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Boost Productivity by Cutting Out Paper

A paperless office ... it's the kind of thing that sounds like a slice of nirvana on Earth, doesn't it? No more filing cabinets jammed full, no more missing files, no more accidental shreddings. But the paperless office just seems to elude us, even despite our best efforts. The U.K.’s Call Centre Helper, meanwhile, took a look at this elusive notion and offered up some advice on how to make the dream of a paperless call center a reality.

Most have long known the benefits of an office that contains no paper. Things like reduced costs and total numbers of errors, faster processes, and even the various environmental benefits are clear advantages to a call center that has no paper. There's even something of a halo effect involved here, as a paperless office is often regarded as a clean, futuristic operation that has managed to do what many considered impossible. But how to make it happen? That's a question with simple, if difficult, answers.

The first point to start with is a matter of behavior change. Start by refusing to use the post-it note. Notepads also qualify here too; just leave these two chunks of paper behind. Instead, turn to Microsoft Outlook's “Notes” function. For those without Outlook, turn to Windows' “sticky notes” function. These things taken together can help agents shave seconds off each call—no more typing notes from a notepad—and that can combine into more calls made and time saved besides.

Second, and this is a large point to change, make it a point to scan all incoming documents. Where before, mail or faxes might be routed to offices, now the contents of said mail is instead put directly onto a customer relationship manager (CRM) system or the like. It takes a bit more data entry, but it keeps paper out of the office. In a related step, send out training notes by e-mail only. It will be easier to find said notes for future reference, and also keep paper out of the picture.

Third, when it comes to outgoing paper, this is often a sad necessity. Even a paperless office may need to contact vendors or customers by paper, so make this a self-contained process. Print the mail, put it in its envelope, stamp it and ship it. A paperless office may need paper sometimes, but this paper is out the door, and fast, whether to the recycling bin, the garbage heap, or to someone else's building.

Fourth, take a more drastic step: lock up the printer. Keep it in its own separate environment, off the network if at all possible. If the printer is unavailable, then all those training notes and e-mails and the like won't get printed out and destroy the paperless office concept. The printer may still have a need elsewhere, but not for most purposes.

Finally, if the paperless office just isn't catching on, consider offering whiteboards to those who just can't make the jump. A whiteboard isn't paper, after all, but it serves much the same purpose: an immediate visual reminder set in a prominent place designed for quick scrawling of notes, particularly useful for those who need to jump from one screen to another.

A paperless office is a valuable thing. There are a host of immediate and long-term benefits that are hard to pass up. Though it's not always easy to make it happen, the end results are sufficiently valuable that it's worth further examination.


Edited by Rory J. Thompson