How to Run a Paperless Office

HOW TO RUN A PAPERLESS OFFICE The average office worker uses of copy paper per year, which 4 MILLION tons of paper across the country every year. Not only is this damaging to the envi- ronment, it causes a lot of clutter throughout the office and paper costs can really add up. Making the switch to PAPERLESS Going paperless can be a challenge if your office has been running on paper all this time. The benefits are well worth the challenge! Online Faxing Set up an account with an online fax service to get a new fax number. Receive or send PDF files via "fax", eliminating the need for paper, reducing waste. Faxes are sent or received via email or a web interface, depending on the service. Electronic Contracts Most businesses needs contracts signed at some point, which can result in a lot of paper waste. E-signatures have been legally binding for more than a decade. Upload your contract to an e-contract service and send it to everyone who needs to sign. Their electronic signature will be stored for future use. @ This eliminates the need to send contracts via mail, as well as storing several copies of valuable documents. Paperless Billing Invoices can make up a large quantity of the paper in an office: there are alternate solutions to the print-and-mail method. Paperless billing can be done via email or through an online service. Scan and Recycle Documents It's inevitable that you will have a backlog of paperwork to deal with during the transition, as well ongoing paperwork o ing in. To deal with this: Scan and save documents as PDF files. A scanner with OCR software Discard or recycle any unnecessary and unimportant papers. is a good choice, as it will make your documents searchable, saving time in the future. LifeHacker has some recommendations on what to keep and for how long: 1 PAPER ORIGINALS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP: Business license Insurance policies RECOMMENDATION: KEEP A PAPER VERSION OF THESE AND ALSO SCAN THEM TO DIGITAL FILES Tax returns Receipts for major purchases (e.g., appliances, furniture, electronics, jewelry). Attach the physical receipts to the warranty cards Auto titles and major repair records Employment records like performance evaluations Work projects, volunteer records, other personnel records TEMPORARY PLACES FOR THESE PAPER FILES ARE JUST FINE: Health Insurance Explanation of Benefits form (1 Year) 401(k), 529 plan, IRA, (latest monthly statements) Don't Forget to BACKUP! While getting rid of paper in the office may be a good idea, it does present the issue of potentially losing all your data. Fortunately, there are several solutions for this problem. DIGITAL BACKUP There are a number of digital backup services available these days. It takes a bit of organization, but you can create a searchable database that makes it simple to find what you're looking for. FILE SYNCING SERVICES File syncing allows you to ensure that all files are updated regularly on several computers, allowing you to back things up automatically on more than one machine. Going paperless doesn't just reduce clutter, it can also help everyone in your office be more productive and save money. Even if you can't go 100% paperless, consider doing what you can to reduce the amount of paper used. SOURCES http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html http://mashable.com/2010/05/01/small-business-paperless/ http://smallbusiness.chron.com/7-steps-paperless-company-15561.html http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288745,00.asp ΣΣΣ