Going Paperless as a Business
Business in the 21st century will be remembered for its ability to balance economic stability with environmental sustainability. Those who fail to strike this balance have and will continue to decline in relevance, as the world develops to become a paradigm that prizes environmental success as much as economic success.
With many businesses, the first major step of becoming a more environmentally sustainable business is to go paperless.
Although this can bring about major administrative challenges (the entire organizational structure of an institution may need to shift), it eliminates a major portion of waste generated by American businesses.
Indeed, Americans waste nearly 72 million tons of paper every year. Here is some information about how a business can take the step to become paperless…
Do more business on your phone
Obviously, if you want to become a paperless business, then you are going to need to digitize your operation. However, effectively digitizing your business means a lot more than just getting your organizational tools on the internet.
Today, if you want your business to be as effective as the opposition, then you need to fully utilize the tiny computer in your pocket.
That’s right! Mobile optimization is a key aspect of doing business today, as mobile devices and tablets have become far more used than desktop and laptop computers.
This means that your website, the heart of your business digitization, needs to be able to function from your phone. If you have doubts that your website is properly optimized for mobile, check out this informative article about how you can test mobile friendliness!
Move organization online
As we said before, if you are going to make your business paperless, then you need to digitize your business in an efficient way. Typically, this means that the methods with which you organize your business need to be moved to an online setting.
For businesses beyond a simple “ma and pop” size, this means that you are going to need to use cloud-based software to plan your business and have keep your operations fluid and effective.
For many businesses that have held back on moving their operation to a cloud-based model, this can be a big step. However, it is one that can pay off great dividends, and forever eliminate your business’ reliance on paper.
If you’re wondering what sorts of steps need to be taken to bring your business to the cloud, check out this useful article here.
Get rid of paper in the office
For your business to really go paperless, you are going to have to get the entire team onboard with the idea. However, people have a tendency to prefer to do things the way that they always have.
This means that, in order to get your employees to adapt, you are going to have to evolve your entire office to a situation that makes paper incredibly inconvenient. The simplest way for you to do this is to simply get rid of paper in the office.
This might seem difficult, at first, but you will find that you can quickly substitute the benefits that paper gave you by using modern technology. However, the initiative is the important thing.
Start to scan every single file that is sent to your business as soon as it comes in the door, and do whatever you can to get your entire team onboard with your idea.
Make sure to have reliable backups
When you first start digitizing your business, there are several obstacles and roadblocks that can cause issues.
One major thing that many business owners overlook when moving their business operation online is that the data for your business still needs a physical location to exist. This is why it is so important to invest in reliable memory backups to keep your business’ information safe and secure.
Never let any important data only exist in one place, digitally. This would be the equivalent of keeping only a single physical document of important information.
Any slight mistake or fateful accident could cause your business a world of hurt that could have been entirely avoidable.
Category: Business
