What is a paperless office system?

And of course, going paperless is a lot better for the environment. Did you know that only 17 reams of paper are produced from one tree that takes over 100 years to grow? That’s something to think about next time you go to use a piece of paper. Going paperless can save billions of trees which would in turn boost the levels of oxygen in our atmosphere.

With business archive storage with Magenta, we can offer you the perfect storage solution if you want to keep things minimal, easy to manage, less cluttered, and affordable for your enterprise, whilst doing your bit for Mother Earth.

But how do you go about implementing a paperless system, and what other reasons make it a better alternative to more conventional methods of archiving using physical documents?

Out with the old

Traditional office systems that rely solely on paper can cause a wide range of problems for both the business and the customer.

For one, customers may be prone to losing physical documents, and two, there is a security risk involved. An annual report has revealed that paper records account for 62% of data breaches in companies with over 500 employees.

In other words, it is a very good idea to have digital backups if you want to have secure business data. Not only that, but physical paper documents open themselves up to being destroyed in the unfortunate event of a natural disaster such as a fire or flood. This is obviously going to be detrimental to the way you run your business as they cannot be recovered, whereas digital documents kept in ‘the cloud’ will be backed up.

So, what does it mean to go completely paperless?

As mentioned above, a paperless office system transforms once physical documents into electronic form.

They can be scanned, indexed, and securely stored so that they can be easily retrieved whenever you need them. Processes that were previously manual become automated with a paperless office system, allowing for the ultimate in business efficiency, saving countless hours, and reducing stress.

And if you have multiple offices and employees spread across various locations, a paperless office system allows you to access your documents anywhere, at any time – essential in the modern workplace where often many employees now work remotely or at home.

What are the benefits of going paperless?

Implementing a paperless office system has many benefits, and it is a much better way to run your business than having to rely on physical paper documents.

Firstly, it allows you to promote collaboration among your team members. When staff are able to view and edit files digitally, without the need to print updated versions of past documents, the steps in the workflow are minimised, allowing for a much more efficient way of working.

Similarly, you won’t need to implement any expensive paper-based office infrastructure (such as filing cabinets, printers, ink, and paper) with a paperless office system, which is going to massively reduce your business costs – as well as free up space in your office.

Retrieving documents is also far easier with a paperless office system. Digital documents can be easily organised, indexed, and accessed with digital search capabilities. When your documents can become more accessible, you are able to significantly cut down on the time it takes for your team to locate and retrieve files, meaning they can prioritise working on higher-level tasks and work more productively.

You can also improve your security of information with a paperless office system. By assigning access rights to certain documents and data, you can also revoke such rights according to the user level, preventing your documents from being misused or undergoing unauthorised changes, in addition to reducing the risk of loss and theft.

Put simply, a paperless office system allows for a much more efficient and sustainable running of your business – something we feel is pretty important here at Magenta.

How to start your paperless office journey

Starting your paperless office journey may seem a little daunting and difficult. Change can be exhausting! But the good news is that going paperless can be pretty simple. Here are a few tips to consider when going paperless.

Firstly, begin to digitalise. It’s important to support your employees throughout this process. After all, digitalising your office is going to be a big change and it may take time for your employees to adjust. Help them to understand that this new way of working is going to contribute to their increased productivity and make the company more sustainable, with purely digital documents being easy to access, improving efficiency for both employees and customers. Be sure to develop a training programme and listen closely to your employees’ feedback, and you’ll set yourself up for success.

Got paper documents that you can’t afford to get rid of but don’t want to clutter up your new minimalist paperless office? At Magenta, we offer business archive storage so you don’t need to part with any paperwork that you don’t feel comfortable getting rid of. Keep important documents safe and secure in a Magenta storage unit, ready to access whenever you should need it.

Magenta’s paperless journey

Here at Magenta, we are proud to have adopted a paperless approach in order to do our bit for the planet alongside boosting our business’s efficiency. When you make a booking with us, the procedure is fully paperless. This means that you don’t have to worry about losing any documents regarding your booking and storage as everything is digital – with no trees harmed!

Going paperless was easy to adopt and has proven to be very cost-efficient for us. In addition to saving trees being used, we have also made a commitment to plant a tree for every new customer we gain, giving something back to the environment that we are so passionate about protecting.

Convinced? We’d love to support you in your paperless office journey by providing you with the business archive storage that you may need. Contact us today to get a quote at your nearest Magenta Storage location or give us a call on 0800 802 1360 to speak to someone from our team.