Every year, tons of paper is used in workplaces all over the world, in both large and small offices. Many of these offices have actively taken up recycling, but even though it is an inexpensive and environmentally conscious option, a much more cost-effective strategy is to reduce daily paper consumption.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building the new” – Socrates.
Every business should aim to optimise their time and operational productivity using best practices. One important aspect to consider when using the various methods available to do so is the employee’s user experience when performing their duties.
Sage research has found that businesses spend approximately 120 operational hours a year on administrative tasks. Almost 20% of these can be attributed to accounting administration, such as the generation of purchase orders, invoicing and reconciliations.
If other administrative tasks are added to this, such as signing off delivery receipts and truck manifest documents, as well as registering suppliers, it is easy to see how these tasks can have a direct impact on the business’ ability to perform at an optimal level (where all hours are used as efficiently as possible). So how does one streamline these tasks?
Talking and thinking about print is not exciting to most, and bringing up a conversation about your home or office printer at a dinner party would surely be social suicide. But let’s try to understand this and why we humans don’t get excited by print.
A long time ago, when very few people could read and write and books were not readily available, a young 15th century German, Johannes Gutenberg, was cited as the inventor of mass printing. Through his technological contribution, his method of printing quickly spread through the world and the mass printing of books began. Some would say Gutenberg’s printing process helped the world to learn how to read and write, scientists were able to publish their discoveries and people around the world started to connect through news and events.
I have always had this burning question in the back of mind, “Why do we Print?” Aren’t we supposed be working in Paperless offices by now?
We all imagine offices of the future to be a place of efficiency, sustainability, a collaborative setting where computers support our daily print routines and processes. But in reality, being human, your environment or what you are exposed to, quickly determines your print behaviour.
Efficiency, the buzzword in any company is all about working smart, not hard. Making the most of your time and effort, whilst staying productive.
Most people are looking for ways to become more efficient in their everyday tasks. Earlier, all you needed was a basic computer, telephone and perhaps a fax machine to get through the items on your to-do list. Whereas now, this won’t give you the edge to make you more efficient and thus, you won’t be one step ahead of your competition.
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