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Creating a paperless office – digitize your processes

In a 2021 survey, 54% of U.S. professionals said they spend more time looking for documents than responding to emails. Managing physical paper documents is a timewaster and keeps many professionals from completing their work on time and to the best of their abilities. Additionally, more time spent digging through records to find the required one means less time spent on value-adding activities such as strategizing, creating, designing, and implementing.
Friday, January 27, 2023
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The problem with paper

There are a host of reasons why paper consumption is problematic. One of the most widely known issues with paper is that its production process is one of the biggest causes of pollution worldwide - polluting air, water, and land. Besides this, there are several other problems relating to its consumption: 

  • Costly: On average, 50% of printed paper will end up in the trash within a day, and businesses spend around $48,000+ per year on paper and paper-related costs, such as storage and labor.
  • Easy to lose: Paperwork is handled multiple times and often by numerous people, making it easy to lose important documents as they may be misplaced during processing or misfiled.
  • Lack of security: Not only can documents be stolen, but fires, floods, and other hazards can also damage them, leading to a loss of important information.
  • Time-consuming: Manual data entry takes a long time and, if you don't do it properly, it can be full of errors that need correcting.
  • Productivity killer: Paper-based processes lead to slower turnover and unhappy employees, negatively affecting your bottom line.

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Benefits of a paperless office

There’s a whole range of benefits that come with going paperless. It allows for a more flexible work environment and the ability to improve workflow and productivity levels. Below, we'll discuss the most significant benefits you can enjoy from going paperless. 

Save money

Cutting these costs on physical paper, printing, distribution, storage, and processing will help boost your bottom line and put your money toward growth-promoting endeavors for your company.

Preserve the environment

Reducing or eliminating your paper consumption significantly impacts your business's carbon footprint - you can rest easy knowing that you're taking a big step towards preserving our planet.

Take back your time

Ditching the paper means you won't have to perform tedious manual paper-based processes. You'll be able to send, share, find, and approve documents easily.

Increase visibility

You can visualize your collected data using automation software to see trends and pick up on errors and inefficiencies. Real-time tracking allows you to become proactive rather than reactive, and you will no longer keep your staff waiting for handwritten documents to complete their financial reporting.

Easier accessibility

Going paperless means you can access documents from anywhere if you store them in the cloud. Using automation software, you can also store electronic documents in your digital archive, making them easily searchable for reference when required.

Higher security

Documents and confidential information can be password protected or encrypted, restricting internal and external access to sensitive data and alerting you to security threats. You eliminate the risk of losing important documents stored in your file cabinets to natural hazards, such as fires and flooding.

Eliminate paper for good

Having looked at the issues with the amount of paper in the office and the benefits of going paperless, you have all the reasons to start taking steps towards the future. Now that you've decided to eliminate paper, here are some tips so that you know where to start:

  • Find an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution that fits your needs. There are many different ERP systems out there – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is one of the best on the market and is widely used by many small to medium businesses.
  • Use an add-on solution to boost your ERP system. Add-ons will help to automate your manual finance processes such as manual data entry, and help you save time and money and increase employee satisfaction levels.
  • Convert paper documents to digital. To keep paper out of your office, sign up for digitized documents such as statements and payments, scan receipts, and require all incoming and outgoing documents to be in electronic formats.

Go paperless with Continia 

Continia Software is a leading provider of solutions for Business Central, helping you eliminate paper and automate your finance processes. We create add-on solutions built into Business Central, eliminating the need to learn new complex paperless systems so you and your team can maintain your familiar way of working. The solutions we currently offer are:

  • Document Capture
  • Collection Management
  • Expense Management
  • Document Output
  • Payment Management
  • OPplus

Continia solutions automate monotonous tasks, reduce paper and errors, and create space for insightful and strategic thinking in your finance department – increasing overall job satisfaction. We suggest you head to our solutions page to learn more about how we can help you optimize Business Central processes in your financial department.

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