From Paperless To Productive In 4 Easy Steps

Go Paperless – Office

Has your business gone paperless?  I can’t remember when I last printed anything (I don’t even have ink in my printer). 

Though I have to admit, I was a little slow to move all my info to the cloud (mainly because of the cost of online data in this country)… until I discovered Dropbox and One Drive and now I’m hooked.   

It’s such a pleasure being able to seamlessly toggle between my Android phone and my laptop. It means I can sneak in work wherever I am, whenever I get a spare moment (do I sound like a bit of a workaholic?).  Plus, I remove the added worry that I could lose my data if my laptop or external hard drive ever crashes (eek!).  

A few more ways to go paperless in the contributed post below. #gopaperlessoffice

From Paperless To Productive In 4 Easy Steps

Going paperless makes perfect sense when you look at the benefits.

As a business owner, the company can take advantage of grants and bursaries at its disposal. Governments and local authorities want to save the planet (even if the president isn’t on board). As a result, there is “free money” for all as long as the firm tows the party line.

Plus, a less cluttered and more organized workspace is cleaner and more efficient. Goodbye low levels of output and hello a hike in productivity. It’s been too long.

Of course, getting rid of dead trees around the office isn’t a guarantee. It helps to remove paper yet output may still languish. That is, unless, you give the business the best chance of succeeding. Thankfully, the steps are so straightforward that anyone can follow them without confusion.

What – you don’t believe that’s the truth? Okay, well, in that case, take a look for yourself and make up your mind.

#1: Remove The Fax Machine

Yep, somewhere in the depths of the stock cabinet, there is a machine which beeps while it works. For those who consider themselves millennials, it’s called a fax machine and it is pretty much outdated. Think of the woolly mammoth or the dodo bird. Yet, it holds a space in the office in case there is a nuclear apocalypse and fax is the only form of communication.

The problem is that employees from a certain generation turn to these resources in their time of need. Rather than learn new technologies, they resort to type because it’s easy. Also, there’s the fact that it requires you to keep hundreds and thousands of paper documents as hard copies.

Ditching the fax machine should have two benefits. The first is that you can scan the documents and throw the hard copies in the bin. The second is that the workforce will become familiar with better, more efficient equipment and waste less time.

When last did you use a fax machine? (hehehe) 

#2: Move To The Cloud

A study on intuit.com reveals a startling fact. According to the experts, 80% of small businesses are expected to switch to cloud computing. To offer some perspective, almost the same number of companies fails within the first couple of years. Eight-tenths is a huge fraction.

From a paper standpoint, the cloud has obvious benefits because there is no need to print. All the company has to do is save a digital file or document to the cloud. Then, it’s there for the foreseeable future and is accessible from anywhere in the world. Pretty neat, right? Well, it’s about to get cooler.

The fact that employees can work remotely is a huge plus in the productivity column. With no restrictions on time or location, they can multitask and get more done in an average day.

#3: Outsource Mailing

The postman or woman comes to the door every morning and drops off the firm’s correspondence. Included may be a stack of newspapers or catalogues or anything of “importance.” The secretary accepts them gladly and then takes them upstairs, where they are left in a pile on a desk cluttering up the place.

At a glance, it’s almost impossible to fine-tune this interaction.

Without the post, the business may miss vital information. But, where there is a will there’s a way, and this motto is one-hundred percent true in this context.

The website yourvirtualofficelondon.co.uk has a mail forwarding service which is perfect. Use their office for the post and let them deal with the hardware. How do you receive your mail? The answer is by email. Professionals scan everything and send it to you via the internet.

There is no fuss, no hassle, and no paper to stop people from working hard.

#4: Download Apps

Applications are all the rage in today’s industry, and there is a good reason: they’re everywhere. In 2018, there is an app for pretty much everything to do with running a business.

• Do you need to sign a contract digitally without printing off paper? That’s fine because SignNow is around for those exact scenarios.
• Maybe you’re sick and tired of flicking through timesheets to track employee output? In that case, let Toggl shoulder the burden.
• Play.google.com has a long list of Apps of every description.

Apps have one thing in common and that’s to save time. Instead of organizing paperwork, you can spend seconds focusing on the main areas of the firm. For instance, it’s easier to concentrate on marketing and cost-cutting rather than labour and admin.

Have you made up your mind? What do you think of the paperless revolution and its impact on productivity?

How paperless is your business?  And did going paperless increase your productivity?  It definitely has increased mine.