The Hidden Costs of Paper in the Workplace

Paper may seem inexpensive. A few sheets printed here, a signed form filed there and another stack of documents added to the cabinet probably does not look like a major business expense.

But across an entire organization, those costs add up quickly.

The true cost of paper isn’t just the price of printing. Employees also spend time storing, finding, copying, transporting and managing physical documents. As organizations grow, those hidden costs can become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The Cost of Printing Is Only the Beginning

Printer paper, ink and toner are the most obvious expenses associated with paper-based work. However, they represent only one part of the equation.

Businesses also have to purchase and maintain printers, scanners, filing cabinets and other office equipment. Physical documents require storage space, which means businesses may dedicate valuable office real estate to records that employees rarely access.

There is also the cost of maintaining those records. Someone has to organize documents, file them correctly and eventually determine which records can be discarded and which need to be retained.

What appears to be a simple piece of paper can create a surprisingly long list of expenses.

Time Is One of the Biggest Hidden Costs

Perhaps the most significant cost of paper is the time employees spend dealing with it.

Finding a particular document in a crowded filing cabinet might take only a few minutes. However when employees repeatedly search for records, make copies, scan forms, deliver paperwork or wait for someone to physically sign a document, those minutes accumulate.

Consider an approval process that requires three employees to review and sign a document. If that document has to be printed and physically passed between them, the process can take hours or even days.

A digital workflow can eliminate many of those delays by allowing documents to be routed electronically.

Solutions such as Laserfiche help organizations manage documents digitally and automate workflows, reducing the amount of manual work required to move information from one person or department to another.

Paper Can Slow Down Decision Making 

Information is only useful when people can access it when they need it.

When important records are stored in physical files, employees may have to be in the same location as the document to access it. That can become particularly challenging for organizations with multiple offices or employees working remotely.

Digital document management changes that dynamic by making information accessible electronically, subject to appropriate permissions and security controls.

Instead of waiting for a physical file to arrive, an employee can locate the information digitally and continue working.

That may seem like only a small improvement, but faster access to information can affect everything from customer service to internal approvals and everyday decision making.

Physical Documents Can Create Security Risks

Paper presents risks that businesses may not immediately associate with document management.

A confidential document left on a desk can be seen by the wrong person. A file can be misplaced or accidentally thrown away. Physical records can also be damaged or destroyed by events such as fires, floods or other disasters.

Digital systems offer an elevated level of security and provide businesses with more tools for controlling access to information.

Document management platforms allow organizations to establish permissions and create more structured ways of managing sensitive records. Instead of relying solely on a physical filing system, businesses can establish digital processes designed around who should be able to access particular information.

Paper Can Make Growth More Difficult 

A paper-based process that works for a small organization may become a significant burden as the organization grows.

More employees mean more documents. More customers mean more records. More transactions mean more invoices, forms and contracts.

Eventually, businesses may find themselves adding more filing cabinets, hiring employees to manage records or spending increasing amounts of time searching for information.

Digital document management can make it easier to scale information processes without requiring physical storage to grow at the same rate.

The transition doesn’t have to happen all at once. Your business can begin with a department or process that generates a large amount of paperwork and expand from there.

The Real Cost Is Inefficiency

The biggest hidden cost of paper may ultimately be the work that employees cannot spend their time doing.

Every minute spent searching for a document is a minute not spent helping a customer. Every hour spent manually routing paperwork is an hour that could have gone toward a higher value task.

That is why the paperless conversation is about more than saving trees or reducing printing expenses. It is about understanding how information moves through a business and whether that process is helping employees or slowing them down.

Tools such as Laserfiche can help organizations move beyond simply storing digital copies of paper documents. By combining document management with workflow automation, businesses can rethink how information is captured, accessed and moved throughout the organization.

Paper may be cheap to buy, but it is rarely free to manage.

For businesses looking to become more efficient, calculating the cost of paper means looking beyond the printer, and paying attention to the time, space and opportunities being spent along with it.