Like most of us, every year I make a new year’s resolution or two. Sometimes I succeed in my resolution, and sometimes I fail. The difference between success and failure usually comes down to how high I’ve set the bar.
Big resolutions are hard because we often don’t know where to start; we don’t know what first step to take, so we take none. This, of course, is a recipe for not reaching our goal.
While I can’t help if your new year’s resolution is to lose 9 lbs, I can help with migrating away from so much paper use.
Reducing paper use, whether as a business or on an individual level, can be daunting. But if you break down the process into a few smaller initiatives, it can be done. Build some momentum, and the next thing you know you might even go paperless.
The main trick is reducing the need for paper. Which comes from having alternative methods that don’t require paper.
There’s some low-hanging fruit that can be used to get your goal of using less paper accomplished in little steps.
First, stop sending paper invoices. If you move to email invoices with an attached PDF file, there’s less printing. You’re also more likely to get payment in an electronic form, further reducing paper.
Second, get faxes digital. This can be accomplished with very little capital investment because all you need is something like AudioCodes’ (News - Alert) fax ATA technology. It allows you to retrofit your fax machine to send and receive faxes by fax-over-IP (FoIP), which is a fancy way of saying that your faxes will use the Internet like email does (not exactly like email, but you get the point).
A third small initiative that can lead to reduced paper use is upgrading to convertible tablet laptops that let you operate the computer as a laptop when a keyboard is needed, and as a tablet when reading or doing tablet-ish activities. Whether rolled out all at once for your company or as existing computers break, it is a great way to break the hold of paper by creating a compelling digital alternative. Models such as the Asus T100 can sell for as little as $300 each.
Finally, a fourth easy initiative for reduced paper use in 2014 is the tough love approach: get rid of all printers except one, and move it to an out-of-the-way part of the office. This will encourage less paper use because printing will be hard (but not impossible).
Some new year’s resolutions are easier than others. Reducing paper usage is a lot easier than reducing pounds!
Edited by Cassandra Tucker