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Paperless Offices: How They Can Benefit Your Business

Microform Branding - Work colleagues around a computer.

In 2018, the concept of 'paperless offices' celebrated its 40th anniversary since it was first used in business in the US in 1978.

To a lot of people, the idea of going paperless just means using more emails — but it's more than just that, and several US trademark applications over the past four decades have used 'paperless office' to mean digital document management, archiving and retrieval.

When we scan documents for our clients, most of the time it enables them to facilitate paperless practices, whether in the office or inside their storage facilities.

But once documents and records are scanned, what are the benefits of a paperless office?

Increased all-round efficiency

One of the most beneficial and common aspects of going paperless is the increased efficiency that a company enjoys once its documents have been scanned.

A large number of our clients have big storage facilities and often report that a great amount of time is spent tracking down individual reports and document files.

At Microform we can set up a bespoke cloud storage management system for you, along with custom-built document management software that gives you direct access to files, folders and functions like search.

The largest organisations that we work with, which can be educational, judicial, or medical institutions, have found that they have saved hundreds of hours a year in their document retrieval times.


Increased security

Our bespoke document management systems are some of the most robust in the UK. Advanced in all forms, a paperless business enables a heightened level of security and privacy, both for the business and its customers or clients.

As we all know, physical documents can succumb to a wide range of environmental conditions and hazards. Documents located in a cloud-based storage system are immune to the environmental dangers that their physical counterparts are exposed to.

This is because the files within a cloud-based storage system are not found in a single location, but are saved externally within a cloud database. Access can be secured to ISO 27001 standards, adding data protection and compliance to the range of benefits your business receives from going truly paperless.

For companies that work with strictly confidential information or documents, we can arrange limited access for any of our document management systems. Whether in terms of the number of profiles registered in the system or the location from where the files can be accessed.

A step towards a greener future

There’s no doubt that going paperless helps the environment.

Not only does it lessen the number of trees being cut down, but it saves on a whole other range of issues and additional emissions involved in the transportation of materials and the like.

What’s more, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of sustainability in regards to business and many will now use a company’s carbon footprint as a factor when choosing to work with them.

The same kind of mentality also applies to young people when looking for work, as graduates and young professionals are more likely to apply for positions within organisations that in their view, are more forward-thinking.

Quite possibly the greatest benefit to a paperless workplace is the amount of money that it can save. Even some of the largest institutions in the world, such as Yale University, have gone paperless in order to cut down on spending.

And if you're ready to go completely paperless, we can make sure the original hard copies are securely destroyed and if possible, recycled to give that paper a new lease of life for the future too.


If you'd like to know more about how Microform can help you go paperless, get in touch with the team today.

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