The paperless office: tips for practice

Why a paperless office? 

In times of digitalization and mobile working, paperless offices are becoming ever more important. That is mainly down to a whole range of benefits: 

1. Easy, mobile access

The paperless office is not tied to a place or a time. With a document management system (DMS), employees can access every file from anywhere, on any device.

2. Better collaboration

Because documents are available to all employees at any time and in any place, people can work on them together. That removes the wait until other colleagues have finished their contribution to a document. The result: higher productivity. At the same time, changes to a file are always traceable for everyone, which makes coordination easier.

In modern companies, collaboration across departments is becoming ever more important. Rigid structures are breaking up and networking counts for a lot. Collaboration and project management tools are well suited to coordinating teams.

3. Faster searching

In paper-heavy offices, documents are filed in binders and stored in filing cabinets. With a lot of documents, that quickly turns into laborious paperwork chaos. Employees have to dig through dozens of sheets and lose valuable time doing it. Most DMS have a full-text search that makes things easier to find. You can search for individual contents of a document or for the document title, for example.

4. Saving space

Have you forgotten how much space you actually have in your office? As soon as your company has switched to paperless working, you will notice a visible difference straight away. Files and cabinets disappear and you can use the free office space for other purposes. Put a table football table in there, for example ;).

5. Better data security

The software and hardware used to store documents is usually very secure. Automatic backups mean data is not easily lost. On top of that, documents can be protected against printing, copying and unauthorised sharing.

6. Gaining information

In traditional offices with ring binders, central information is not visible to everyone involved, for example when emails are not forwarded or files are not put back on the shelf. That slows employees down in their work. In the worst case they assume the documents in question do not exist and waste their time producing them again.

In paperless offices you stop important files from getting lost. At the same time you gain information: when documents are stored so that everyone can call them up, connections can be spotted that would otherwise stay invisible.

7. Saving time and money

With digital organisation you save the cost of postage, shipping, ink and paper. At the same time you save another important resource: time. Because the technical tools for organisation and automation that come with a paperless office speed up and streamline many processes. That leaves more capacity for the day-to-day business.

8. Higher customer satisfaction

In a paperless office, customer enquiries can be handled faster and better. Thanks to clear cloud storage you can find and send the necessary documents more quickly. And modern project management tools make work processes more efficient and better in quality. In a working world where customer expectations are moving further and further towards digital B2C communication, automation is a great help.

9. A plus for your employer brand

In times of a skilled labor shortage, companies have to invest in their employer brand to stay attractive to applicants and employees in the long run. With a paperless office you come across as a digitalised, forward-looking employer, which is especially appealing to the younger generation of employees. As digital natives, today's apprentices, students and graduates grew up in an online world and want to use digital tools at work as well. A company that offers them that lands high up on their list.

10. Sustainability

Producing paper uses up a large amount of wood, energy and water. You can save all of that in a paperless office and do the environment some good along the way.

Isn't the paperless office reality by now? - The status quo in Germany

“But we already work digitally!” Did that thought shoot through your head as you were reading? In fact the paperless office should have been reality for 30 years now. In 1975 an article by Arthur D. Little was published in Businessweek magazine. He was an analyst at an international management consultancy and predicted that offices' paper consumption would fall by 1980. From 1990 onwards all offices were supposed to work paperlessly.

What does reality look like in Germany? Let us take a look at the facts:

• A study by KYOCERA Document Solutions from 2019 shows that only four per cent of office workers in Germany and Austria work paperlessly. 39 per cent still print 21-100 pages a week. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular, which often have to handle the switch to paperless offices alongside the regular day-to-day business, lag far behind.
• Another study by Bitkom from 2020 gives a slightly higher figure for paperless offices, but it is still a long way from Little's forecast: 6 per cent of German companies work digitally, a further 30 per cent largely paperlessly.

The pandemic gave paperless business processes a boost. Even so, German business still has catching up to do. Platforms such as Amazon, eBay and Instagram have digitalised the B2C sector massively in recent years. The same wave of innovation is to be expected, with a delay, in business to employee - that is, in the relationship between companies and their employees. And paperless offices are only the start of a new, digital working world.

You will have noticed: although more and more companies are digitalising their day-to-day work, there is still plenty of room for improvement on the paperless office in Germany. Yet paperless working brings many benefits, such as better collaboration, flexibility and savings in time and money. The switch does take a certain amount of effort, but in the end it pays off for every company. Because the working world of the future is digital. Are you?

A step-by-step guide to introducing a paperless office

Step 1: take stock and set goals

Before you start, find out where paper is still being used in your company. Which documents are printed regularly? Where does everything still run through ring binders? Once you have an overview you can set clear goals: do you want to cut paper consumption by 80 % per cent? Or manage all invoices and contracts digitally only? Define what you want to achieve.

Step 2: choose the right tools

A document management system helps you store digital documents securely and find them again easily. Cloud solutions make access possible from anywhere, while collaboration tools make working together easier. What matters is that the software is intuitive and GDPR-compliant.

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Step 3: digitise and structure your documents

Scan existing paper documents and set up a clear folder structure. Make sure all documents are named consistently so that they are easier to find later. Automation such as text recognition (OCR) helps make documents searchable.

Step 4: build digital workflows into everyday work

Use electronic signatures to handle contracts and approvals without paper. Rely on digital notes and project management tools so that to-do lists and meeting minutes no longer have to be printed. The more processes you map digitally, the easier the switch will be.

Step 5: bring your employees along and train them

A paperless office only works if everyone pulls together. Run training sessions and explain why the change matters. Gather feedback and improve processes together. Small adjustments can have a big effect.

Step 6: monitor progress and adjust

Check regularly which processes can still be improved. Are there areas where paper is still being used? Is there resistance or are there technical problems? Adjust your strategy and keep developing it.

The road to the paperless office is a process that starts with good planning. With the right tools, clear structures and motivated employees, the switch goes quickly and efficiently.