For all the environmental, productivity, and waste management benefits of going paperless, few companies have come close to achieving it. The reason for this delay is simple: offices cannot afford the disruption that completely eliminating paper would create. Going from paper to electronic software isn't always easy.
Successfully implementing paperless production thus requires you to transition gradually to digital documents. The following steps will keep the cost of transition to a minimum, allowing you to incrementally adopt digital methods without interfering with your work:
- Find Low-Hanging Fruit
Instead of getting rid of all paper processes at once, begin by identifying and implementing the easiest things to eliminate. This involves substitutions that require minimal effort or yield immediate benefits, such as:
- Web Billing- Switch to online payments for all of your bills. Not only does this not require paper, but it also reduces the time it takes to pay bills, immediately enhancing office efficiency.
- Digital Drawing- Provide graphic designers and other creative professionals with tablets on which to sketch possible designs. Using such devices is at least as convenient as drawing on paper, and allows professionals to save their sketches and pull up past designs with ease.
- Electronic Signing- If you have not already done so, obtain electronic signature software and use it for all documents you need to sign.
Starting with simple improvements allows your employees to gradually grow accustomed to doing an increasing portion of their work digitally. They will thus have an easier time making more complex transitions.
- Cultivate Convenience
Once you have begun to expose your employees to paperless work, the next step is to make digital processes more convenient than those involving paper. You can do this by:
- Limiting Printers- Get rid of most of your printers, replacing them with a single, all-purpose unit. Employees will still be able to use the printer when they need it, but they will have to travel farther and wait for others, giving them an incentive to use digital methods instead.
- Enhancing Equipment- Replace any outdated computer equipment with the latest, most powerful devices. In addition, make sure that your WiFi connection is as fast as possible. This will ensure that digital communication and documentation can occur without interruption, minimizing any inconvenience from the switch.
- Selecting Software- Obtain the latest online notebooks, case management software, and other digital documentation tools. Make sure every employee has access to these programs and knows how to use them. Employees who want to share information digitally will thus have the tools to do so.
By enhancing the convenience of digital documentation and limiting that of paper processes, you give employees an incentive to shift away paper. They will begin to incorporate digital documents into their work, gradually losing the desire to print.
- Demand Digital
Once your employees have the hang of electronic documentation, issue a requirement that all important company documents must be sent and stored digitally. Whenever an employee needs to convey important information, there must be a digital record. Although you will not forbid employees from printing their documents, they will have no reason to do so given that the information must be sent digitally anyway. Employees will also have an incentive to do their work in a digital format rather than on paper, as this will save them a trip to the scanner. The last vestiges of paper will rapidly disappear from your office.
FamCare provides the programs and technical support you need to succeed in a paperless world. For more information on improving productivity, reducing waste, and transitioning to an electronic office, visit our website today.
Source
http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/switch-to-paperless-office.html
http://time.com/3672824/go-paperless/
http://www.globalvisiontech.com
http://www.famcare.net/AboutGVT.aspx
http://blog.famcare.net/should-your-agency-move-to-case-management-software-yes-and-heres-why
