EFFICIENCY experts, environmentalists, rental industry leaders and even consumers are promoting the move to paperless operations. But why should a hiring company go paperless? What steps can be taken if you decide that now’s a great time to make some changes to the way you do business?
There are a lot of reasons to go paperless, but they generally fall into one of a few buckets:
- It’ll save you money over time
Obvious costs of doing business using paper include not only the paper itself but ink or toner, printer maintenance, time figuring out why the printer isn’t connecting or fighting out a workaround when the printer isn’t working at all.
But the ancillary costs exceed even those costs over time: Lost paperwork makes it difficult or impossible to locate lost items or to enforce contracts. Attempting to read poor handwriting can mess up reporting and billing. All in all, most people investigating hire software and other solutions cite savings as the main reason to go paperless. - It’ll help you generate money over time
But going paperless doesn’t just save you money, it can make you money. Things like condition photos, which are time- and geo-stamped and attached to contracts, make it easy to record item conditions when they’re delivered or collected. When there’s a dispute over damages, it becomes a lot easier to resolve any dispute when you have all the evidence on your side.
Digital contracts allow paperwork to be completely filled out and signed before a customer gets to the store; counter staff aren’t worrying about printing and filing while trying to provide customer service. It saves customers time, too, which makes them more inclined to return.
If it’s possible to take dispatching, routes and stops paperless, it will be possible to route with maximum efficiency and even take on additional routes at the drop of a hat. Drivers’ locations can be seen in real-time, the contents of their trucks are known, and drivers can be routed to take on an extra job. And more jobs translate into more revenue. - It’ll make your employees happier
The single biggest frustration employees have with any business, but especially in hiring, is poor communication. Paper-based processes limit the ability to communicate; they can’t communicate real-time updates immediately. Only one person can see information at a time. Digitising processes gives everyone in the organization access to the same information so they’re making better decisions.
Going paperless also means that the information is on hand at all times to answer any question. - It’ll make you happier
If making more money and employees happier isn’t enough, there are a few more advantages to taking processes digital: - More of the company’s data will be accessible, making it possible to make better informed decisions when determining the business’s future. Contracts will be able to be adjusted easily, rather than going back and forth with paperwork and sending it to the appropriate departments to get quantities changed.
- It’s easier to train employees and get them to the point they’re useful in a new process because digital tools frequently have guardrails put in place to notice questionable entries or to ensure that only people with sufficient authority can complete certain tasks.
- And finally, the company’s critical information is more secure: Physical documents are easy to lose, steal, or damage. Digital documents are easy to back up, encrypt, and store securely. This can help prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands and protect the business from lawsuits or breaches.
- How to go paperless
Within the hire industry, there are various hire software solutions with differing abilities to help you go paperless. Point of Rental has spent over 40 years helping companies to digitise their processes and the company is still pushing the envelope to give users more digital tools than other hire software companies.
OS Holdings will be exhibiting at stand AA2b.
