Did you know that 15 trees are needed to produce a ton of paper and that a single tree can provide oxygen enough for three people? These are more than enough reasons to limit or eliminate the use of paper in companies. Digital transformation, besides being a necessity for organizations to be competitive, is contributing to the promotion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and caring for the environment. In this light, many companies are going paperless, to take care of the natural environment and go more sustainable. In this post we tell you how the electronic signature contributes to eliminating hard copies in your business.
When we think of companies and the environment, the image of a large industry expelling a cloud of smoke through a chimney usually comes to mind, however, all companies can have negative effects on the natural environment with the use of paper, fuel, or energy.
Why is it important to go paperless?
As reported by Aemetic Ahorros de la Factura Electrónica, the estimated savings in issuing an electronic invoice is 63% compared to the cost of the hard copies invoices. Saving paper is a commitment to the environment by companies since energy, water and trees are saved, we see it with the following data:
– Producing a single ton of paper involves cutting down 15 trees, according to data from the website aprender.org.
Between 150,000 and 200,000 litres of water are used to produce one ton of paper and 130.6 litres of water for a package of 500 virgin paper (data from the Fundacion Canal).
– Producing one ton of paper consumed some 7,000- kilowatt hours of energy, (data from the Canal Foundation).
In addition, the manufacture of paper involves CO2 emission, the generation of waste during the process and fuel consumption for transport.
Consequently, it is understood that the production of paper must be reduced if we want to take care of the natural environment and support sustainability.
How does the electronic signature help going paperless?
Imagine you and two contracting parties have to sign a contract with about 15 pages contract. If you use the traditional method, you will print three copies (45 pages, and fingers crossed for success and not having to make any change), you will have to travel to sign (by car or other fuel automobile) and you will sign in ink.
Using electronic signature can help you to avoid:
– Printing both initial documents and copies, annexes, or modified documents if changes are made to a contract, for example.
– Having to travel to sign.
– Filing paper documents that will take up space in your office.
– Investing time in managing paper documents or looking for them when you need them.
– The cost of maintaining the printing equipment and the cost of purchasing the toners.
Keys to achieve the goal of zero paper in your company
If you want your company to contribute to caring for the environment by going paperless, you can take the following measures:
– Conduct an audit of your company’s processes to find out which ones are still using paper.
– Set the objectives to be achieved and time limits.
– Tell to your team the objectives set and the measures that you are going to implement, thus you will find less resistance to change, and you will be able to show the advantages of going paperless.
– Implement the necessary measures:
Digitize original documents helps to store information safely with no risk of misplacing digital documents.
o Use registered email for reliable communications instead of registered fax services.
o Use the electronic signature to sign documents such as contracts with clients, suppliers or workers, confidentiality documents, offers, estimates, etc.
o Implement the smartphone ticket.
o Stand up for on cloud- base storage so that anyone in the company can access documents anytime, anywhere.
o Train your team on a paperless office procedures.
o If you truly need to use paper, use recycled paper.
– Monitor. Also, it is necessary to carry out a periodic monitoring to verify that all the measures that have been adopted to achieve the objectives set and if appropriate make changes.
With the digitization of documents and the signature processes, you will break down your company to convey the image of an environment- conscious company. Moreover, you will increase not only productivity, but also the satisfaction of your customers and workers.