There are two things about paper in the office that we know:
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Paper isn’t going away.
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Paper slows down businesses.
Predictions that the “paperless” office is “around the corner” have been around for decades. A BusinessWeek article in 1975 included this tidbit: “Vincent E. Giuliano of Arthur D. Little, Inc. figures that the use of paper in business for records and correspondence should be declining by 1980, and by 1990, most record-handling will be electronic.”
Right.
It is true that the hardware and software tools exist to create a truly paper-free office. Tools like workflows, document management, email, online storage, the ability to read and share documents on multiple devices (tablet, phone, laptop), etc. However, people still like paper.
Many customers continue to want their invoices and statements delivered in envelopes through the mail. Your boss wants to review the budget or three-year strategy document printed out. Receipts are printed for nearly every purchase. And, of course, people still like to read physical books even though you can carry a library on a Kindle, iPhone, or tablet.
So while the entirely “paperless” office might not be our reality, we can certainly create a “less-paper” reality for our offices.
Paper Causes Friction
Friction causes a moving object to slow down. You want your office to move as friction-free as possible. Paper equals friction. Here are a few stats:
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It takes about 12 minutes to process a document -- nine of those minutes are spent looking for, retrieving, and refiling the document
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The average office loses 1 of 20 documents
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About half of print jobs are thrown away without being used
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Waiting for a wet signature delays approval processes -- and could cause you to miss early payment bonuses
Think of your own daily office life. How much time do you lose shuffling paper around?
ROI From Less Paper
AIIM, an association for information professionals, once participated in an annual “Paperfree Day.” One of my favorite return on investment, or ROI, stories comes from a presentation AIIM put together:
“My favorite digitize paper story. Years ago, I was speaking to a state agency. They were on the verge of building a new storage space to store their paper records and files. Not only did scanning their paper documents eliminate the need for that building, but they were also able to remove filing cabinets from their existing office building so that they no longer had to walk single file down hallways. An entire building. Just for paper. If that’s not ROI, I don’t know what is.”
Your ROI probably won’t be quite that much, but think of the time back in your day from being able to find documents in seconds. That alone can return hours of productive time each week to an individual.
Shrink Your Paper Waistline
On an individual level, changing a few habits can shrink an office’s paper paunch. One simple way to start is to ask yourself before you print or copy anything if you really need a paper copy. A digital mindset and the habit of working with digital rather than paper documents can go a long way to reducing the use of paper.
Here are three more practical steps.
Use Print Rules
I’ve mentioned print rules quite a bit over the past few months because they work. By creating rules that restrict and limit how individuals in your office use printing, you can save money and create less waste. One common example is restricting color printing to certain individuals and/or requiring permission to print a document in color. I’ve explained print rules before, click here to read all about them.
Use Your Printer’s Scanning Functionality
Remember that while you probably call the multifunction printer in your office “the printer” or “the big printer” it can also scan documents. In addition to not printing documents you don’t need to print, you can use your multifunction printer to remove paper documents from your business processes whenever possible. Instead of walking a paper document for approval from desk to desk, scan that document into an automated, digital workflow for less friction. Read about the benefits of using your copier to launch your business’s digital transformation here.
Even scanning to email or scanning into online document storage (like Dropbox, Google Docs, or a document management repository) helps to speed up collaboration.
Implement Document Management
Document management software is a safe investment with proven ROI. DM isn’t just for large businesses either, many software companies offer DM software to meet the needs of small to medium businesses (most of these products can scale to meet your growing needs too). We use Square 9 to meet the “less paper” needs of our customers.
There’s no excuse to continue to be bogged down with paper.
