‘To go paperless’ is a buzz-phrase that has become incredibly trendy across a multitude of sectors over the past few years. Everybody from retail to recruitment is on a convicted mission to abolish paper from their day-to-day operations and we’re championing them all the way.

While it is a popular movement that is showing encouraging improvement in various industries, there are still a significant number of companies whose paper consumption is still at a worrying volume.

A lack of attempt to go ‘paper free’ could be as a result of a number of reasons including technophobia, fear of change, time restrictions and pure absent-minded complacency. With this in mind, we wanted to shine the spotlight on the benefits of a paperless office to ensure a lack of knowledge isn’t the reason people are resisting the paperless revolution…

You’ll be doing your bit for the environment

According to statistics from Envirowise, the average office worker wastes 50 sheets of paper every day in unnecessary printing. Transferring your applicable systems into paper-free processes will help make your business a much greener one and bolster your company environmental policy.

Reducing paper waste will boost your cash flow

Eliminating paper from your daily operations means you can dramatically cut costs on machinery, equipment and various office supplies such as paper, inks and toners. Paperless processes also mean you can lower the cost of the sending and delivery of documents and transfer via digital means instead.

You’ll benefit from more secure document storage

Storing data electronically is a much safer way of filing information than generating piles of paperwork that run the risk of becoming mislaid or disorganised. This will give you and your clients peace of mind and demonstrate you’re a progressive company which takes advantage of advanced technology.

Best ways to implement a paperless office:

Now you know more about the benefits of going cutting down on paper, you might be wondering how you can implement this concept within your workplace. Here are some quick and simple ways to introduce low-paper processes:

• Request electronic bills and invoices – Transitioning documents like this into digital format – along with bank statements – will significantly help to reduce paper usage in both your business and the external companies you work with.

• Rethink your internal document sharing – Rather than printing out documents or notifications to circulate around the workplace, take advantage of online tools such as Google Docs. Not only will this reduce the use of paper, it will also make your workforce more productive.

• Go digital with your marketing – In some cases, print media is the most effective option but taking advantage of content marketing, email campaigns and social media over more dated techniques such as leaflets will support your plight to go paperless.

• Paperless bookkeeping – Services like Pandle use cloud-based software to limit the need for tangible documents and paper-based accounting. If you’d like to find out more about cloud-based bookkeeping software, start your FREE trial today!

Have you gone paperless? What’s the most difficult area to change in your business? Let us know your thoughts.