10 Reasons Why You Should Reduce Paper Use in Your Business

1. Cost Saving

Going paperless reduces the expenditure of the company on buying paper. Using both sides printing, or 2 pages on a single paper also reduces the use of paper, which ultimately saves the paper utilization and hence the company’s money as well.

Also, a large amount of paper is usually wasted in organizations daily, which goes into the bin, and hence, it leads to the wastage of paper and money.

As per Mosspaper, “Companies such Citigroup started enforces little changes such as printing double-sided to conserve one sheet of paper each week. Citigroup calculated savings worth $700,000 each year from this change in policy. While Bank of America has implemented changes like putting account forms and invoices online, which has saved the company over $10 million, not including the savings in postage and storage.”

2. Encryption

As files stored and important information documented in paper can be read by anybody, and most of the confidential information can be leaked by some deceitful people, the security issue is always there if some vital information is mentioned in a hard copy.

This may cause a big loss to any of the organization if data is made available to the competitors affecting its growth. Hence, storing the information as a soft copy in any of the storage devices, i.e., either in a pen drive, hard disk, online on cloud, or any other storage media can be easily encrypted.

So, the file can only be accessed by the person who is aware of the password or if the file is compatible with any particular device only. Hence, there is no issue of security if the paperless method is used for storage purpose.

3. Storage Resolution

Since the files and documents of papers require a lot of storage space, additional infrastructure has to be arranged for the same. It even incurs additional costs related to the infrastructure and space required for it.

But, storing the data as a soft copy in any of the storage devices (pen drives, hard disks, or cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox) removes any hustle required for the arrangement of infrastructure and additional space required for the infrastructure storage as well.

4. No Fear of Data Loss

During any damage or destruction or any natural calamity, if the files and documents are destroyed, it is almost impossible to recover the same, and hence, valuable and necessary information is lost.

This is usually the cause of concern of all the organizations, and hence, normal operation of the business is affected by it. However, if the data is store in any of the hardware device and on cloud which is one of the biggest demand of all the businesses in today’s advancing world, the data is stored at the data centers by the cloud service providers and hence, the business owners and any of the employees or any data stored will never be lost.

This removes the worry related to the loss of valuable information, which is otherwise not possible with the system utilizing paper for the documentation.

5. Data Recovery

The papers, if lost or damaged or burnt somehow, cannot be recovered, and hence, the information is lost forever. Moreover, if the data is lost in our system or in the pen drive or if the pen drive or the storage device itself is lost, it becomes difficult to retrieve.

But, if data is stored on cloud storage applications, it can be recovered anytime without any delay as data is always secured and protected on cloud servers by the cloud service providers.

6. Environmental Factors

As the paper is manufactured from the pulp of trees and hence, trees are cut regularly for this purpose by the papermaking industries, it adversely affects the environment and hence, the climatic conditions.

Wildlife is destroyed, and regular activities of human beings are also hampered due to deforestation. Hence, keeping this also as one of the concerns, the reduction in the use of paper by businesses will prove to be beneficial for not only businesses but mankind as well.\

As per Environmental Paper Network, “Since the 1960s, world consumption of paper has quadrupled, and use of printing paper has increased six-fold. Just 10% of the world’s population (western Europe and North America) consumes more than 50% of the world’s paper.”

7. Accessibility

A large amount of files is obviously difficult to carry, and hence, transportation of them is a big issue by any organization. In fact, during transportation as well, the files may be lost if they fall accidentally by the person carrying them, and hence, special care is necessary for this purpose.

But, if data is stored online, it can be easily sent to the other person through e-mail irrespective of the location, or if the data is stored in a pen drive, it is easy to carry the same irrespective of the size of the data. Hence, transfer of data has become an easy task for any business due to the advancement in technology.

8. Better Organization

Proper arrangement of each file and document in an orderly manner manually is a very tedious and time-consuming method. Even if arranged properly initially, but if due to some or the other reason the files get shuffled, it becomes quite a difficult task to arrange them.

But, storing data online and sorting them in a proper and orderly manner is just a clock away, and hence, data is organized as per the requirement.

9. Better Time Management

Since the data stored offline or as a hard copy requires proper arrangement manually in an orderly manner, the time consumed is also more than that of the same, if done online.

Further, if many employees or the members have to work on the same file, it can only be done one by one, and hence, here also time consumption is more. But, if any file is stored online, the same can be accessed by n number of people irrespective of their location and can work simultaneously on the same.

Hence, a parallel and simultaneous operation is possible if businesses go paperless and utilize cloud technology. Thus, it increases the efficiency and productivity of the employees and hence, the business.

Also, the time of authorized signatories is usually wasted in signing the documents, which can also be avoided by adopting the policy of e-signatures and hence, further saving the time.

10. Easy to Locate the Data

Searching a particular sheet or any file in a large pile of the same or even in a cupboard is actually difficult and time-consuming in comparison to the same if stored online which can be easily located by just a click or just by entering the name of the particular file. Hence, the required data can be obtained easily without any hassle without any time delay.

Hence, going paperless is actually advantageous for all the businesses as well as for mankind, as discussed above. Various ways can be adopted for the same, like cloud technology, digital documents, e-signatures, etc.