Banish the hidden costs of paper-based business

Traditional business operations use a significant amount of paper that may surprise professionals and enterprise decision makers. From payroll to supplier invoicing, the amount of paperwork that moves into and out of a companies offices is staggering, and many hidden operational costs can be eliminated by going paperless.

According to IT Pro Portal, the idea of going paperless has been around since the proliferation of computers in the business world. However, even two decades later many companies still cannot fathom operating without a single scrap of paper in their offices. In fact, only 24 percent of businesses have implemented policies to create a paper-free work environment, despite 74 percent of respondents to a recent Association for Information and Image Management survey.

To outline the hidden costs that paper brings to work processes, OKI commissioned a poll that found 92 percent of companies print on a daily basis, with 45 percent printing 10 or more pages and 15 percent creating 50 or more pages of documentation a day. However, only 6 percent said that more than 70 percent of their printing was done in color – indicating that many firms are trying to reduce their expenses in some way.

Beyond official printing, many offices find that a significant portion of their employees print personal documents at work as well, increasing the costs of running and operating printers. About 79 percent of professionals have admitted to using office resources for personal use in this manner, with 9 percent saying they print personal things at least once a day in the office.

By adopting a paperless office initiative and investing in high-quality document management software, a firm can eliminate these hidden operating costs quickly and efficiently. Going paperless and hiring document conversion services will allow a firm to do away with printers and the associated ink, paper and maintenance costs entirely, forcing employees to go digital and print their personal documents on their own time.

Going paperless requires a different type of information management that businesses will need to adopt in order to optimize workflow. From data security to enterprise ediscovery efforts, these aspects of workflow will need to be focused on, with employees being trained and informed of new processes, as well as have the benefits of paperless efforts explained to them.

Brought to you by Image One Corporation, providing complete information governance since 1994.