Many organizations are moving to a more paperless work environment. When businesses create a paperless environment, they use technology to eliminate the need for physical records and documentation. This includes electronic signatures, digitization, and electronic storage methods. It also means a reduction in paper used in the office, minimizing security risks as well as your carbon footprint.

 

Why should you transition to a paperless environment?


There are many reasons why your organization may consider moving to a paperless system. However, even if you cannot go 100% paperless, reducing the amount of paper you use still has numerous benefits.

You will find that shifting to a paperless environment can save you money in the long term. You won’t have to buy as much toner, ink, or paper and you won’t have as many printers and copiers to buy and maintain. Additionally, your office will not be faced with storing vast amounts of paperwork, freeing up space in your workplace. Depending on how you choose to store your paper records, this may have been a significant cost as well. If you use a document management company, that gets expensive quickly.

As your organization moves into a more digital world, you and your employees have the freedom to be more productive and efficient. It is much easier and faster to organize, search for, and share digital documents than to spend precious time digging through stacks and stacks of physical files. You can utilize a document management system to organize and collaborate on documents regardless of location making your digital documents easy to access as well as safer and more secure. A document management system also allows the team to track changes and audit as needed. You will know who accessed every document, made changes, and the changes they made.

 

How to Begin Transitioning to a Paperless Environment


It may seem like an overwhelming task to convert all your paper to a digital format. However, it doesn’t have to be. Start by honestly assessing the amount of paper you use. You will not be able to reduce your reliance on paper until you fully understand your use. You may want to conduct an audit of printers, fax machines, and copiers to see how often they are being used as well. Also, it’s important to understand how much paper you order and use on average.

Another significant step towards reducing the amount of paper you use is to digitize the documents you need to keep. This task is achieved by scanning documents and saving them as digital files. This makes documents easy to store, share, and edit whenever you need them.

Switching to a paperless environment might be challenging for your employees, primarily if they have worked with paper for years. It is crucial that you provide training on the new systems and procedures. If you want them to use it, you have to show them how. It would be best if you also showed them that you are excited about going paperless. Encourage your employees to use electronic communication as much as possible. Electronic communication includes email, instant messaging, and video conferencing. This helps to reduce the need for memos and faxes.

How Proshred® Can Help

Once you create a digital copy of your paper documents, then the next step is to get rid of all the paper that is no longer necessary to keep. It’s likely that your company has sensitive documents that contain personal and business information. The best way to securely get rid of those documents is by shredding them. Proshred® Orlando is here to help you with all your shredding needs.

We have extensive on-site document shredding services for businesses, government organizations, residences, and commercial businesses. There is no job that’s too big or too small. We will come to your location and destroy your confidential information in our state-of-the-art shredding trucks will built-in security cameras to document the shredding process. Your personal documents never have to leave your premises without being rendered completely unusable. We also offer hard drive shredding and product destruction services to help you protect your confidential data from every angle. Contact us today to see how we can help you quickly and securely destroy your documents and help move you into a paperless environment.

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