Small businesses and professional firms are much more aware these days on the need to go paperless. The one obstacle that they might face is the “how-to” of it. The first thought that comes to mind when we read the words ‘paperless office’, is usually that we need to say a permanent goodbye to our old friend paper that has faithfully served us all these decades. However, this is not what going paperless means.
Going paperless really means cutting down on your paper consumption and converting most or all of your documents into electronic formats – even your paper archives. You can retain paper based versions if you legally or operationally need to. But the digital way of storing files and working with them is a far easier, quicker and cost-effective way than by using paper. More and more organizations across the world are adopting it. In fact, a recent survey* conducted by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) found that the consumption of paper and the number of photocopies is decreasing in 35% of organizations. So how can you convert your small office into a paperless office?
Steps to achieving a paperless office
- Scan your paper archives as well as current, paper based documents
- Scan all incoming paper based documents
- Create new documents only in digital formats
- Store, index, organize, retrieve and edit documents using small business document management software
- Avoid printing documents unless there is no better way to share them
- Send fax messages to email addresses, rather than the standard, paper based way
- Back-up your document database using an online backup service. The document management software you choose (as suggested above) should allow such a back-up. Sohodox is one such software.
By following the above steps, you can make your small office more efficient.
Sohodox paperless office software is a simple yet comprehensive software solution that can help you achieve a paperless office. Learn more about Sohodox
View Videos of Sohodox in action
Download the Free Trial
* Source: “The Paper Free Office – dream or reality?” © 2012 AIIM – The Global Community of Information Professionals
