eliminating paper can be, The Huffington Post contributor Larry Alton proposed. In fact, Entrepreneur suggested that the only things offices truly need paper for are bathroom tissue and cash. While this may be a bit of hyperbole, his point was that digitizing the majority of your business functions eliminates clutter, facilitates higher levels of employee efficiency and allows work to be completed remotely, and at any hour.

Another simple, and eco-friendly, way to save some money is to allow employees to work from home, Alton said. This saves them to hassle and time of commuting, while saving your office energy costs associated with whichever forms of technology they use – computer, tablet, mobile, etc.

Alton also stated that the digital business climate has opened up new possibilities for outsourcing certain tasks, which may be financially lucrative for your company. Accounting, web design, public relations and marketing are all examples of necessary services that you can hire an outside firm to produce for you so you don’t have to take on as many salaries.

Invest in electronic document management and cloud software

Entrepreneur raised the point that contemporary workers are not limited to standard 9 to 5 hours at a designated location. Rather, they are expected to access key information and documents from remote locations on a fairly consistent basis. This is where e-documents and the cloud come into play. By investing in these software innovations, employees can maximize their efficiency and collaborate on projects from anywhere, at any time.

Alton added that cloud technology is not only convenient, it’s cost-effective, too – it uses less electricity than physical servers and data centers. He also noted that data loss is far less likely to happen to companies that utilize electronic document management systems, since there is always a backup in place. When documents are primarily in physical form, they become much easier to misplace and lose forever.

There are many advantages of switching to cloud-based computing and e-document management software, and businesses would be wise to consider making the switch from traditional print options.