The Paperless Office
Posted: November 16, 2010 Filed under: computer consulting services, go green, paperless office, Uncategorized Leave a comment »
Mailing Checks Vs. Online Bill Pay
It’s an age-old process: receive mail, open envelope, get paper cut, cry a little, get a band-aid, finish taking document out of envelope, browse over document, write check, place check in provided envelope, place stamp on envelope, slap address label on envelope… you get the point. Sounds like a lot of work. What about using the computer you’re already sitting in front of, browse to your online bank account, click “bill pay”, enter dollar amount, and click “submit”. Online bill pay is more efficient, environmentally-friendly and just plain smart. How can a small business owner on the top of their game still keep filing cabinets full of old paid bills and copies of bank deposits?
Mailing Invoices
Why still mail invoices to customers? You use e-mail for everything else, so this super quick method to get an identical copy of the same document sent to clients in mere seconds sounds like the way to go.
Newspapers and Magazines
How long are you keeping customers waiting in your lobby? Hopefully not long enough to read an entire two page article in Forbes Magazine or the Boston Globe. Why not upgrade to the 21st century and invest in an economical flat-screen LCD monitor mounted on the wall and play a slideshow of your company services or stream the local news? This shows customers you are up with modern times and aren’t promoting the spread of germs by sharing table literature. The only paper on tables should be versatile, like company brochures and informational booklets that you can also bring on sales calls and hand out at tradeshows.
Fax Machines
Who still uses a fax machine? A better way to fax is signing up for an online fax service. You upload the file you would normally print then send it over the Internet to the receiver’s fax machine. Or you could simply e-mail the same document without the use of an online fax service at all. Thinking of buying a new fax machine? Why not spend that $500 on a new scanner to scan those millions of paper documents sitting in your clunky filing cabinets and perform a little thing called digital archiving. And while you’re at it, develop a new company procedure to scan documents for storing in an organized, shared filing system on your company network.
Bottom Line
Paper is not an investment. Technology is.
