Paper-based vs Paperless Work: A Quick Comparison

With technologies taking the top spot in today’s generation, digital is the way to go in communicating and collaborating with colleagues and clients. Fortunately, companies can now convert their physical paper-based documents to electronic paperless copies using document imaging and document management systems available in the market. 

So, we are going to cover what are the main points behind separating paper-based and paperless work. Let’s dig into that one by one!

Not enough space! 

There is always a need for space in paper-based works. For example, physical documents will require drawers, boxes, folders, and perhaps a room on the table or shelf. But, in paperless work, a hard drive or hard disk can store all this data and may not even occupy half of its space. Therefore, purchasing a hard drive or disk drive to store data will be cheaper than renting an office space for physical paper documents. 

Disaster recovery

Paper-based documents in a storage room can acquire dust, moulds and may become hard but easily broken through time. Worse, if there is poor management in wiring, the documents may catch fire. Meanwhile, paperless organizations can enjoy disaster recovery options, especially if they choose to store data in the cloud. For example, hard drives may be accidentally wiped out or were broken; the company can still retrieve their data from the cloud. That is why paperless work is always suitable. 

Collaboration 

In a paper-based work, sharing a document means sharing the same file for several people. An example can be distributing a small note in an office. The paper and pen are two costs involved in this activity. On the other hand, paperless organizations can send a link to the document for viewing on their desktop, laptop, or mobile devices.

Finding a document

This can be the most tiring and frustrating aspect of paper-based work. Going through several drawers and folders is frustrating, especially if the documents are not properly organized. In the end, locating a paper may take 2-3 hours or even days of your time, which should have been spent doing different products work. Document management systems typically have indexes to help you find your documents faster and easier in the paperless work setup. 

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Document management

In organizing paper-based documents, drawers, folders, labels, and shelves are the basic needs. The assigned person needs to go over every document and ensure that each one is placed in the correct repository. Meanwhile, in the paperless work setup, technologies can automatically assign tags for your records while setting the document in the appropriate library for better organization. Users can also post titles when indexing the documents. 

Here is a quick look at paper-based vs paperless work. Is it helpful?

A quick look at Paper-based vs Paperless:

Conclusion

So, which is better, paper-based or paperless? Looks like it’s a simple choice. Paperless right? So do you wanna have a paperless project management system that can meet all the organizational requirements?

The Ultimate Business Systems (UBS) is a one-step solution for that.

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