Did you know that people lose 7.5% of all paper documents?
Although 7.5% may not sound like a lot, it accounts for a huge number of lost documents.
According to the International Data Corporation, 4.4 million pages will be printed every minute in 2025.
So, if we do the math, that means more than 300,000 documents will be lost every minute of every day in 2025.
This is a big problem, especially for small businesses because it costs at least $125 to pay for the labor to recover one misfiled paper document. Paper waste needs to be managed because losing paper means your business is losing money.
So, how do we solve this problem?
One way to solve the problem is going paperless.
Going paperless can offset the business expenses of losing paper documents. It also has the added benefit of being good for the environment, and environmentally conscious workplaces tend to make green by being green.
This means that having the reputation of being an eco friendly paperless office can help increase your sales and make your company more appealing to customers.
But going paperless can be daunting. Luckily, as a top-rated print vendor in the North Texas and DFW area, STPT has helped many small businesses support their missions to go green by practicing environmentally friendly printing and scanning.
We want to use our expertise to help you figure out how to go paperless by putting together this easy-to-read guide that covers:
• how to check your office’s paperless capability with MPS
• set-up for the paperless office
• document organization and management software options
• using cloud programs to back up digital documents
• scanners and multifunction printer options
• Going paperless: our role at STPT
After reading this comprehensive article, you will know how to go paperless, which tools your company will need to go paperless, and how STPT can help your office accomplish your paperless goals.
Going Paperless at Work: Where Do We Start?
First: is your office as paperless as it could be?
The best way to determine your company’s paperless capabilities is through Managed Print Services (MPS). MPS allows you to easily identify obsolete and ineffective printers, and it also helps figure out which prints are unnecessary.
MPS makes going paperless easy because it pinpoints areas where you need to cut down on printing and its associated costs.
It is important to assess your office’s current printing practices before going paperless. You need to determine how much paper you use and how much of that paper is needed for the operation of your business.
Using Managed Print Services to Check Your Paperless Capabilities
Managed Print Services (MPS) makes your office more functional by helping you easily track and control how much you use your printers and scanners.
MPS can vary based upon which print vendor you choose to use. For example, at STPT we use eValet, which offers several benefits for companies, including an easy-to-access app where you can view all your devices at once.
MPS also offers helpful tools for checking and increasing your company’s environmental sustainability. Your MPS provider can tell you if your printers are effective or ineffective, and they can also point out which printers use the most energy.
MPS Saves Money and Energy
MPS also uses strategies to save energy, like auto-shut off features that tell the machine to turn off automatically when not in use. This saves energy by reducing how much power printers and scanners use during the day.
Still weighing the pros and cons of Managed Print Services with STPT? Check out our blog Is Managed Print Services Right for Your Business? (Pros and Cons) for more information.
Document Organization Software is a Must
The next step to going paperless involves organization.
Going digital doesn’t mean your files disappear. You still need to organize your documents.
Document organization software works like the old filing cabinet you use to store paper documents—only it is much more efficient, easier to navigate, and it doesn’t take up prime office space.
While it is easy to learn how to use document organization software, it can be difficult choosing which software works best for your office, so to make the process simpler, here are our top recommendations for document organization software for going paperless:
Going digital requires your documents to be organized in two ways: information needs to be put into a storage repository, and it also needs special software that manages document creation and print usage.
1. Xerox DocuShare
DocuShare is a cloud-enabled service that can help you manage digital documents. It is called an enterprise content management (ECM) platform because it gives you easy-to-use tools for digitizing your office documents.
DocuShare provides many benefits for its users, including a mobile-friendly system that lets you tailor the features to match your company’s brand. It also allows access from many kinds of devices, like computers, phones, and copiers.
2. Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint, like Xerox DocuShare, serves as a repository for team documents. Like an infinite digital filing cabinet, SharePoint works by creating a secure and organized space for document storage that can be accessed by members of your company’s team from any device with a web browser.
SharePoint consists of several different types of applications, all designed with the same purpose in mind: organizing digital documents.
SharePoint in Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based repository, but there are other options, like SharePoint Server, which launches its own server on-site for your business or uses Microsoft 365 Enterprise to perform the same function.
There’s also OneDrive sync and the Designer 2013 versions, which offer the same capabilities in smaller, inexpensive packages.
You Will Also Need Document Management Software
To further organize your business, you will also need document management software that controls print usage and functions, like Y-Soft or PaperCut (explained below):
1. Y-Soft Enterprise Suite
Y-Soft offers a variety of benefits to companies, including print authentication and reporting.
The Y-Soft SafeQ Enterprise Suite allows companies to manage all machines in their entire fleet from one dashboard. Using this dashboard, you can control costs by tracking and analyzing your budget and data needs.
