Shifting towards paperless operations has become one of the most important things in the recent past. It is fueled by the easy access to digital storage platforms, online software, and mobile applications brought about by advancements in technology.
Even though it can consume a lot of resources and time, the benefits brought by the shift toward paperless operations cannot be underestimated. It helps reduce waste, save space, and save time, among many other benefits.
However, shifting towards paperless operations takes time and requires a lot of planning. You need to set achievable and realistic goals when making the shift. Here is how to make the shift with mobile business apps;
Make the Shift Gradual
Shifting towards paperless operations is going to take you a lot of time. You, therefore, need to make the shift slow and gradual. This will make it possible for you to strategize and come up with new procedures that align with the requirements of your business.
In addition, it gives your employees and business the right time to adjust to the changes. You might even have to ensure that some of your old systems work with your paperless systems during the initial stages of the shift.
When making the shift, you need to make sure that you have the right mobile business apps. Fortunately, you do not have to spend a lot of money hiring mobile app developers. Instead, you can use a white label app builder to build applications that match the requirements of your business.
Making the shift gradual might be challenging for some businesses. However, you can look at strategies such as having all employees reduce the papers they can print each day. This can be done using a form of print credit that reduces as an employee prints.
Review all Business Processes Before Digitization
You can digitize most processes in your business. However, you should not dive deep in when shifting towards paperless operations and start digitizing all the processes. The first thing you need to do is review all your business processes.
Doing this allows you to see the processes that account for most of the paper in your office. These are the processes that you need to start with. Before starting, choose one of the processes that generate most of the papers in your office.
After that, analyze the process and come up with a strategy on how to shift towards paperless operations. This way, you will not overwhelm your employees. In addition, they will find it easy to shift and even motivate them to support the process.
You can look at processes such as attendance and time tracking, expense tracking, document signatures, and accounting. These are the major processes that consume a lot of paper in a business. You can build mobile apps to digitize them and make the shift towards paperless operations.
Involve Your Employees
You cannot shift towards paperless operations while running a one-man show. This might end up hurting your business and affecting the productivity of your employees since the employees are the ones who work with the new systems.
Shifting towards paperless operations requires every single employee in your office. You, therefore, need to make sure that they are all involved in the process. You can ask for their input in terms of suggestions and expectations before starting the shift.
If you are building the solutions to use, ensure that they are involved in the planning and design process. Make sure that the solution is not only designed to meet the requirements of your business processes but also those of your employees.
This is important in creating an office environment that is going to support the change. You can even introduce a reward system for employees who use the least amount of paper in the office. This will make the shifting process productive and relaxed for your employees.
Use the Cloud
The cloud is one of the best things to happen in the technology world. Cloud-based mobile business apps are the best options when it comes to shifting towards paperless operations. They make it possible for businesses to create, access, edit and save information via the cloud.
The cloud helps businesses eliminate the use of internal servers or physical documents. You need a system that eliminates the need for paper processes. For instance, if you store your invoices in physical files, you can, instead, use a mobile business app that allows you to scan your invoices and store them in the cloud.
In addition, the cloud guarantees you security. Your documents can remain backed up in the cloud with proper security measures, making sure that only authorized people can gain access to them. You can even share files with all employees, making it possible for different employees to work together even when not working from the office.
If you do not want to build your apps for this, you can rely on some of the best apps such as Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive. Depending on the amount of space you need for your business, you might be charged some fee.
Shift Today
Your business stands to benefit from the shift towards paperless operations with mobile business apps. If you find the process difficult, you can follow the guideline discussed above to streamline and make it easy.
