Benefits of Going Paperless: How Digital Documents Can Transform Your Business

Our modern digital economy has made online document management more convenient than ever. Businesses look for new and cost-effective digital solutions to help improve their competitiveness. Accelerated by covid-19, digital document management and customer communications are now all the more essential to business success. Going paperless helps modify business processes, improve customer experiences, meet privacy requirements, and adapt to changing market conditions. Though most buiseness have adapte many of their operations to be online, often digital documentation is not given the attention it deserves.

The importance of going paperless due to covid-19

Covid-19 introduced us to social distancing and pushed us to work from home, communicate via email, and rely heavily on digital files. Even though going paperless usually requires effort and time, remote communication and online document management can protect your business operations. Now more than ever, both clients and employees need tools to communicate and collaborate remotely.

Hidden costs of paper-based businesses

Paper-based businesses usually spend between 1% to 3% of their total revenue on office printing; on top of the clutter associated with physical storage. It is hard to manage and organize physical folders, time-consuming to find the documents you need, and impossible to access files when out of the office. Limited physical copies put paper-based offices at risk of losing essential documents due to human error or fire. It’s hard to enforce privacy when your paper files are merely behind a physical door; and a breach can jeopardize both the business and its clients. Shifting to a paperless office can take away those pains, and therefore can be quite worth the effort.

10 Benefits of going paperless

Paperless offices have a wide range of benefits regardless of business size or industry. Here is why you should consider switching to a paperless office as soon as possible:

Increase employee productivity

Employee performance has a direct impact on business success. In a paperless office, employees can easily find the files they need, collaborate with other employees, communicate with their clients, and avoid making mistakes. Features like splitting, merging, and getting documents signed are available on most modern document management systems. Automations reduce workload, improve employee satisfaction, and help to get more done faster.

Protect customer privacy

Paperless documents are often encrypted and secured with an access control system so that only employees and customers can securely access the appropriate documents. Modern cloud-based document management systems offer bank-level data security and backup to keep information away from those who are unauthorized; and allow a full disaster recovery should the worst happen.

Reduce human error

Paperless documents spare you from manually printing, labeling, storing, filing, and retrieving documents. Automatic validations ensure that your files always follow consistent guidelines and eliminate communication errors. Automation allows quick document processing, reduces stress levels, and lets you focus on your customers.

Collaborate

Document management solutions for paperless offices include digital collaboration tools that make it easier to share and circulate information. Customers and employees communicate their status and give feedback about each file so that long back-and-forth email conversations are no longer necessary.

Consume less physical space

With paper documents, you need more storage space as your business grows. Since paper documents can only be accessed physically, your office needs to accommodate all your employees and the documents they need to access. Digital technology shrinks all that storage into the palm of your hand, lets you access the documents from anywhere, and helps you stay connected.

Improve customer service

Automatically collecting and organizing files increases focus on what matters most—serving customers. Constantly emailing customers for their paperwork and spending hours every day searching through emails to find critical information is a mess. A digital client portal can make it easy to keep track of your incoming paperwork and to stay connected with each client at every stage.

Minimize risks

Minimizing the risk of losing critical files and information is important. Cloud storage systems follow disaster recovery practices, meaning that your documents are backed up and secured from unexpected events such as fires, floods, or other disasters.

Be compliant

Compliance is your duty to your customers and stakeholders. Paperless document management has built-in compliance tools to help you maintain trust with others, create evidence of business activities for auditing, and prevent potential reputational damage.

Work from home

Giving workers the choice of remote work makes them less stressed, less costly, and more engaged. The ability to access a document on your phone while handling an urgent matter with a client is priceless. Remote work is becoming a trend and so the ability to work remotely gives a strong advantage in appealing to and attracting talented employees.

Save money

Going paperless doesn’t just mean reducing office supply costs. You’re losing money on every second spent on back and forth emails, on the hours spent searching for documents, and on time wasted with miscommunication. Adopting an all-in-one document management system for your business documents and customer communications helps you eliminate those costs and focus on what matters most to your business.