Well into the 21st century, your business has managed to buck the trend of the paperless office. You continue to rely on cumbersome paper documents and manual business processes instead of utilizing far more efficient digital documents and electronic workflows. Surely, you have a good reason for failing to embrace the paperless office, as you’re doing so despite what it costs your company. And it indeed costs you a great deal. Consider the following disadvantages associated with paper documents.
The cost of working with paper
Paper in itself might not be expensive, but the costs associated with paper-based processes and managing paper documents can be a financial burden. Let’s start with storage—on- and off-site storage of paper documents, forms, and files are far more expensive than what it costs to house digital versions, as is transportation or delivery of hard copies of your documents. Don’t forget about the cost of reproduction to copy or scan paper documents. Perhaps most significant of all is the cost in employee time associated with manually managing your documents in paper form. All of these costs add up and can be eliminated by using digital documents instead of paper versions.
Inefficient processes
Working with paper documents prevents you from utilizing automated business processes. Manual, paper-based workflows are inefficient, rife with errors and redundancy, and inhibit collaboration. On the other hand, paperless workflows improve efficiency by minimizing mistakes, ensuring version control, and facilitating collaboration and the sharing of information.
Poor accessibility
How much time is wasted in your office looking for paper documents? How many paper documents are lost and never recovered? In paper form, documents can be difficult to find, easily misplaced, or even worse, lost forever. However, digital documents can be quickly and easily located and accessed at any time from almost any location, regardless of whether someone else is viewing it. No need to dig through file cabinets or have boxes of documents transported from one location to another just to access the information you need.
Less-than-ideal security
Protecting sensitive information is more important than ever for businesses, as regulatory compliance is something no company can take lightly. Just how confident are you in the security of paper documents? File cabinets and locked desk drawers are simply not enough to keep confidential data safe. When your documents are stored digitally, you can control access to them by assigning rights, which enables only authorized employees to access files. Paper documents are also susceptible to risks such as fires, floods, and natural disasters that could lead to their destruction. Digital documents can be backed up, making data recovery possible in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.
If your company is still working with paperless documents, it costs you in a number of ways. Document management can eliminate these burdens and turn your workplace into a paperless office. Contact us today to learn more about our industry-leading document management solution.