Document Scanning & E-Forms – How Your Office Finally Goes Green
Posted: Monday, May 03, 2010
by Mitch Taube
Digiscribe
On April 22 nd , the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day, eco-friendly Americans demonstrated their support for a more sustainable environment. You may be wondering how your business can also support that goal. Here are several important ways electronic document management , document scanning and electronic forms promote a truly "green" office.
The average business document gets copied nineteen times! * Based on that calculation, every 4-drawer file cabinet in your office requires one 70' tree to be cut down. ** What that means is that every time you scan the documents in a 4-draw file cabinet, you've saved a tree!
Imagine the savings you'll immediately recognize, as well as the environmental impact you'll generate, when your paper purchasing and copier supplies are drastically reduced. In addition, just by incorporating document scanning at your firm, you'll single-handedly reduce the number of file cabinets and file folders necessary and the environmental impact created as they're manufactured.
Implement document scanning to directly impact the use of natural resources as well as realizing substantial savings. Wouldn't that make you feel better about the way you run your business?
According to Daily Green, " If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road." Creating a paperless office through electronic document management reduces the energy required to cut down, manufa cture, transport , copy and store paper. Your decision to adopt a paperless office is a commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.
Sit down with your department heads and identify the paper-intensive processes in your business. Where are the most paper copies being generated, distributed and stored? Commit to working with your document management services provider to find ways to reduce that paper overload.
Electronic forms save paper from being used in the first place.
Legally binding eforms are stored digitally with no p r inting or physical storage necessary. Incorporating e-forms into automated workflows is an important step toward a green and more efficient office.
The additional efficiency and security of electronic forms makes this change an easy sell to most business owners. When paper forms are copied, reviewed, rerouted and stored, critical business data can be lost. Not with e-forms.
Add together the ability to create, distribute and store data electronically, the capability to easily integrate the electronic data with your key business applications and the substantial reduction in paper use at your business and you'll understand why eforms should be your next green business strategy.
Your company's carbon footprint is reduced with electronic document management. Reduced storage and office space equals reduced utility usage. Eliminating transportation of documents to and from off-site storage also reduces emissions. Those are just a few of the ways streamlined document management directly impacts your carbon footprint.
To get a better picture of the positive impact you could have simply by incorporating electronic document management, think of the number of times per day you hear a paper document being copied in your building. Walk through the office and count the number of file cabinets taking up square footage (which translates to utility usage.) Keep track of the number of vehicles used to transport documents regularly. Then imagine those numbers drastically reduced. That's the impact you'll have on your firm's carbon footprint simply by implementing electronic document management.
Implementing an electronic document management strategy that includes document scanning, electronic forms and document management systems rather than paper supports global goals for a sustainable environment. Celebrate Earth Day every day by working with your document management solutions provider to introduce the paperless office at your firm.
* Coopers Lybrand
** paperonweb.com.
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