3 Reasons to Make Your Office Paperless

Have you discovered the benefits of a paperless office yet? Many organisations have offices full of documents that could easily be digitised, which is likely to impact available space, budgets and customer experience. So, why should you convert to a paperless office?  Here are three reasons to go paperless:

1. Paper Costs You Office Space

Storing paper takes up lots of room in an office. In addition to that, there is lots of paraphernalia that comes with storing paper like stocks of stationery, secure paper disposal units, shredders and more. According to the Total Office Cost Survey 2020, in Central London, the average cost per workstation in an office is around £12000 per annum. So it doesn’t make financial sense to use office space to store documents that could be easily digitised. In addition, for employees to work remotely, the documents they need must be accessible at all times. Access isn’t possible if physical records are stored in a filing cabinet. 

The Solution? Create a Paperless Office

Ensuring that new documents are created and stored digitally could drastically reduce the amount of office space needed for paperwork and filing and creating printing and postage cost savings. The ability to locate and sign agreements digitally is a smarter and more practical solution, especially where customers and employees are often not in the same physical location. 

2. Paper Costs Money

In addition to storing paper and filing cabinets, there are additional costs for printing and postage of paper documents. However, paper can also impact time and employee productivity. UK government waste statistics show that tonnes of paper are still wasted by UK organisations every year. There is also a time cost of employees locating the correct documents, filing them and sending them. A McKinsey survey found the average Interaction Worker spends around 19% of their week searching and gathering information relating to their role.  In the Forrester State of Systems of Agreement Survey, commissioned by DocuSign, 51% said they lacked visibility into the location and status of signed documents. 32% of respondents said that paper-based manual processes caused abandoned deals and reduced contract completion rates. 

The Solution? Go Paperless

Going paperless can reduce costs and free up resource to improve customer and employee experiences. Capgemini Consulting Research demonstrated that digital leaders are 26% more profitable than their industry competitors. The Forrester TEI study proves that the adoption of DocuSign eSignature can reduce paper agreement handling from 160 minutes to 64 minutes per agreement. Forrester’s in-depth TEI model found that the value of improved internal process productivity added up to a projected total saving of £209,515.

3. Paper Costs You Customers

Customer expectations are increasing, and most expect a frictionless experience across channels. Salesforce created a State of the Connected Customer report and surveyed over 15000 consumers and business buyers globally. They discovered that 76% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments, and 88% of consumers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives - especially due to COVID-19. 91% of those polled say they're more likely to make a repeat purchase after a positive experience, and 71% says their purchase is made on the quality of the customer experience. 

Ensuring your organisation meets customer expectations is critical, and customers expect to be able to transact digitally. In addition, paper has a significant environmental impact. Its production causes both deforestation and air pollution. The Nielsen Global Sustainability Report discovered that a whopping 81% of customers feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment.

The Solution? Going paperless can impact customer satisfaction

Customers are much more likely to transact, buy again and refer others if they have a positive experience. As an example, AstraZeneca increased its customer satisfaction score by 16% after implementing DocuSign products. Here are some quick and easy steps to start going paperless

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