The concept of paperless office is to move files from paper to digital format. It wasn’t so long ago in managed offices, that you could easily spot slips, invoices, documents and bulging cabinets that were stored in folders or boxes.
Photo by rvoegtli (Flickr) is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Get a Paperless Office by going Digital
Now these sights are disappearing from offices, leaving space aplenty to occupy in new and exciting ways. The old dusty documents are now recovered, stored and used in digital documents via the local network or Internet. The benefit is seen with the decrease in paper costs and storage, increased productivity and also to the environment.
Although the idea of living without paper seems very nice, it is difficult to put into practice if you don’t first make a schedule of what you need. It may cost a little to begin the launch of a completely paper-free space, but when you have some basic routines and habits set up, you’ll soon discover its benefits: saving money, space and search time, and a greater respect for environment.
Let’s check out some of the top tips for paperless offices:
- Automation of production processes – This is one of the key actions for the paperless office.
- Use of computers – The computer allows better recording of information, as well as saving time and space.
- Using Software – The software facilitates the electronic processing of all types of documents.
- Use all functions of equipment – Multifunctional operations allow a single computer such functions as scanning, printing, copying, sending and receiving electronic documents by email.
- Have a good scanner – The scanner is one of the most important devices throughout the office, if you want to give up on the paper.
- Having a shredder – The shredder helps to quickly destroy documents safely. This means less clogging up of old files in your office.
- Use smartphones and tablets to read PDF files, saving you the need to print of sheets of paper.
- Email – Everything must be done through email. It’s best to have a good email manager that lets you send and receive emails quickly without much effort, maintain a list of contacts and tasks assigned and to organize a calendar of appointments and events.
- Integrate Apps – Use business apps such as Evernote, Dropbox and Mint. These make your life that little bit easier, especially with tasks such as note taking and organising.
Be Secure with all your Digital Files
Investing in a paperless office implies among other things that all of your documents and relevant information will be found in a central location on either a hard drive or on a server. This means that if for any reason something disastrous happens to your computer, be it a virus or break-in, you’ll have all the important info backed up. It’s always good practise to perform regular backups of documents scanned at a second location (backups, cloud, another hard disk, etc.) This makes a paperless office a secure one too.
Start implementing the great benefits of a paperless office now. Give Send Business Centre a call for some of the best managed offices in the country: 01483 225617
