Companies that still rely on paper-based systems incur high costs as a result of their redundant records management systems. These costs originate from the point of their origination to warehousing and destruction, which takes years. In this digital era, technology has created several opportunities and alternatives to traditional record management. Going paperless is the first step of digital transformation in an organization, but many companies have yet to go down this path. Hesitation and limited information are blocking digitalization from spreading in the corporate industry, even though paper processing costs millions of dollars per year.
Read on to learn about the extent of the paper problem and how you can achieve a paperless office and cut operational costs.
Disadvantages of Going Paperless
Paper processing is a cost burden process that slows down productivity at business. Even in this digital age, office printing remains a saving opportunity that is still left unexploited. The following are two major disadvantages associated with a paper-based office system.
1. The Cost Dilemma of Paper
The study reveals that organizations, on average, spend about 1-3% of their overall revenue on office printing tasks. This statistic does not include extra costs associated with other tasks like shipping, filing, storing, and the actual cost per paper. Let us not forget about additional indirect damages of low worker productivity due to a slow paper-based system.
2. Security Risks
A Health & Human Services Report to Congress revealed that 62% of the data breaches in the company are due to paper records. Paper is not permanent unless you have a digital backup; you will always remain vulnerable to sensitive information breaches. There are many possibilities like information theft in case of damage due to natural disasters like floods or the current global pandemic of COVID-19.
With continuous innovation in digital printing technologies, printers pose a threat to a company. They can easily be hacked into by cyberattacks. However, many companies remain ignorant of the security risks posed by MFP’s.
Benefits of Going Paperless
Introducing a paperless workplace is the foremost step of digital transformation to increase efficiency. Here are some of the key benefits of going paperless.
Reduction in operational costs
Research shows that effectively managing office printing and decreasing it has the potential to reduce spending by 30%. By digitizing the entire paper-based office system, you can reduce storage costs, printing costs, processing costs, and recovery costs. By introducing a digital platform, you can easily find files and save on document storage costs.
Increased Productivity
When you have a centralized digital platform where all the files are correctly indexed, it improves accessibility. Your employees won’t have to waste several hours searching for relevant records and sharing information. For example, due to the spread of coronavirus, many companies have been able to continue work from home because they had a preinstalled digital system with everything online.
Minimized Security Risks
The security of your data is of foremost priority. If you don’t have a proper security system, there is a high risk of losing critical information resulting in a negative impact on your business. In a paper-based system, you need personal physical security from expensive private companies that costs millions.
Digital systems, on the other hand, let you work in a safer environment, protected with back-to-back encryptions to secure data from breaches or hacking. You can further minimize these security risks by opting for reputable service providers like Xerox Abu Dhabi based company. It provides high-end digital management solutions with secure encryption to make sure there is no room for a data breach.
A Practical Guide to go Paperless within few months
Now that you have credible information regarding the problems with paper-based systems and the advantages of going digital, here are some of the ways to help you achieve a paperless office.
Identify your Organizations Workflow
Identify your workflow components, including human input for every single phase. Focus on major areas where digitalization can be done quickly, like HR, marketing, accounting, etc. Identify processes that require physical documents like invoices, employee reviews, etc.
Identify Digitization Opportunities in your Business
After mapping out the workflow, you will understand areas with inefficiencies and identify solutions to fix problems. Focus on how employees at your company handle and process data. Consider three areas of paper processing:
- Capture Information: How your company captures documents that arrive through email, fax, and physical post.
- Routing: How is information shared with others in the company? Does it need approval from management or not?
- Storage: Where are documents stored, e.g., filing cabinets, storage houses, etc.
- Retrieval: How do employees access documents.
Design a Solution
Create a digital solution to integrate all the applications so you can achieve an automated workflow with increased efficiency. Your design depends upon your work process, bottlenecks, and integration points. Use services like an online cloud sharing platform that requires minimal maintenance and improves operational flexibility.
Install the Solution and Measure its Impacts
After a successful design, implement your digital software in stages to find any issues. In phase one, make sure how the digital plan would address core issues and bottlenecks. Start by automated document management across all departments. In phase two, after testing, add more features like drop-down menus, checkboxes, etc.
In phase three, go big! Spread the word on social media about how the digital solution would make their customer’s lives more comfortable and how they can access the services from their mobile phones. Consider the importance of it in regards to the current COVID-19 global outbreak situation. With a digital system in place, you don’t have to completely shut down your business like the majority of the companies when you can work through your online platform.
Are You Ready to Increase Your ROI?
Digital transformation is being done by many companies, and they have seen a significant reduction in costs since then. But due to a lack of understanding, many are still wary of the advent of this technology. Companies like Xerox Abu Dhabi have developed solutions for office digitalization that will adapt perfectly to your company’s needs and size. Consult these experts to ensure the security of your information and a high ROI.