With the push for sustainability growing everyday, many businesses are looking inwards to see how they can support the efforts to go green. Due to pushback against the traditional workplace environment, businesses must adapt to social trends. Now more than ever, it is easier to implement a Document Management System (DMS) in our digital era.

Implementing a DMS can do much more than support sustainability efforts. It can greatly reduce a paper trail which prevents information and communications from getting lost in the physical transference of information. Digital paper trails reduce the usage of paper while creating a seamless transition of information from one to another. Implementing a DMS can save time and money by preventing errors and waste.

Paper Trail Implications

Every time someone makes a small edit to a document, it must be reprinted and redistributed to all of its recipients, costing time, resources, and money. This process creates excessive waste of resources. According to the University of Southern Indiana, approximately 1 billion trees’ worth of paper are thrown away each year in the United States alone, creating a large ecological footprint for businesses and greatly impacting the environment.

According to Morgan O’Mara with Record Nations, approximately 45% of all printed office documents end up in the trash by the end of the workday. Additionally, this process of printing documents to only have them thrown out costs not just the environment. The average office employee uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper per year. It is estimated that companies spend over $120 billion per year on printed forms. A single employee spends on average 30-40% of their time looking for information kept in filing cabinets.

A paper trail is both costly to the environment and your company. With time, money, and resources being wasted, a new solution must be implemented. Relying on a paper trail to keep documents and information safe is a risky and costly process.

Ecological and Social Impacts

Company transparency is important to conscious and educated consumers. By supporting sustainability efforts through implementing a DMS, this can greatly enhance your brand image and reputation among consumers. It can show partners and consumers that your company is making efforts to go green and reduce its carbon footprint.

According to a study conducted by Nielsen, corporate social responsibility and participation in sustainability are important to a majority of consumers. 80% of Gen Z, 85% of Millennials, and 79% of Gen X say “it is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important that companies implement programs to improve the environment.” Worldwide, 81% of global respondents feel strongly that companies should help to improve the environment. By implementing a DMS, you can support sustainability efforts by reducing paper waste through digitizing documents and forms.

Impacts Within Your Business

By going green with a DMS, your office will no longer have to worry about losing or finding a document ever again. A DMS allows for all of your documents to be virtually stored and indexed to your custom specifications. This saves time when someone needs to find a specific document. Unlock greater efficiency and productivity among your employees by digitizing documents.

Say goodbye to snail mail, fax machines, and copiers with the implementation of a DMS. Having your documents as digital files allows you to easily email and collaborate with others virtually anywhere. Reduce the time spent looking for documents by having them all easily accessible at the tips of your fingers. Optix stores and indexes documents for easy retrieval. Update digital documents in mere seconds without the fear of losing previous versions. Upon completion of editing, Optix can resave any new edits made to the server. When editing documents, previous versions of the document are automatically created and stored for future reference, preventing any accidents from ruining crucial resources.

With the push for remote and hybrid work due to COVID-19 and the ever-changing workforce, a DMS simplifies moving documents among staff members from different offices and locations. Having a digital office simplifies the document retrieval process. Eliminate human error and the barriers of physical office spaces through a DMS.

Get Started Today!

Understanding why a DMS is so powerful and transformative for your business is just the first step before implementing a DMS. Implementing a DMS has great potential to reduce your ecological footprint and company expenditures. Mindwrap can help you determine which system suits your business’s needs.

We have industry-leading experts to help you get that conversation started and get your company moving forward in the right direction. Contact us today to get started.