You are constantly looking for ways to improve your small business' ability to succeed. One great way to make a significant upgrade to your small business is to go paperless.
Why should my small business go paperless?
Going paperless provides the following unique benefits for businesses of all types, including:
More efficient operation
Sifting through papers each day costs your business countless man hours each year. A paperless office doesn't have this problem, since all of your company's documents can be accessed with only a few clicks.
Lower operational expenses
Although it can seem inexpensive, using paper is actually extremely costly for your business. Yale University recently demonstrated this fact by saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year by only partially reducing their paper use.
Enhanced customer service
With the data management resources you can access when going paperless, you can service your customers even better. For example, you can respond to inquiries instantaneously via a combination of automation tools and readily accessible data.
More space
Physical documents require you to invest in additional office and/or storage space, whereas a large volume of digital documents can be stored in a space smaller than a single cardboard box.
Better document security
When you have physical documents, stealing your data is as easy as breaking into your facilities. With paperless documents, on the other hand, your data cannot be accessed without proper authentication, because it will be encrypted.
How to go paperless
Now that you know why your small business needs to switch to a paperless office, let's take a look at how to go paperless:
Step 1: Get rid of your current paper documents
The first step towards having your paperless office is to deal with the paper you already have. No matter how many mounds of paper you may have piled up in your office or storage units, this does not have to be a daunting task. In order to switch your current documents over, all you need to do is hire a professional scanning service to do the job for you. They will be able to organize your documents and securely make the transition as efficient as possible.
Step 2: Make managing all of your newly digitized documents easy
A critical element for keeping your paperless office organized is document management software. This will serve as a digital filing system that organizes your documents and makes them more easily accessible. Good document management software also doubles as a layer of digital security for your paperless documents.
Step 3: Get rid of your future paper documents
You can prevent future paper pile-ups by not relying on it as much in the future. Instead of printing everything, encourage your team to share documents via email and other digital file sharing channels. When you do receive a paper document, immediately scan it for integration into your paperless system. If there is no way that you can avoid an influx of high volumes of paper, then make sure to invest in a scanner that can handle a great deal of documents every day.
Preparing your small business for the future starts right now
Now that you know how to go paperless, you can begin to make the transition.