Paperless Office – Reality or Myth
Remember hearing about the paperless office revolution. It was said to happen in the 80′s, and again in the 90′s. Now it almost seems people have given up on the idea. The crazy thing is, the technology to make it happen is here and is affordable, more so than ever. So then, let’s get down to business and figure out how we can make this happen.
How about we start with an example, just to get the non-believer on board? Provident Security, a Vancouver-based security guard operation with more than 200 employees and 4,500 customers is a paperless office. Yes, you read that right. In short, the company removed their photocopiers, fax machines, and filing cabinets and brought in desktop scanners and some IT solutions to facilitate the transition.
In the end, the move to the paperless office not only saved Provident Security money, but also improved their efficiency and customer service. For example they developed a method of digitally signing out keys, thus eliminating the large paper trail that was developing as their business grew and it facilitated a more reliable service. Furthermore the business became easily scalable.
Still not convinced? Okay, another example…OCM Manufacturing, an Ottawa-based electronics manufacturer also has gone 90% paperless, including its HR and finance departments. As a result of their move to a paperless office, they have achieved a 10% increase in productivity. Additionally, despite growing their business they’ve not had to bring on additional administrative staff to manage the mounds of paperwork that otherwise would have occurred, thereby saving about $100,000 per year.
Are you starting to think maybe this paperless thing is not such a bad idea? Hopefully so. But it is not easy to make the switch. Not because of cost or technology of course, but because old habits die hard and there is so little information out there on how to make this happen. Shockingly enough however, on average Canadian workers print 30 pages of work-related materials per day so clearly there is problem. A big problem. And something needs to be done.
Where do you go from here if you want to go paperless? First of all, understanding the benefits of paperless is big first step. We’ve seen some of the benefits above. The next step is to share these benefits with your co-workers. Show them the cost savings, the time savings, the frustrating saving of being able to just pull up a document in your Windows Desktop Search, rather than fumbling through the filing cabinet!
Following this, its time to hit the street and find out how your office can go paperless. The information is out there, and solutions to your unique circumstances can be found. It is not a question of if it is possible, it is simply a matter of finding out how you’ll make it happen.
Also, please note, if you have already progressed to a nearly paperless office environment please share your story with us!