As businesses continue to shift to the digital realm and their dependency on electronic communication keeps increasing, companies tend to be stepping into a paperless era. Gone are the days when heaps of paper documents used to be stacked in the office cabinets or found lying on the tables all the time.
Finding a certain urgent document from the mounds of files could often turn into the most arduous task, resulting in much wastage of time. This continued for decades as companies would rely on paper documents for storing valuable information until recent times where we see a shift in this trend. Nowadays offices and employees, no matter what their niche is, are transitioning businesses to paperless electronic documentation for a more paper-free office.
Most of the companies have shifted major business operations to digital and electronic tools, making information storage, sharing, or withdrawal more efficient and rapid. Charter customer service for instance makes use of emails, live chats, and various social media channels to provide the finest support and assistance to its clients, preventing the use of paper by adopting a digital mode of communication.
Why do businesses want to go Paperless?
If you are wondering why more businesses want to go paperless, let us give you some insight into it. There are multiple benefits involved. Electronic management systems are leading way to a paperless business to save time, money and have more convenience. By avoiding the use of paper, you can not only make your business green and eco-friendly but also spare a hefty amount of money that otherwise would have been spent on getting consistent paper supplies. You can use that money to grow your business. If you want to turn your office paperless then here we are with some of the best tips to make it happen. Dive in!
- Make Use of Google Apps
Google has a suite of apps to offer, especially for small business owners. Hence they can cut down their cost on paper and use these online tools instead. Not just that, this also helps business owners to communicate in a better way and makes information retrieval or sharing a lot more accurate and fast.
With Google Docs, you can coordinate various work projects online and effectively collaborate with the team members. The word and spreadsheets can be shared and saved by all team members, whoever you choose. By instructing your staff to make use of Google apps, you can avoid piling papers in your office and make information more easily accessible.
- Switch to Electronic Payrolls
By switching to electronic payrolls, as done by most of the forms and organizations, you can reduce the use of paper invoices or checks issued by the company. Once your payroll and accounting are operated online, you can generate invoices online. Some software also offers mobile app features so the accounting tasks can also be managed on a tablet or a smartphone if needed. This not only saves the expenses on paper but also allows more convenience and easy access to cloud-based accounting solutions.
- Shift your Marketing Strategy Online
It’s very simple to calculate that marketing through emails, social media, or official websites for brand promotions can be much less costly as compared to direct mail marketing. It can benefit your business in the best ways if you adopt digital marketing strategies for reaching out to the target audience. Not only you will be saving yourself from the hassles of handling and filing lots of paper but you will also be able to reach a greater audience.
Sending out regular newsletters, announcements, promotional deals, etc via emails or social media posts is a lot easier and cost-free than using paper pamphlets, banners, and the distribution hassle that comes along. Thus a paperless marketing strategy is always going to generate better leads, be more cost-effective, and be less time-consuming.
- Select the Right Cloud Platform
For not requiring paperwork in your business, you will need a robust cloud-based platform to record and save documents and files. While there are plenty of cloud-based platforms available, you must choose the one that fits your business needs and offers maximum security. Some of the commonly used cloud platforms include Dropbox, SugarSync, JustCloud, etc. Remember security should be the topmost probity when choosing a cloud platform for your business, to avoid any breaches.
Wrapping Up,
Businesses that are planning to go paperless may feel a bit hesitant knowing there won’t be any hard copies but keep in mind that this vulnerability does not hold much ground against the multiple protections, backups, and rapid processing that come with the use of the paperless online tools and software.
Moreover, you will also be playing your role towards saving the environment by going green and adopting an eco-friendly paperless way to carry out the various business documentation and processes.