Maybe your office is filled with stacks of paperwork and several filing cabinets. You know that you lose time searching for physical documents, and you’re considering going paperless – but you don’t know where to begin. Here, Dewalist presents some tips that will walk you through the benefits of going paperless as well as tasks you can complete digitally, like business formation.

Why Go Paperless?

Depending on how many files you would have to digitize to go paperless, you might be wondering if the effort is really worth it. Although going paperless can be a long process, making this change can benefit your business in numerous ways, including reducing clutter and making files available from the cloud. When all of your documents are stored and shared digitally, anyone can access the files they need, even if they’re not in the office. This is great for remote workers or part-time employees who are not always in the office. Furthermore, it’s a sustainable choice that cuts down on waste.

Use an Online Formation Service

You can start going paperless by tackling certain administrative tasks online rather than on paper. For example, you can shift towards digital marketing, rather than creating print materials or handling business formation digitally. If you’d like to switch business entities, you can work with an online formation service to set things up.

Gain Employee Buy-In

Before you officially start moving your entire business towards paperless operations, you’ll need to gain employee buy-in and get your team on board with the idea. To accomplish this, Marcus Lemonis recommends communicating a clear, step-by-step strategy to your team and explaining how going paperless aligns with your employees’ best interests.

Choose a Document Management System

To go paperless, you’ll need a document management system that is suited for the size of your company. Selecting the right system takes time, so make sure to research all of your options carefully and weigh the pros and cons of different programs. Axero recommends choosing a system with a basic user interface, features that allow collaboration, and full integration capabilities. No matter which system you choose, you’ll need to make a plan for training your employees on the ins and outs of this new software.

Remember, if you’ll be sharing lots of documents, PDFs are often preferable compared to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files. However, you can easily convert these files to PDFs with a convenient online tool. All you need to do is drag and drop them into the tool, and then download them as PDFs!

Organize and Digitize Documents

Now that you’ve found the right document management system, you need to organize, digitize, and properly label your documents within your new storage program. Try to digitize your documents in a straightforward fashion: you may want to start by digitizing files for certain departments, or digitizing specific types of files, like legal contracts or training guides.

Next, come up with a consistent labelling system for your files. If you give your files names that are seemingly random, you won’t be able to find them easily when you and your employees need them later. By using a straightforward labelling system, you can look up necessary files at any time.

Go Digital without Regrets

Going paperless is the smartest choice for lots of entrepreneurs. In the long run, you can save time and money while helping the environment. By following these tips, you can brush up on the benefits of going paperless, choose your business structure online, and start digitizing your documents.

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Credits

• Featured photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels