A more efficient workplace or an interest in going green, whatever your reason, Business World can help cut your business’s paper consumption. Eliminating paper – or cutting back considerably is surprisingly easy with these paperless office tips.
Cut back on your paper use and enjoy the benefits of a greener workplace; we’ve gathered some of our favorite paperless office tips to help you get started. From incentivizing paper saving to making it downright inconvenient for your team to get to the printer, these paperless office solutions will help you become more efficient and use less paper every month.
1. Share your Reasons for Going Paper-Free
Your plans to save paper or even to go totally paperless should not come as a surprise to your team. By letting everyone know that changes are coming and the reasoning behind your decision, you can reduce resistance. High level employees who buy in to the plan and set an example will help the rest of the team follow suit. Do you want a greener, more environmentally friendly business – or do you want to streamline your operations and boost productivity? Sharing both the coming changes and your reasons can help boost participation and awareness.
2. Set Clear Goals
Do you know how much paper you are using right now? Auditing your current usage can help you set attainable and reasonable goals and give you a baseline comparison of future months. Track the pages each person prints or even the amount of paper reams consumed to get an idea of who is using your paper and how much you are going through in each set time period.
3. Encourage Employee Buy-In
Use a multimodal approach to relay information about your paper saving goals; displaying reminders in high traffic areas and by printers and workstation scan help cut down consumption. Friendly paper competitions between employees or departments (with desirable prizes) or incentives for individuals or teams who cut back on paper use the most can boost employee buy-in and ensure everyone is on board with a “think before you copy or print” mindset.
4. Scan, Don’t Copy
A multi-function printer with scanning and storage capabilities can record your documents without creating additional paper. Scanning documents allows you to move them quickly into your workflow and to share them electronically with any team members who need to access them. By scanning instead of copying, you use less paper and make information more accessible to your entire team.
5. Make it Inconvenient to Print
Usually, boosting productivity and efficiency is all about convenience, but if you want to cut back on the printing and copying, you’ll have to make it less convenient. Move printers to a more remote location so employees have to think twice before making the trek or bothering to make copies. Remove personal printers from workspaces whenever possible; directing print jobs to a network printer makes your team consider just how much they need that print before hitting the “Print” button.
6. Dump Outdated Technology
If you are using a fax machine (which prints out documents) or relying on paper applications, forms and other hard copies, updating your processes can help you get rid of some paper. Creating online forms for your team and customers can boost functionality and automation while lessening your paper usage.
Bonus tip! Use Papercut™ Smart Printing Technology
A smart, automated printer can help cut your paper usage for all departments by allowing access to a select group of users and devices only. Routing complex print jobs to the appropriate printing device, automatically opting for grayscale and even prompting users to save paper via pre-print pop-ups are just a few of the ways you can use innovative technology to cut your paper consumption and printing costs.
Interested in learning more ways to cut your office’s paper consumption and boost your efficiency? We can help; contact the team at Business World for more information about the latest printing innovations and solutions designed to help your business save.
