Five Common Challenges of Paperless Business Operations and how to overcome and balance them wisely!
Many companies strive to go paperless in recent years, but this still hasn’t happened yet. Although the idea sounds good on paper and many companies have implemented digital solutions; there are many areas where important analog legacy processes can’t be replaced. Instead of eliminating time-tested legacy processes; organizations could be wise to use new solutions that incorporate paper in common digital workflows. Ideas of Paperless business operations are directly based on cost cutting strategies. There is a lot of new experiments and testing going on to implement paperless operations whenever possible in an organizations. There are industry sectors, like Banking, Finance, IT, etc that are intensely inclined towards implementing these new changes. Needles to say, it could be a successful trend where other sectors will follow it later on based on their specific business marketing strategies
Paperless Business Operations-5 Challenges and ways to keep healthy balance between Digital and Analog Media in any office.
This way, companies could still usher in the new while embracing the old.
Here are the 5 common challenges that companies need to tackle:
#1. Paper is still the best for many tasks:
Many systems and tools are now digital; but many touch-points with constituents and consumers remain analog. Often, paper is the practical choice for storing and distributing information. Digital lovers would still agree that paper doesn’t need upgrading, run out of batteries and malfunction.
#2. New systems aren’t always versatile:
Web-based platforms and other digital solutions are not sufficient. Many people still use the phone to talk with companies and gain information. Systems are useful only if they are designed for most people; not just people who regularly use late-model computers and mobile devices. Digital systems still struggle to meet consumers where they are and they can’t change ingrained and trusted behaviors.
#3. Paperless operation isn’t always a smart goal:
Decision makers often consider that evolution, not revolution, is a more sensible path. Paper-based operations tend to feel black or white; but it is often the best solution. New digital technologies should enable a gentler evolutionary path that’s less disruptive.
#4. Abandoning legacy processes may cause chaos:
Many organizations plan to replace papers when they create new systems. But when these systems fail; users need to turn back to paper and the organization can be burdened more than ever. Companies should consider incorporating both digital and paper workflows in the systems and integrate them in one large backend store. This should increase both customer satisfaction and organizational efficiency greatly. It is a bad idea to introduce changes too quickly throughout the organization by ripping and replacing proven systems. The failure rate could be high.
#5. Much of valuable data is still on paper:
A move to paperless system may overlook one important fact: Vast quantity of valuable information is still on paper. Paper-based data can still be accessed easily; because organizations have adopted reliable archiving methods for decades. Digitizing the information will require many thousands of man hours; which is both time-consuming and costly.
Data can be stored and distributed in a variety of forms. Organizations should think more about getting the data; instead of thinking about its media. The move towards paperless implementation should be a means to accessing and using digital data; instead of an end.
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