3 reasons your office should go paperless

Investing in document conversion services and embracing paperless strategies can be incredibly beneficial for businesses, but hearing this and understanding exactly how are two different matters. For companies that need a good reason to migrate to paper-free operations, here are three of the top benefits for eliminating paperwork from daily operations.

1. Reduce spending
While it's the most obvious benefit, cutting paper reduces spending on office supplies. However, this extends well beyond paper itself, which can cost companies more than $800 a year per employee. From printer ink to the printers themselves, filing cabinets, record storage and the time spent searching for documents, paper takes up valuable resources. Firms looking to optimize their spending and reallocate resources toward more beneficial, fruitful endeavors will benefit greatly from investing in scanning hardware and migrating away from paper-based workflows.

2. Expedite workflow
That improved allocation of resources will directly influence workflow, helping employees be more productive and perform tasks faster. With digital records, professionals can search for, access and utilize data far more efficiently, reducing their time spent on non-critical tasks and focusing on key operations. This will improve overall time to completion on tasks, while reducing the effort and time spent working in general. With optimized document management software, professionals will be able to search for information based on keywords and terms, as well as a variety of other criteria, rather than taking the average 18 minutes to search through paper records.

3. Save the environment
While it may not have a direct benefit for the business, reducing paper consumption helps eliminate deforestation, carbon emissions and other issues that are having a negative impact on the environment. According to the EPA, every 10 million pages printed uses 2,500 trees, 56,000 gallons of oil, 595,000 kilowatts of energy and 450 cubit yards of landfill space – and just one business going paperless can reverse that impact.

Going paperless isn't just a way to improve workflow, it helps save the planet and cut costs while doing so. Businesses need to start considering a migration to paper-free operations, no matter how slow, and investing in the conversion services to support those efforts.

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