The modern office has little use for paper in most cases. Almost every operation can be completed digitally, and key files can be shared among contributors using cloud-based document management systems. The name of the game is efficiency, and paper simply does not cut it anymore in the midst of countless technological innovations.
However, some organizations have yet to realize the inherent advantages of switching to a paperless office. While many might hide behind the old moniker “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, the truth is that companies that fail to adopt cutting-edge software in the contemporary business world will invariably fall behind – so in this case, it is “broke”, even if paper users might not realize the extent to which their workflow is suffering.
“Companies spend a yearly average of $200 per user on paper and copier expenses.”
Paper is wasteful in terms of both time and money.
Expert Howard Brown wrote in an article for AccountingWEB that businesses that remain steadfast in their reliance on paper* are wasting their employees’ time – not to mention losing money. Brown reported that in the average accountant’s office, staff members run to the photocopier 60 times a week. He also noted that the average employee in such a setting spends 15 hours each month printing files. That’s almost two full work days of time per employee being thrown away waiting for documents to print.
From a fiscal perspective, the author estimated that companies spend a yearly average of $200 per user on paper and copier expenses. For an office with a staff of dozens – or even hundreds – of employees, this figure can be astronomical by the end of the year.
Brown argued that electronic document management systems can cut down an office’s total number of photocopies made by 75 percent. This would also essentially wipe out those lost 15 hours of printing, freeing up extra time for workers to complete their workloads without being delayed by printers.
Make daily operations like invoicing easier by using document management.
Kurt Meemken, a veteran of the industry, wrote in a Technology Insight blog for Marco that necessary business functions can be streamlined** by implementing an effective document management solution. Primarily, he stressed the importance of adopting invoice automation, which can make the payments more efficient.
Meemken described the largely ineffective process of sending and receiving a paper invoice: The bill must be mailed, faxed, or emailed and then sorted by accounts payable staff, who place them on the appropriate recipient’s desk. Then the payment is made and sent back over to the company that originally sent the invoice. This transaction is typically completed in about one week, but can sometimes – and often does – take up to and beyond four weeks, according to Meemken.
Document management systems consolidate this entire operation onto a single platform, allowing both the sender and recipient of the invoice the opportunity to view and make changes to an invoice in real time. The distributor can more easily keep track of its outstanding invoices, which are automatically updated when they are fulfilled. Rather than spending days or even weeks waiting around for a payment to be received via mail or fax, businesses can complete the entire process within a couple of hours, assuming all goes well on both ends.
Organizations that have yet to adopt document management solutions are falling behind the pack and hindering their own workflow. To achieve optimal levels of efficiency and productivity in the workplace, eliminating paper is a necessity.
To streamline processes, improve collaboration and eliminate the waste, PaperSave delivers an out-of-the-box integrated solution for Microsoft Dynamics that can be deployed in the cloud as well as on-premises. For more information, visit www.papersave.com.
*www.accountingweb.com/aa/auditing/roi-and-efficiency-the-advantages-of-using-a-document-management-system
** http://blog.marconet.com/blog/how-to-simplify-invoice-processing-with-a-document-management-workflow