Or even better, invest in an interactive smartboard! Just take a picture on your smartphone if you need to save the notes for later - there are even apps, such as Microsoft’s Office Lens, which have a specialist smartboard scanning mode. While on the subject of to-do lists, applications such as Microsoft To-Do do a brilliant job of managing these for you.īe honest – how many times have you scribbled away on a flip chart during a meeting, only to throw it away five minutes after it’s finished? Old-school whiteboards are a great solution to this. You can even add annotations to your notes and easily search for them across all your devices. These digital tools allow you to create, organise and share meeting notes, to-do lists and projects with anyone. And you can share them very securely! For example, you can lock documents to prevent them being printed by just anyone.ĭon’t you hate it when you start a new notepad and make a mistake on the first page? Not an issue with electronic notebooks like OneNote and Evernote. Office 365 is great for collaboration, as it lets you work on a document or spreadsheet simultaneously with colleagues and then continuously saves, so you’ll never lose the file you’re working on. They’re simpler for multiple people to amend, more searchable and easier to store and send. These let you share files with clients or internally - without a trip to the printer.ĭigital documents are much more versatile than paper. One of the simplest ways to eliminate the excessive use of paper is to use cloud-based applications such as Office 365. So, what steps can you take to curb your business’ paper use?Īdopting the right tools and document management systems will go a long way to supporting your paperless office.
Thanks to technology, it’s now possible to get rid of paper entirely, in almost all areas of business. After all, we’ve cut down on our use of plastic bags in shops - why not cut down on our use of paper in the office? Make the switch to paperless This is a big reason why so many businesses have started to reduce their use of paper. And that can only be a good thing given the current focus on reducing emissions to hit the net-zero by 2050 target. Less printing means fewer trees are cut down for pulp, and less energy is used to make and transport paper. And that’s not including what you pay to file and store it all! Eliminating paper waste will save you money on printing, filing, postage and all other associated costs.Īside from the cost savings, it’s no secret that the paperless approach is better for the environment. But once you start paying for printers, toner, cabling, connectivity, maintenance, servicing and user support, it soon starts to add up. Paper might be cheap and easy to distribute. Let’s take a look at two of the key incentives for reducing paper waste: cost savings and saving the environment. Going paperless can have many advantages for your business.
Yes, even lawyers and accountants are starting to go paper-free! Both law and finance are traditionally paper-heavy industries with filing cabinets filled to the brim with signed paperwork and other bits of important information.īut at a time when almost every employee has access to a computer or mobile device, it makes sense to take active steps to help reduce the amount of paper we use in the work environment.Īs such, hundreds of businesses are shaking up traditional business processes and shifting to a new, paperless office strategy. Okay, hands up - how many of you still use fax machines, paper statements and paper documents? If so, why?!įor many businesses, particularly accountants and lawyers, going paperless sounds pretty daunting.