Today, businesses are looking for ways to work smarter and greener. Despite this, many still use tons of paper, which costs a lot of money and hurts the environment. There's a better way to do things: go paperless with the help of document scanning and document management systems (DMS). Going digital reduces clutter and waste, makes businesses run smoother, and saves them money. In this article, we'll dive into eight shocking facts about how much paper businesses waste and how switching to digital can make a big difference.

1. Save money on paper and shipping – and reduce your environmental footprint at the same time. A study of four customers by Oracle Corporation (a sponsor of the AIIM Green ECM site) quantified the direct cost and environmental savings from driving paper out of core processes through deployment of document management technologies.

2. Increase the effectiveness of core processes. Think about the benefits of document management technologies in a single core process – finance. Driving paper from financial processes allows an accounts payable group to pay invoices faster, taking advantage of discounts for early payment. It allows an accounts receivable group to improve cash flows and reduce the days that sales are outstanding. The cost of processing an invoice can typically be cut by a factor of 10, creating savings that drop directly to the bottom line. These kinds of savings can usually be replicated in other paper‐intensive processes, yielding BOTH bottom line AND green benefits.

3. Truly integrate your field operations. The application of distributed capture technologies – using a scanner in a field office to process locally created paper and electronically store it in a central location – is a true no‐brainer for most organizations. Distributed capture solutions often pay for themselves just through savings in courier and shipping costs. But taking courier and overnight services off the road also translates into significant direct environmental benefits.

4. Reduce real estate costs. Less paper means fewer filing cabinets means less real estate ‐‐ which reduces cost, but also significantly reduces your environmental footprint.

5. Improve employee productivity. By digitizing as much information as possible, you set the stage for allowing employees much greater flexibility in their working arrangements and for much more effective collaboration independent of geography. Which also translates into less real estate and less travel and a reduced carbon footprint – and happier employees.

6. Reduce off‐site storage costs. Off‐site storage of paper is expensive, often requiring rental and maintenance fees as well as significant transportation costs to the facility. All of which represent a significant burden on the environment compared to a document management solution.

This article was original written and shared with permission by AIIM.org. For more information on Green ECM, visit http://www.aiim.org/green‐ecm