Having a paperless office is an idealistic goal that in reality, is quite hard to completely successfully achieve. You would not be alone in falling short of achieving a total paperless office, as only about 1% of EU businesses have managed to accomplish this task. The reason why so many businesses come up short is that the we way understand or interpret the term paperless, makes it a goal that is not easily attainable.
Suitable compromise
There are ways that many companies could arrive at a suitable compromise and rather than going for a totally paperless office, they could adopt a paper-lite strategy that will greatly reduce the paperwork and streamline efficiency.
Going paperless is a daunting task and there a many complexities and challenges that you need to face and address, but in doing so, it could help you to improve workplace efficiency and productivity.
Paper has become less of a feature in offices ever since we started using PC’s and email, but these facilities have been around for decades now and the fundamental aspect that is going to make all the difference, is a shift in the culture of business administration.
Connectivity
A lot of office staff now tend to have their own devices to use in the form of tablets and smartphones and there have been initiatives such as BYOD – Bring Your Own Device, which are designed to act as a catalyst for a paperless office.
The mountain of paper you pass around an office and between each other can definitely be reduced if there is a greater level of connectivity between all team members and anyone working at the business that needs to be kept informed or communicated with.
Pairing up a smartphone or tablet with some basic software employed throughout the business can make a substantial difference to paper use.
A good example of this is invoicing. Introducing an e-invoicing system cuts out the need for multiple copies of the same invoice doing the rounds between departments and instantly drives down administration costs and improves efficiency.
Take a look at ways that you can achieve connectivity through devices and software between workers and various departments and you will see opportunities to not necessarily become paperless but certainly paper-lite.
Payment systems
Another way that you can become more paperless is by automating your payment systems.
There are plenty of options for accepting payments online or via a payment terminal, once you have a merchant account set up.
Another good initiative to consider is paperless direct debit. You can sign up to paperless direct debit and collect payments from customers in a convenient and safe way that substantially reduces paperwork and has even shown to increase sales, when customers are offered a simple paperless alternative.
Your business may not become one of the small percentage of truly paperless offices, but you can definitely find ways to improve efficiency and save more than few trees in the process.
Carl Robinson has many years experience in the business sector. Always looking for new and better ways to run a business, he likes to share whatever he finds for new startups and older businesses, alike. You can read his helpful posts on a variety of websites today. See Merchant Services UK for more information and advice on automating your payment system with a merchant account.
