Paperless. Digital. Virtual. In the Cloud. They are all terms that refer to ways of managing what we used to call “paperwork” and they all refer to basically the same thing: shifting the way you do business from paper forms to digital documents, and storing them in a web-based system rather than in a filing cabinet. And this, my friend, can save you a staggering amount of money.
Skeptics will point out that cloud-based servers and software does not come free, but then neither does paper, as a visit to your local Staples will prove. Better yet, why not run the amount of paper you’re currently using through this ingenious Paperless Savings Calculator and see how much it could mean to you over the course of a year: http://www.lucion.com/paperless-calc.html
That calculator is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, because it doesn’t just count the paper itself. It counts the file folders, the file cabinet, the square footage of the floor necessary for each filing cabinet, the time it takes to fish something out of a filing cabinet, the time it took to put it there in the first place, and just about any other possible labour or capital cost relating to physical paper.
Well, what are your numbers? Probably pretty shocking, particularly if you’re still using paper inventory management and physical work orders. In, of course, triplicate.
Not to mention all the time you spend answering to clients outraged you don’t take online payment in Dogecoin or whatever godforsaken trend the internet has come up with this week.
A good software system (ahem…mHelpDesk) can pretty much completely eliminate the use of paper and save you that sum above. You’ll still need a printer for those occasional clients who want a paper copy mailed to them, for proofing marketing materials like flyers and business cards, and so on. Just be sure to get a printer that’s also a scanner and photocopier (these days it’s hard to find one that isn’t) as you’ll be using those last two functions more than the first. Many work as faxes as well, with the addition of a little software, which is great because outside of a museum we’re not sure where you’d find a fax machine in 2014.
Software like mHelpDesk helps you make the transition to all-digital easily over time. You always have the option to print what you’re looking at, so if Joe has been with you for years and wants work orders on paper, you can do that for him while giving the others digital copies via the mHelpDesk app on their smartphones. Since our pricing is by user, not by device, they can access their mHelpDesk files from anywhere, at any time, for no additional cost.
When your files are stored in the cloud, everything is always right where it’s supposed to be. Nothing gets lost. And you don’t have to trundle from the home office to the shop to the back room and dig around in That Pile of papers that is full of important stuff you just can’t look at right away, searching for one particular document. Yes. You know you do that. We know you do that. Everyone does that. Couldn’t you do something more productive, or at least more relaxing, with that time?
With mHelpDesk you can keep the functions you want on paper there until you’re ready to move them to the cloud. Like figuring out your weekly schedule with a piece of graph paper and a oiuja board? You keep on keeping on until you decide you’d like to do it in Gcal instead, and then you can make the change easily. Meanwhile your accounting, your inventory tracking, and so on can all migrate to the cloud at their own pace, when you’re ready.
And once they’re there, we’ll take good care of them. We use 256 bit encryption, the same standard as internet banking and credit card transactions. The only levels above that which are in use are in the hands of the military and the government. Your data is safe with us, and available to you at any time.
They call it “virtual” but the cost savings and the efficiency are very, very real.
Last Updated By: Joe Erfe
