How Small Business Owners Can Save Time and Money by Going Paperless

How Small Business Owners Can Save Time and Money by Going Paperless

Part I: What is Paperless and Why is It Important? All small business owners strive to efficiently run their businesses. Time wasted on tasks that do not increase profits is not time well spent. Wasted time equals missed opportunities for generating income especially for small business owners. Small business owners usually have smaller staffs and must run those staffs as efficiently as possible. One solution to increasing office efficiency is to go paperless by using document management software. Document management software is designed to allow users to scan pertinent paperwork and store it on a computer hard drive. Then that paperwork can be easily viewed on a computer screen instead of searching through a filing cabinet for the paperwork. Once documents are scanned and saved, you can shred the paper and go paperless. Although there are many different document management solutions available, the most efficient solution ties in with your small business accounting software, such as QuickBooks. When you stop and think about the paper that is being stored in your filing cabinets now, you will realize that almost all of it is related to transactions you have in QuickBooks. Imagine how much efficiency you would gain if you had a software solution that allowed you to scan those papers and attach them directly to your QuickBooks transactions. Then the scanned paper would easily be accessible while you are working in QuickBooks. 2

1. Eliminate lost or misplaced files. 7.5% of documents are lost and additional 3% of documents are misfiled in today s offices. Whether a document is lost or misfiled, the information is not accessible when needed. Employees waste countless hours searching for a document when it should be available when they need it. Electronic storage allows you to protect your irreplaceable files and documents from being misplaced, destroyed, or even stolen. 2. Retrieve documents instantly without leaving your desk. If you ve ever been frustrated by the amount of time it takes to sort through file cabinets and network folders to find a single document, you understand how nice it would be if you were able to access that document when you needed it. With document management software, you are able to retrieve documents within seconds with the click of your mouse. 3

3. Share documents across your organization, whether in one location or many. Allow different locations and departments within your organization to access electronic documents without having to find, copy, fax or mail them. Organizations operate more efficiently when employees have access to information required to perform their duties. Documents are always accessible and can be shared simultaneously. Save money by eliminating the need to photocopy, fax and pay postage or courier fees. After a document is filed you never have to worry about it not being available when it is needed. 4. Reclaim valuable office space being taken up by filing cabinets. Industry studies indicate that documents are growing at a rate of 20% per year. Each year, more filing cabinets are required. Small businesses are especially concerned with space issues because they often have limited space to work in. By filing paper documents electronically, you can eliminate all those filing cabinets, filing rooms and offsite storage and instead move that document data to the shelf space required by a computer, small server or shared workstation. 4

5. Reduce the amount of time it takes to prepare for an audit. No one likes to prepare for an audit, but it does happen to all small businesses at one time or another. The time it takes to prepare for an audit is often directly correlated to how well records are kept. The internal cost of an audit is the significant time spent by staff during the preparation phase. By having source documents readily available and instantly retrievable, overtime hours can be reduced, allowing staff to focus on their day to day responsibilities. 6. Enhance your Disaster Recovery Plan by managing documents electronically. 44% of businesses who lose their documents in a disaster never resume business operations. It is virtually impossible and expensive to make a copy of every document and store it off site. By managing documents electronically, a backup can be performed nightly which enhances your overall Disaster Recovery Plan. You never need to worry about losing your documents again. 5

7. Improve your customer satisfaction by quickly addressing questions and resolving issues. By managing documents electronically, your customer service representatives are able to respond quickly and accurately to customer inquiries. This eliminates the call backs or the frustration a customer experiences while on hold. When your documents are stored electronically, you can quickly pull up a document and email it to the customer promptly. By significantly reducing customer wait time, not only are you making your customer happy, you re also creating a possible spokesperson for your great customer service. And we all know that word of mouth advertising is priceless. 8. Improve the security your documents. Document management and imaging software allows you to store scanned documents on your workstation or server. That way, you have control of where those documents will be saved, how they will be backed up and where they will be backed up to. Backups can even be stored in a USB flash drive for portability carry your filing cabinet with you. Your document management software should also allow you to set security limits on the documents. You want to be able to limit what employees see and don t see when they are searching through scanned documents. When you start thinking of all the ways you can control the security of your documents with document management software, you will realize how much more control you have as opposed to your filing cabinets. 6

9. Help do you your part by going green. When small businesses go paperless, they are doing their part to help the environment. Paper that is stored digitally can be shredded and then recycled. Small business owners can request e bills and switch to online statements for bank statements and credit cards so that paper will not be used. With the right document management and imaging solution, you will be able to attach these electronic files directly to your small business accounting software. Your solution should also allow you to attach other files such as Microsoft Outlook emails, Word, Excel, pdf, jpg and many others to your accounting software. 10. Receive a rapid Return on Investment (ROI). A paperless environment is proven to be an efficient environment. Document management software can help eliminate the 10.5% of documents that are lost or misfiled and the 20 30% of time spent filing, searching and retrieving documents. (Statistics provided by Price Waterhouse Coopers). The cost of paper and all of those bankers boxes, photocopies, filing cabinets and offsite storage is adversely affecting your bottom line. Take a look at what your current paper storage is really costing you in terms of lost office space and offsite storage. Document imaging pays for itself in a matter of months not years. 7

Part III: Paperless Resources Now that you understand the top 10 reasons to go paperless today, take a few minutes to think of the many ways your small business could save time and money with a paperless solution for QuickBooks. When you start thinking of all of the possibilities, you will realize that going paperless is a cost effective solution for your business. It s an exciting solution to introduce to your business and a positive change for the future. We recommend the following websites for more information on going paperless. Benefits of Paperless: http://totallypaperless.com/links/benefits_of_paperless.pdf The Paperless Project: http://www.thepaperlessproject.com/facts.html Part IV: Contact Us PaperSavePlus 1001 Brickell Bay Drive, 9th Floor Miami, FL 33131 info@papersaveplus.com 1 877 727 3799 www.papersaveplus.com 8