Is your office cluttered with piles of paperwork? With advances in technology, businesses have realized it’s unnecessary to keep paper documents. Paper is an unnecessary expense that fades over time. If your company still keeps hard copies of documents, then this may be a good opportunity to upgrade. While it might not be possible to eliminate every piece of paper at the moment, a paperless office is certainly attainable.
What Is a Paperless Office?
It is a workplace that uses digital documents instead of physical papers. With a paperless office, you can reduce costs, save space, and boost team productivity. Use these handy tips to run a paperless office:
Implement a Paperless Billing System
Paperless billing is an essential part of a paperless office. Using this method of billing will take some time to set up, and you must choose a low-risk payment gateway. To ensure that transactions are safe, a trustworthy portal is crucial.
Using Digital Signature
Documents with signatures look trustworthy since they come from an established sender. An essential element of any cryptographic protocol is the digital signature. Digital signatures make it easy to detect fraud and tampering.
Invest In a File Document
In a paperless workplace, forms and documents must be customized. Application forms, pay stub forms, order forms all need to be well-designed and presentable. You can create uniformity in the workplace by creating these file documents.
Use Online Fax Service
When transitioning to a paperless office, you may be tempted to just eliminate all faxes. They seem old-fashioned, and there are other options available (email, for example) that are relevant today.
In some cases, however, it may not be possible to eliminate the use of all faxes if your clients or vendors insist on using them. Using an online fax provider allows you to eliminate physical paperwork without giving up the convenience of faxing. Faxes will be sent to the computer, smartphone, or device of your choosing, making them easily accessible. However, there are things you need to consider when you plan to switch to online faxing. Like, if you are in the health sector or business dealing with customers’ personal information. Sending personal data can be leaked or hacked by someone. Thus, it is important to use an online fax service that passes HIPAA compliance and has robust security when storing personal information. Do some research and look for fax services that will surely secure your business. Or you can talk over at mFax to know more about their services and products.
Examples of the common online fax services include:
- RingCentral Fax
- eFax
- HelloFax
Manage Client Payments With Online Invoicing
Don’t forget your financial departments when creating a paperless office. A significant amount of paper waste can be generated by physical invoices and checks. In addition to being wasteful, they can also pose a security threat. A thief may compromise an invoice or check left on the wrong desk by accident.
Using online invoicing can make paperless billing safer and easier for your business. Your business can take advantage of a wide range of online invoicing systems, including:
- Zoho Invoice
- Square Invoices
- Wave
- FreshBooks
Share Documents Online
Think about using a file-sharing service like Dropbox, Google Files, or OneDrive to share files with team members or clients. The documents can be edited online, and you can even chat with colleagues as they view the document. Besides being able to request files from anyone, Dropbox also lets you store them in a particular folder.
Scan Slips With Your Smartphone
Scanning all bills and receipts can help you move toward a paperless office. You can receive order slips, cash slips, and receipts from your smartphone, which eliminates the need for you to travel from one department to another to check on the status of everything. It is also very useful to scan slips since a copy of the slip will be automatically saved to your phone.
Using Note-taking Apps During Meetings
It is easier and more handy than ever before to take notes. If you go digital, you don’t have to worry about piles of notebooks accumulating on your desk, in your filing cabinets, and in the trash. Think about the amount of time lost searching through all those paper notes.
We can take digital notes and share them across platforms with apps such as Microsoft OneNote, Apple Notes, Google Keep, and Evernote. This can be done from any device. Additionally, you can add users to edit, and if necessary, beautifully present them.
Take Advantage of the Cloud
Cut down on paper usage by using cloud-sharing and instant messaging apps. With apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, it has become easier than ever for people to communicate internationally. Our ability to communicate more effectively, combined with efficiency improvements, has helped us to become more productive and connected than ever.
Additionally, Teamviewer, Cisco Webex Teams, Skype for Business, and Zoom are other examples of solid tools that have allowed employees to communicate in real-time without having to worry about paper memos and other documents cluttering our workplaces.
Train And Provide Tools to Employees
If you’re an employer, you can’t assume that people will come up with (and implement) ways to reduce paper use. They need to have clear and understandable instructions. Make sure they understand the importance of scanning everything they receive; documents, proposals, forms. To achieve a paperless office, create a written policy and set of procedures that they can follow. Highly competent and skilled employees or 1099 independent contractors will result in an efficient, paperless office.
