The pundits have been predicting the paperless office for years, and little by little, some companies are making the move to all digital documents.
There are many advantages to a paperless office: you save money on paper and printing, of course, but you also reduce your need for copy machines, couriers, and file cabinet space. Some companies estimate that they save $1.85 for every dollar they spend on becoming paper-free.
A changeover like this is not without its challenges, however. Here are five things to consider:
- Personnel. If you’re a soloentrepreneur or otherwise work alone, you’re the only one you’ll have to convince. But if you have employees, they’ll have to be comfortable (or at least learn to be comfortable) working without paper. Comfort with the paperless environment is often related to age. Younger employees will probably take to the logic and flow of a paperless office immediately. Older employees will likely have more trouble. Yet, for the changeover to work, everybody has to be on board.
- Customers and Stakeholders. It’ll be useless going paperless if your customers require paper documents. The same is true if you’re in a heavily regulated industry where you must produce paper reports for government or regulatory agencies. The IRS may also require some documents in hardcopy.
- Limitations. Digital documents have their limitations, as anyone who’s ever had to read a lengthy or complicated report on screen has learned. Sometimes you want to sit in a more comfortable chair and read, or spread multiple documents in front of you to review and compare. Electronic readers and iPads help a little, but even they can’t do justice to documents with unusual shapes or where texture and feel are a critical part of the document (as in, for example, a slick marketing piece). Consider the kinds of documents your business handles and the way you use these documents as you weigh the pros and cons of going digital.
- History. You’ll have to decide what to do with the paper documents you currently have. Will you scan old documents and get rid of all file cabinets? Or will paper documents created and stored before the digital cut-off date remain as paper files in cabinets? Transforming all old paper docs into digital docs is time consuming, but it simplifies the process of searching for an older doc when you need one.
- Workflow and Process. If you go digital, the office process and workflow will change out of necessity. For example, there’ll be a new system for storing and retrieving documents. Someone will have to create the system and everyone will have to learn to use it. Everyone will have to start naming documents using agreed-upon conventions and tag them with keywords to make them easier to find. In addition, the documents you receive in the mail or via courier will have to be scanned, converted, and tagged. Most importantly, you’ll need a document backup system and a method for checking to be sure it’s always working properly. Consultants can help you with much of this, but ultimately everyone will have to adapt to a new way of working.
To get a feel for whether it’s doable and what it might be like, you might start by going paperless with all of your personal records and correspondence at home. Be sure to include bills, medical records, kids’ report cards—even handwritten notes from friends. You’ll need to set up a system and everyone in the house will need to know how to use it. Doing it on this smaller scale will give you a sense of what’s involved and help you understand how it might work in your professional life.
