Fix up an appointment with Nature this weekend – step out of your home or office and start networking with the woods, the streams and its inhabitants. Look how beautiful your surroundings are! And yet we need to observe ‘Earth Day’ every year – why?
The answer is simple: in our relentless demand for paper and other manufactured goods, we have not only chopped off billions of trees, but polluted rivers, seas and even the very air we breathe. True, you cannot curb the pollution single-handedly. But you can do what you have control over – your own demand for these products. For instance, if you convert the paper archive in your organization to digital form, you can not only save the recurring costs of stationery, but you can also save time lost in retrieving documents from the archive when you need them. The added benefit of turning your office into a paperless office is that it improves the flow of information within the organization and makes records permanent, thereby minimizing the chances of losses.
The recent case of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) whose pipeline exploded leading to loss of life and property, just goes to show the criticality of having your documents managed electronically and at your fingertips when you need them. PG&E paper archive consists of nearly 1.2 million documents! Had they put in place an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), certain records related to the cause of accident that they later found to be erroneous might have been brought to their notice much sooner. They did try to computerize their records but there is a world of difference between computerizing documents and managing them using an EDMS.
By adopting an electronic document management system, not only will you be able to manage your personal and business records in a more efficient way, you will also contribute your significant bit towards building a healthier Planet Earth. Want some stats* to confirm this? Check this out:
- Global paper consumption is approx. 400 million tons
- This equates to cutting down 4 billion trees every year!
- This equals to trees covering 55,000 sq. km. of land being felled every year – roughly the size of Croatia.
Now, if you switch to electronic document management, for one you will save costs in the medium-to-long term (get this ROI white paper to learn more); your organization will also contribute to reducing the need to chop trees. In fact, this could be the easiest way for your firm to fulfill its social responsibility.Globodox enterprise document management software can help you convert your paper archive to digital form and manage documents innovatively. Read testimonials from some of our customers about Globodox.
* Source: Greenhomedesign.co.uk web site
