Most people think the paperless office is just a dream. 5 years ago, I realised it really could happen. I was visiting a Chamber member, and she had literally nothing on her desk except her computer. Not even a pen.
That’s when I started thinking about how to take the Sydney Hills Business Chamber to a completely paperless office.
What’s so good about a paperless office?
There are plenty of reasons to go paperless:
- It saves time.
You still have to do filing, but it will probably be faster. And when you want to retrieve documents, it will certainly be faster and easier.
Electronic searches take 30 seconds or less. And they go everywhere! If something’s filed in the wrong place, or still in your inbox, the search will find it.
- You need less storage.
Electronic files don’t take up physical space. They’re less fragile too – as long as you back up.
- It costs less.
Before you file paper documents, you often have to print them. Printers aren’t very costly any more but the toner is.
- It’s a fire hazard!
- You’re actually more disorganised in your brain if your office is cluttered with “stuff”.
Those reasons apply to any office – the Chamber had one more good reason to go to a paperless office.
We don’t have our own office space. We enjoy space in a member’s office as part of a partnership. Since the end of 2014, I’ve worked for the Chamber in about four different office spaces.
This means storage is limited, and you move a lot! Paper’s heavy if you need to move a lot of it! Long before deciding to go paperless, I intentionally would not print. I’d try not to keep paper at all because it just added to our storage problem.
That was the first step towards a paperless office.
What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was how to do things efficiently at events.
Before COVID, we’d got to the point where the only things we printed were events registration lists. We needed them to check people at the door and know who actually came to events.
We had an iPad, but it was too slow to process all our attendees efficiently. So before each event, we would print the list. Then afterwards we had to reconcile attendance to the digital registration system.
Then COVID hit. We couldn’t have people bunched waiting to get their name ticked off. As events specialists, Eyob and his team had faster devices, so we ended up them logins for our system. That was the last of the paper.
Now our events run more efficiently – and there’s less work to do afterwards as well.
Tips for going paperless
Accept there are a few documents you need to keep as paper
For certain important documents like deeds of sale, birth certificates and citizenship papers, it’s a legal requirement to keep a paper copy. (I recommend keeping an electronic copy too, by the way.)
With COVID, the list of ‘must-be-paper’ documents is getting smaller. So make sure you check if you’re going paperless.
Keep your important paper documents together, somewhere you can grab them quickly if you need to.
Find a solution for handwritten documents
Some people prefer writing by hand to typing. If so, try one of these options:
- Scan your notes.
- Buy a Remarkable tablet or similar.
- Use the Notud app to handwrite notes direct onto your touch screen device.
Manage the maintenance
This is the hardest part for many. Other people and businesses don’t suddenly stop sending you paper. What can you do?
- Ask to receive documents electronically.
- Store all your paper in a single file, then deal with it once a week. For each piece of paper, choose between keeping, scanning, shredding or tossing in the bin. (Shredding is for anything with confidential data.)
It will take a little while, but in the end, this becomes a habit. You just do it. Or you can get a VA to do it for you. Just make sure you have clear rules and guidelines so they do it the way you want.
Final warning – make sure you back up
Even Google data centres can catch fire. It’s a small risk, but how would you feel if you lost everything? Make sure it doesn’t happen by backing up.
Need more help or advice? I love the whole concept of the paperless office and I’d love to help more people achieve it. You can find information about my 4 step process to paperless here, or you can book a time to chat: https://streamlinedorganising.com.au/free-consultation/
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