Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Green ERP: Steps toward a paperless business

Reducing paper use in the office helps cut down significantly on waste as well as save a bit of extra cash from not buying new reams of paper every month.

Think about it. In an average office setting the amount of paper used borders on the ridiculous. Notes left on coworkers' desks, printing emails to take to a client meeting (yes, I've seen it done, and cringed every time), faxes following an email referring to a call, countless hard-copy invoices (and the envelopes they go in), piles of client information which are then filed in the wall of cabinets.

So here's what we're doing to help:

Ways we and several of our clients have become (almost) paperless businesses:

• Instant messaging – This has done wonders to relieve the sticky notes on my desk, and since it's secure, some tech companies have been using it to request password information for their clients.
• Online Bill Pay – We offer online bill payment (and recurring online bill payments) options to our clients and allow them the capability to do the same for theirs. This is nice for both sides, really. One side can email an invoice and the other doesn't have to mail a check.
• Emailed Invoices – Emailed Invoices can be done one at a time or as a batch, and it's all instant. Some clients won't go for it, liking to see and feel the physical invoice. Some clients love it, however, and here's where you can reduce quite a bit of your paper load.
• SaaS – As long as an Allbase Suite user has an internet connection, there is access to all useful information when going to a meeting or working on-site. This partially ties into the point below, but I think it's worth saying on its own that if all of your information is in a central location, there's no need to print excess information you already have access to.
• Client files – Now here's a way to use less paper, buy less paper, and even buy fewer file cabinets! The virtual space available on a server is large – larger than most small and medium businesses need. Using the space for client-specific information or for company-wide information can cover everything from contracts sent to project blueprints.
• Faxes – The best option here is probably just to use an internet fax solution (such as MyFax) or discourage fax use in general.
• Here's a paperless benefit that I didn't outline a "problem" for – any screen in the Allbase Suite can be made into a PDF, a spreadsheet, or sent by email. This has been really useful for quickly comparing and viewing reports (which are sometimes several pages long) without needing to print them out.

Obviously, some paper is likely to get used no matter what. That's just the way people work (and have worked for hundreds of years). My own weakness is that I tend to print out mock-ups of new features I'm working on.

For the times when paper's the only way to go, just remember there are still ways to reduce your impact:

• Print double-sided when you can.
• After the paper's fulfilled its original purpose, use it for notes.
• When it's full of notes and completely useless, recycle!
• Buying an energy-efficient printer may not help with the paper itself, but is green in general.
• Buy paper which has a high percentage of recycled material.
• Use discretion when selecting which pages need to be printed.

Sometimes it's the little steps that matter most.  Have green business ideas that you'd like to share?  Please let us know!

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