Another great feature of Y-Soft is that it lets you analyze activity by department or individual, and the information is all included in one place. You can set individual or department print limits that control print overages and paper wasting.
Y-Soft allows you to create rules that manage print activity, which decreases paper waste and reduces office printing expenses.
Their American headquarters are conveniently located in the DFW metroplex so service support is also immediately available to local customers.
2. PaperCut
PaperCut is one of the more well-known document management systems in the industry.
It allows you to print from any device whenever you want. And it secures all your devices so that you can cut costs and decrease your company’s negative impact on the environment.
If you’re looking for a management system that is well-ranked, then PaperCut may be the one for you: it ranked first in print management in 2022.
Check out our blog Print Management Software Y-Soft vs. PaperCut for a more thorough breakdown of the similarities and differences between the two software options.
Backing Up Digital Data
Backing up your data is important no matter what! But it is especially important for companies that rely mostly on digital documents.
Losing a document that contains vital information can negatively impact your business and cost you money, so it is best to use multiple backups.
When storing digital data, it is best to have at least one cloud-based backup and another physical copy backed up to a flash drive or hard drive in case a leak or cyber breach affects the cloud.
So, what is the best cloud program service for small business going paperless?
Some popular options for cloud storage include Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox. According to PC Magazine, there are also less well-known options, like Sync and IDrive, that perform well for some users.
The Xerox ConnectApp for Cloud Storage is a good option for cloud-based document storage because it connects easily to your copier/printer and supports other cloud-based services, like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.
Using Scanners and Multifunction Printers to Reduce Paper Waste
Once you’re ready to get serious about going paperless, the next step is finding a quality scanning device that suits your company’s needs.
When a company we contract with tells us “we are digitizing our office and going paperless,” the first thing we suggest is investing in a quality scanner or a multifunctional device with scanning capabilities.
However, Xerox offers a variety of multifunction printers and scanners for office use, so we have narrowed down a few good options for you to consider:
For a small office or business, you will want to try a scanner from the workgroup and departmental category of Xerox products.
One possible option is the Xerox N60w model, which offers USB, Ethernet and WIFI connectivity and is touchscreen operated.
Another option is the production category of Xerox scanners, which is best for companies that scan significant amounts of paper every day or work with large documents regularly.
In this category, a good option is the Xerox W130, which is the fastest scanner in Xerox’s entire collection. This kind of scanner is for a business that needs speed and efficiency.
Our blog Which Xerox Scanner is Right for Me? is a great resource for more information on this topic. It goes into more depth and provides some great information about different models and types of scanners.
Some businesses may prefer to have a device that can perform multiple duties, including printing and copying. Legal and medical offices, for example, are often required to maintain some paper documents for certain periods of time before properly disposing of them.
If you don’t already have a multifunction printer, then one model to consider is the Xerox AltaLink C8155.
Called “the ideal digital workplace assistant for demanding teams,” the AltaLink C817 is the perfect Xerox machine for heavy duty scanning, printing, and copying.
With an arsenal of helpful apps, the AltaLink C800 series of multifunction printers is made to automate document workflows.
Why Not Just Use Document Scanning Services on Your Phone?
Scanning is a necessity for a paperless office.
Many of us scan using iPhones to digitize personal documents. This is a great option for an individual who needs to quickly digitize and share 1- or 2-page documents. However, it is important to keep in mind that scanning apps require you to manually take pictures of every page that needs to be digitized.
This means that if you are scanning a 10-page document using your phone, you will need to take 10 pictures and manually upload them to the app to create a single digital document.
Most of these apps also require you to crop and edit the pictures before creating the document.
Can you imagine doing that 50 times in one day? Or taking pictures to scan a document that is 200 pages long?
While scanner apps for your phone are handy for people needing to create a 1- or 2-page document, they make a process that would be as simple as clicking a single button on a scanner or multifunction printer take much loner than needed.
Most offices and small companies need to digitize large amounts of data to go paperless, and the number of pages that need to be scanned per day will require a scanner or multifunction printer with scanning capabilities.
For help scanning a document on your iPhone, check out How to Scan a Document Using Your iPhone (Step-By-Step).
We Want to Help!
Going paperless is advantageous for everyone, even print vendors!
Choosing a local print vendor for your business needs is a best practice for going paperless because we care as much as you do about achieving your financial and environmental goals.
We can work with you to set up Managed Print Services for your company or we can help you find the scanner or multifunction printer with document scanning services that best fit your business needs.
At STPT, we care about the environment and the needs of our customers, so reach out to us today, and let the STPT team help you save money and the environment.