How document and image management can reduce greenhouse gases and make good business sense
5th December 2005 Version One, the document management and imaging company has won a Green Apple environmental award for the third year in succession. This international award, presented by the Green Organisation marks the crucial contribution Version One's paperless office software is making to environmental best practice. In this specially invited contribution to FSN's theme on 'Accounting for the Environment,' Tony Bray, Director of Version One, explains how managing paper, for example, by integrating accounting and document/image management systems makes good environmental and business sense.
With Government legislation and environmentally aware (or 'green collar') workers driving enterprise-wide, eco-friendly initiatives, it is of little surprise that businesses want to be 'seen to be green' more than ever before. Unfortunately, some organisations still regard green initiatives as time-consuming, costly, laborious and fundamentally at odds with good business sense. This disparity between 'being green' and 'being business-sensible' is unfounded, especially when it comes to paperless-office technology, or document management and imaging, as it is most commonly known.
Document management and imaging solutions, such as those authored by Version One, dramatically cut paper consumption and CO 2 emissions whilst improving business efficiency and saving significant amounts of time, money and storage space.
Environmental benefits of paperless-office technology
With Version One's document management systems, all business documents including invoices, purchase orders and statements, are stored, retrieved, delivered and managed electronically from the desktop. As a result, the need for hard-copy printouts and photocopies is dramatically reduced, saving businesses millions of tonnes of paper every year, and helping to save tropical rainforests worldwide - destruction of rainforests is currently taking place at a rate of 30 million acres each year!
Implementing these systems also cuts the amount of CO 2 entering the atmosphere, as CO 2 is a by-product of the manufacture, transportation, storage and disposal of paper documents, laser printers and toner cartridges. For instance, by reducing the need for printed documents, fewer laser printers and toner cartridges are required, which in turn cuts the amount of CO 2 emitted during the manufacture of these products. Also, by removing the need to send millions of business documents through the post, the CO 2 emitted during the transportation of these documents is also eliminated.
Using information supplied by the Carbon Trust, Version One calculates that over 1,000 fewer tonnes of CO 2 are being emitted every year as a direct result of its clients' reduced paper consumption.
So, how can organisations enjoy business as well as environmental benefits by implementing document management and imaging systems?
Business benefits of paperless-office technology
By making pre-printed stationery redundant and reducing (and in some cases, eliminating) the use of printers, toners, envelopes and stamps etc., organisations significantly cut costs. Money is also saved by making a range of time-consuming jobs redundant, such as bursting, collating, folding, enveloping, posting, photocopying, faxing, filing and retrieving business documents. With the removal of these jobs, staff can be effectively redeployed. Implementing a document management system also means that the rooms or warehouses currently used for filing documents can be used for more revenue-generating purposes .
Furthermore, electronically sending documents enables colleagues, customers and suppliers to instantaneously receive a range of business documents, such as invoices and purchase orders, directly to their desktop. This improves customer service, provides an audit trail, increases payment-processing efficiency and eliminates the risk of documents being mislaid or misfiled. Electronic copies of documents can also be securely viewed and retained at different locations at a 'click of a button', unlike with traditional paper archives.
The bottom line
Organisations who feel increasingly under pressure to develop their 'Green Agenda' can enjoy the best of both worlds by effectively uniting 'being green' with 'being business-focused'. By implementing paperless-office technology (already tightly integrated into all major accounting and ERP systems), organisations can reap considerable financial and business benefits. So surely, businesses shouldn't be asking whether they can afford to jump on the 'green bandwagon', but rather whether they can afford NOT TO?
With Government legislation and environmentally aware (or 'green collar') workers driving enterprise-wide, eco-friendly initiatives, it is of little surprise that businesses want to be 'seen to be green' more than ever before. Unfortunately, some organisations still regard green initiatives as time-consuming, costly, laborious and fundamentally at odds with good business sense. This disparity between 'being green' and 'being business-sensible' is unfounded, especially when it comes to paperless-office technology, or document management and imaging, as it is most commonly known.