In every office, paperwork is a must. According to a report, an average office uses more than 10,000 sheets of paper per year and some offices have even more papers. With so many papers, organizing them is a real problem. Different offices are using different types of digital document management software to organize the document inventory.
With the paper being an essential accessory in the office, some offices want to go paperless but how can you go paperless in 2021? Different questions come to our mind like how do we go paperless? Is the money spent on papers worth it or is it just junk mail? What can you do to reduce paper in offices? Is paper costing money more than it should? What if we replace them with virtual notes on computers and laptops?
All of these questions are valid and here we are going to tell you the top 5 paperless office solutions in the market today. So, keep on reading;
- Scan all documents and save them
One of the safest and effective paperless office solutions is to scan all the hard papers and save them in your digital storage. Every office whether big or small has some sort of computer access so line up your previous archives and scan each document and save them in a folder. You can name it according to the inside. For an extra security layer, you can put a password on the folder. By choosing this option, you are avoiding unnecessary physical paper archives and wasted storage. Now that space can be used for a bigger office or any other business purpose. Also, you get to find them easily whenever you want by creating a filing system, and you don’t have to go through thousands of boxes to find one document. In the meantime, you can destroy all the original paper documents. You have a backup so there is no need to keep them. If you ever need to send it to someone, make sure to send them a copy and keep the original scans safe within your office computer.
- Replace the paper receipts with digital receipts
The HR department has to do most of the paperwork in many offices and a large number of papers are used to create pay stubs. But it doesn’t have to be a paper slip anymore, you can create digital paystubs by using different software. It will be more detailed, and you can cut the cost of paper from the HR department as well. After making them, email the digital pay stub to each employee. This way you get to keep the data safe and make use of digital technology.
Apart from paystubs, balance sheets, contracts documents, budget reports, performance reports, and memos can also be done via digital documents on computers. This will help you save a significant number of papers.
- Buy a cloud-based storage system
Cloud-based storage systems are a kind of store where you can save enormous amounts of data at once. That data won’t be lost because there are backups of data you save there. These are perfect for any company that wants to take advantage of technology and be responsible for environmental protection. If you buy a cloud-based storage system, each department/team/individual of your company can have a way to store the documents in their own folders. However, despite individual access, all the data will be safe on the company’s server. It’s a secure way to store the data for many security companies and is perfect for company storage. Some common cloud-based storage systems include Dropbox, IDrive, and Microsoft OneDrive.
- Use eForms
Just like using digital document management software to organize paperwork in an office, you can use electronic forms for any query that needs signs. You can embed forms on your company’s intranet and use them to fill in any information and get it signed by a specific person. This way, you can eliminate the use of paper forms and replace them with eForms. DocuSign is a popular tool to handle such queries. If you need a hard form copy, it can be converted into a PDF file. So many organizations are using it these days and it’s been a very effective way to secure signs electronically.
- Using extra monitors in the workplace
Since there is more digital work, you need to have more monitors in the workplace. Almost everyone has one computer or laptop at their desk but for the IT department, having more than one monitor wouldn’t be bad because they get to handle the complex stuff.