Increased cost. Increased competition. The environment. Climate change. Federal regulation. Audits. Increased customer loads. Paperwork that seems to never stop piling up on your desk. Regardless of what industry you’re in, all signs are pointing toward change—there’s got to be something you can do to help overcome all these obstacles.
Well, have you thought about going paperless? Aside from the obvious benefit of using less paper, taking your hospital, dealership, or business paperless has a number of benefits. We’ll discuss 7 of the most impactful reasons below.
1. You’ll Have Quicker Access
First, rather than spending all that time shuffling through those papers and searching through however many file cabinets you have, going paperless will give you quicker access to the documents you need, when you need them. By imaging and indexing your documents, and storing them in a web-based storehouse, you can easily search through your documents by date, keyword, and title, and possibly even search through the text of the document itself.
An estimated 15% of all paper documents are misfiled or misplaced. However, by going paperless, your documents will always be where you left them. Plus, if you back them up (and, of course, you should) you’ll be able to recover from disasters more quickly.
2. You’ll Have Easier Access
In addition to having quicker access to your documents, you’ll also have easier access. In a number of organizations, documents are stored off site, requiring that you wait or travel to get the documents you need. With a paperless system, you’ll have access to your documents at any time, from anywhere, as your documents can be accessed via the Web.
3. You’ll Be More Productive
So what happens when you have quicker and easier access to your documents? Well, you’ll be more productive. In fact, after going paperless, organizations typically see an 18% increase in productivity and staff engagement, as employees are able to spend their time on accomplishing tasks—rather than rummaging through paperwork.
4. You’ll Save Money
From the cost of paper (about $0.08/sheet), to the cost of ink (more expensive per ounce than champagne or Chanel No. 5), to the cost of filing documents (about $20/document), there are a lot of paper-related costs that you can save on—check out this infographic for even more. It’s also important to know that 42% of organizations that invest in scanning and capture tools achieve a payback period of 12 months or less.
5. You’ll Save Time
It’s estimated that the average executive spends 6 weeks out of the year simply looking for documents—by going paperless, you can quickly cut this time down, spending seconds looking for the documents you need rather than hours. This saved time can then be used in a more productive manner, focusing on the task you were trying to accomplish. You may even be able to cut out early!
6. You’ll (Help) Save the Planet
Sure, just one hospital or dealership or business going paperless won’t save the planet—but it will help. Considering that the average employee uses 130 lbs. of paper per year, and that it takes 2,500 trees to produce 10 million pages, your organization can make an impact.
7. You’ll Improve the Customer Experience
And last but not least, switching to a paperless document management system will improve the service you provide to your customers or patients. Because you can find the documents you need faster, you’ll reduce the average wait time for these customers, reduce the time they spend “on hold,” and increase their satisfaction (and they’ll hopefully spread the word of their positive experience).