How sweet it would be to sit at your office desk without any piles of paper. Sounds like an impossible dream, right? Well, digital tools are actually doing a great job at eliminating the paper clutter in your office. Aside from reducing your carbon footprint, these tools also provide instant benefits by taking paper out of the equation, such as:
- Securing key business documents.
- Saving costs on scanning and printing.
- Allowing remote access to documents away from the office.
- Enhancing office appearance and freeing up space.
So what tools help you get to the paperless office? What is the answer to those paper roadblocks? Here are four tools to help you go paperless in no time:
Online collaboration
Reducing paper clutter at the workplace starts with personal organization, but what about working with employees and senior managers? Instead of printing five copies of a document to collaborate in the office or share a new project in a meeting, you can share documents over Google Drive.
While the functionality of Google docs is limited compared to the full office set offered by companies such as Microsoft, it is a simple and a great way to start organizing and brainstorming a project. Multiple people can edit the same document simultaneously.
Fuller project software such as Intellinote can be a great resource too for bigger companies. With Intellinote, you can use intelligent notes to collaborate on team projects from any remote location, and you’ll see more productive work and less paper.
Electronic signatures
Need to get a client’s signature or approve a transaction? Skip the paper. If there are a lot of PDF documents, you can use Adobe Reader as it lets you sign inside a PDF from any touch screen device.
Newer esignature solutions can cut document turnaround time by as much as 90 percent. They allow users to legally bind signatures from partners, employees and customers in a few seconds from any device. Also, an office of 100 can save as much as 40 hours per month by avoiding paper and using such tools.
Electronic signatures can also be done through mobile apps that enable you to capture a signature inside forms. They make using less paper practical.
Digital mailrooms
Digital mailrooms digitizes all received mail via scanning, putting an end to the paper tide at your office desk. The saved mail can then be read, analyzed and replied to digitally, which saves money and time.
Digital mailboxes such as those from Kofax break down the document, sending the relevant details to those who need it. This kind of tool reduces the chances of errors that may happen when mail passes through multiple hands.
See also: Automating Business Processes To Reduce Reliance On Paper
From the invoices received, to all those marketers trying to sell you stuff, digital mailboxes ensure that all the important details are kept, received and sent in an organized manner.
Online record keeping
Even after your company goes digital in paper-centric areas, there will always be the challenge of archiving your files and records.
This information is usually spread between paper records, emails and computer files. But a web-based archive can be created for all such items through solutions like Box, and the dividends of this strategy will be manifold in the long run.
Featured image credit: paper airplanes take flight in different directions/ShutterStock
