If your office hasn’t converted to digital filing yet, you are missing out on hours of saved productivity. Paper and ink costs can become exorbitant, especially if you consider the expense of making copies and manual filing.
You don’t need to quit paper cold turkey; many offices will make the transition and change new records over to a digital format. Take a look at these three main reasons for switching to a paperless office.
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1. Faster searches
Typing a search query into a digital database can yield results in seconds, even if you have thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of records. Let’s see you match those speeds with paper files.
Searchability alone can help speed up the productivity of your office, since queries can be restricted to certain dates, formats, and other relevant criteria. This makes it easy for you to pull specific records without rummaging around in file cabinets.
Most digital filing systems have automated sorting systems, so specific types of records are automatically labeled and placed in the correct location. Some softwares will even let you save popular search parameters so you can repeat the search in the future with a single click.
2. Easier backups
Digital databases can be backed up to on-site hard drives or remote storage in a matter of minutes. If your office runs on a paper filing system, you have to go through the time-consuming process of scanning each sheet, making copies, and storing a paper backup.
What will happen to your records in the event of an accident, natural disaster, or break-in? Digital backups can protect your business against future emergencies. While data backups do cost money, they can save you from major losses in the future.
3. Reduced costs
Your office can save on printer ink and paper by creating new digital records. Getting a laser jet printer repaired or replaced can be extremely costly. You may be able to scale down to more affordable printing options once your record-keeping is done on the computer. You may have to rent a larger space to accommodate all your paper files.
Since thousands of documents can be stored in a single digital database, you can scale down your office and lower your rental costs. Multiple users can access digital file systems, so your employees don’t waste time and company resources visiting a filing office and searching through paper indexes.
Digital databases help get your entire company running on the same page.
