How the paperless office can benefit your business

Talk of global warming has continued for many years, as has the debate. Most people recognise something needs to be done, yet few can agree on what, how or by when. Global economic crises have deflected attention and altered priorities. Meanwhile the environment continues to suffer as people struggle to change their habits and the horror stories of man-made natural disasters, environmental devastation and pollution are only getting worse.

The paperless office is something else that has been talked of for a long time without having materialised, as again people struggle to change age-old habits and working practices.

First talked of in the 1970s, the paperless office would, if achieved on a significant scale, be an important step in decreasing the impact of the corporate world upon the environment.

Whilst many of us are used to online billing, within the office environment there can often be a preference for traditional forms of record keeping rather than using electronic means. Do we fully realise the impact paper use has on the environment?

office paper accounts for tons of files and needs lots of storage space as well as being unfriendly to the environment

Here are some facts and figures:
• Global paper use has increased by 400% in 40 years;
• Paper production methods commonly release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, such as sulphur-dioxide;
• Paper accounts for a quarter of all landfill waste;
• For every ton of paper recycled, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space is saved;
• It can take up to two decades for new forests to begin absorbing carbon.
In addition to deforestation, these concerns about air pollution, water pollution through discharges from mills and some of the processes used during the pulping process all combine to form a grim picture. Paper recycling helps, but only to a point. With each cycle, the fibres become less flexible and eventually become useless without the addition of brand new fibres. Research has indicated paper can only be recycled between four and seven times before this process renders the fibres unusable.

The Benefits of a Paperless Office

It’s not all about helping the environment. Going paperless can also save space, improve the working environment and, crucially, reduce expenses. The cost of paper might be low in isolation but it soon adds up over the course of a year. Then there’s printer ink, equipment maintenance, mailing costs and so on.
Finding an office to rent is another significant expense, but how much more so if the business requires large amounts of space for filing and storage? In our current economic situation businesses are looking to save every available penny.
Introducing electronic methods can speed up the communication process, meaning the urgent report which needs to be sent to the client will be received within a few minutes.

So how can businesses go about helping the environment and achieving the paperless office?

Planning

Crucial to any important change, defining a strategy for shifting to a paperless system will make the process more straightforward and less likely to cause other problems. By defining a prioritised schedule, the paperless office can be phased in gradually for an easier transition.
So, for example, switching internal communications from paper to electronic methods could be the first step, followed by external communications. By doing this in a way that suits the individual business there needn’t be excessive disruption.

Get the right equipment

You’ve decided to go paperless, you’ve devised a strategy to manage the transition and you’ve got a good timescale in place. Now you need to get the right tools for the job. For existing paper documents which need copies retained, you’ll need a scanner to produce electronic copies. Not to mention of course the capacity to store them all once they’ve been converted. Having a policy for file storage just as you would for physical files will help keep everything consistent.
For the long term you’ll need to have the right systems and software in place to manage your paperless system. As well as the ubiquitous email software and mail server, you might need to consider collaborative tools such as Evernote to help team members keep track of the latest developments.
A good backup policy is a vital part of any file storage system. Things can and do go wrong from time to time but taking regular backups of important data and storing them on a different site from your main storage is a good way to protect the business should the worst occur. Many businesses are taking advantage of the advent of cloud computing, which provides an easy way to upload files to secure, remote servers.

Break it down

That mountain of paper currently clogging up filing cabinets and cupboards around the building is going to need tackling at some point. Much of it may now be completely surplus to requirements, in which case it can be safely recycled. The remainder should be scanned and stored electronically. The added advantage of this is any critical documents can then be backed up safely to an off-site location, whereas there may originally only have been a single paper copy.
Again, this doesn’t have to be done all at once. Breaking the task down into more manageable portions will make it far easier to organise and it will seem less daunting.

Get into the habit

Clearing out the old stack of paper is all very well, but if it ends up being replaced with a new stack the opportunity has been lost. It’s time to start implementing those new paperless procedures.
Old habits can be hard to break so to get your staff accustomed to the new routines, start with in-house communication. Getting everyone into the habit of using email internally will make it easier when it comes to introducing external policies.
There are fewer obstacles to implementing paperless procedures than ever, and with savings to be made and the environmental challenges greater than ever, it’s important for any business to consider reducing their paper output as much as possible.

Mark Chalcraft is writing from an office where printers are used only as a last resort. He is writing on behalf of Easy Offices, specialist advisors on serviced offices in the UK.
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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