The growing capabilities of the computerized digital-world to deliver information of all sorts to any electronic media paves the way to the idea of doing everything electronically. The goal to go paperless is at your fingertips with the right technology to make it happen.
The idea to go paperless maybe a bit weird or even scary at first, but with the different existing trends in technological innovation and digital creations, you’ll soon give in to this normal possibility in this complex world of endless information. You may also be a classical fanatic that the idea to go paperless maybe a disturbing issue to you. In any case, just look at the brighter side of the situation and you surely could say that the idea to go paperless is never a problem but rather an intelligent solution to an all-time problem of global paper management.
Go paperless and save a lot of trees to be cut just to provide more reams of paper for you to use in a fast changing information world. The process lets you save in getting more storage materials for file collection and will make you realize the value of an electronic storage as an affordable way to save data.
Storing your files electronically means giving you the opportunity to personalize your data gathering and filing. A great plus factor here is that this will let you save some money as you will not need to hire an assistant or secretary to do it, unless you still want to.
Managing information in business, career or personal life may still be different from every manager or individual keeping the records. It is best to know and identify yourself whether you are a “piler” or a filer. A filer loves printing documents and keeping them in indexed catalogues, drawers and collecting bulk paper stuff for current and future references. A “piler” is one who loves storing information electronically.
It wouldn’t be a great problem for a filer to go paperless in the future as everything can be done with practice and a little more practice each day makes everything perfect. Start ignoring the urge to print everything you label as relevant. Save only those legal documents that require a valid original signature for official use. Start learning how to use email and a proper document management system the leverage the full power of digital.
“Pilers” are considered more technological savvy than filers and the concept to go paperless is not new to them. Filers are also advised to use more productive software for systematic information management. Utilize your digital documents effectively each day and label them according to purpose and group associated folders. You can also track down next actions and further progress of each project or emails you receive from your daily inbox and workflows. You can delete files or label them as “finished” once you have successfully completed the process.
Other software tools would even help both the “pilers” and the filers manage information systematically and with less stress that the concept to go paperless is even promoted for the best benefits it could ever do to nature and the humanity itself in the realm of technological innovation.
A drawing management system such as DCM’s ECHO software tool is the best way to manage your digital drawing and documents in a paper-less environment. Also note that you don’t have to go totally paperless all at once. You can approach the initiative per document type, per department, per transaction/process etc. These more focused implementations can also create opportunities to analyze the conversion process and measure the benefits on a smaller and more manageable scale. For example:
- How much do we save on paper, toner costs & printer maintenance costs?
- How much space is saved for less filing cabinets and archive boxes?
- How much time do we save using electronic filing and retrieval versus physical?
By analyzing the implementation of a smaller and more manageable paperless initiative, you can easily extrapolate the effort required and realized benefits.
