One of the issues that do not seem to change in today’s companies is the use of paper. Every day, thousands of companies process paper files, letters, invoices, and agreements. Such a huge paper consumption has a notable impact on the natural environment. However, there are more and more companies that establish a zero paper policy. In this article, you will learn some tips to see how to reduce the use of paper in the daily work of the company.
Electronic invoicing and digitalization
A large part of the company’s paper volume is due to billing. However thanks to modern technologies, invoices can be now generated electronically. Important documents can also be scanned and then send in their electronic equivalent.
Document management and document life cycle
Another essential aspect related to usage of paper is internal documentation in today’s businesses. To handle this, it is necessary to have a document manager that allows us to control the life cycle of a paper, from its creation, versions, manipulation, approval, consultation, archiving and finally its destruction. Document manager also greatly reduces the flow of internal mail in companies.
Without forgetting the small details
All these practices should be complemented with small details. Having a clear policy to reduce the volume of printing save money and makes it easier for our office not to be flooded with papers.
Paper saving APPs
Evernote
Evernote is an application which helps you to reduce your paper consumption. It allows you to create complete notes and documents, capture photographs and create quick presentations from your own notes. With Evernote, you will be able to manage many documents (diplomas, certificates, credentials, etc.) to find them through the labels that identify them easily.
Scanner Pro
With Scanner Pro you will not need expensive equipment to scan your documents since you can do it directly from your smartphone. With this application, you can capture photographs of receipts, pieces of paper, invitations, cards and any other document that comes to mind. Scanner Pro incorporates unique algorithms to process your photographs, eliminate shadows and focus the text correctly to be able to save it in PDF format.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a well-known, useful application that can help to reduce your paper consumption. It provides online storage services that incorporate the functionality of synchronizing your information between different devices. It guarantees access to your documents from anywhere.
FaxBurner
FaxBurner supports sending and receiving free faxes to your email or smartphone. With FaxBurner, you can create multi-page faxes from your photographs, archive old faxes, and sign faxes without printing them.
DropBox
Dropbox uses a similar solution to Google Drive for the storage of files in the cloud. It is multiplatform, this means that it is compatible with desktop computers (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux) and mobile devices (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry). To use this APP, it is necessary to create an account, and there are some payment plans. Files stored in Dropbox can be shared with other users and easily recovered if they are deleted.
Amazon Kindle
Although a digital book can never replace that characteristic smell of printed books, sometimes it is much more convenient to transport and read them through an electronic device. Amazon Kindle is an application available for almost any smartphone or tablet, which allows you to read books that you have purchased on Kindle. The Amazon Kindle application allows you to automatically save the last page you have read and synchronizes it with your other devices.
Todoist
Todoist is an application to manage tasks. It allows you to divide large projects into subprojects and set deadlines to complete them more easily. Incorporates notifications and reminders, and allows you to add tags and filters to give context to your tasks. There is the possibility to log in with a Google account, and it integrates perfectly with Dropbox and Google Drive.
Conclusion
These days, there are plenty of ways to prevent unnecessary paper usage. Caring about the natural environment has never been so easy and within everyone’s reach. Thanks to diverse modern technologies, mobile applications, and smart solutions, both small companies and big corporations can reduce their environmental footage and bring green policy into their daily functioning.
