As it happens to be the new year I may as well count this as a New Years Resolution, partly as an excuse to buy an Tablet and partly out of an increasing desire to become more environmentally friendly, in 2011 we will attempt to go entirely paperless.
Paper strewn all over the office does not appeal to my sense of order and tidiness, and looking for bits of paper with scribbled important notes on them is time consuming, so a psychological and practical increase in productivity should also ensue?
A good way to start is to list all the things I have used, or currently use paper for and its digital replacement, it was whilst doing this exercise I realised that I could use a tablet for some of them, a practical use for a tablet!
Post it notes: every-ones favorite yellow wallpaper and monitor decoration, have used QuickFox notes for FireFox for some time now, combined with Xmarks means my notes are available on any device. There are lots of other digital post it note options available so that’s an easy one.
Lists and tasks: For lists, usually shopping, I use List Master on Android, for tasks there are so many options, at the moment Capsule CRM handles customer related requirements and Google Calendar Tasks handles general tasks, I also personally like Astrid for Android, and not just because it has a pink grinning octopus, they are working on a sync with Google Tasks for Google Apps, so will try that out soon. This will be nice on a tablet, working alongside my main workstation as an additional screen.
Reviewing Proposals: I often print out web proposals as part of the writing process, especially to go over the various elements for costing and timescales, again I can use a tablet or laptop in replacement of the printed version. Quote Robot looks promising and looking forward to developments on this in the coming year.
Teaching: (in case you were not aware we run web design classes) This is the sole reason I purchased a simple black and white printer last year, when the flashy colour laser Epsom died, to print out the course material each week for the students, and one for me to refer to. The material is constantly updated so needs printing each time. I am now in the process of moving it all from Word to Google Docs, so students can access each lesson online in the class, the saving on paper and ink etc aside, this has so many benefits I wish I had done it before!
Much easier to update, auto saving and all stored in the cloud, if we notice something in the lesson I can update it in real time immediately.
My referral copy is viewed on a laptop (and in the future a tablet, as a lot of Education Establishments seem to be doing right now), if I highlight something then the students all see the highlighted text.
The students have constant access to the latest updated material after the course is complete.
Code examples can be copied and pasted if needed easily.
Long hyperlinks can simply be clicked on, instead of being typed in.
I can email a link to any pre-reading text instead of emailing PDFs.
Client meetings and presentations: My print outs of the proposal in question for referral would be best handled by a tablet, the client would need a print out of the sent proposal or tablets of their own, the presentation itself would be on a laptop (or tablet?) and projector anyway.
Accounts: Have been using the fantastic Free Agent Central for sometime now, invoices are always emailed, we never post remittance advice slips or cheques, payments are always via bank transfer and we discourage cheques as a payment method to us (its always slow as well).
Sometimes of course a clients policy will be to pay by cheque only, you cant flatly refuse!
The accountant can access the system online, and tax returns can be completed online. Bank statement’s are uploaded and managed online but business banking insist on sending paper version, and I was told it was a legal requirement to keep them?
The same goes with paper receipts, we can upload scanned versions into Free Agent, (this is great for Digital Receipt’s as saves printing them out,) but legally the tax office need you to keep the original paper version (if there is one) for 7 years, even though they will have probably faded into illegibility by then.
Since deciding to embark on this exercise I am amazed by the ridiculous amount of paper wasted every time you purchase something, a copy for the shop, one for you and a debit card receipt as well, extrapolated for every customer, then for every shop, globally is a huge waste of resources.
Digital POS is available though (yet to see it apart from the Apple store) and I am sure over the coming years paper receipts will become a thing of the past.
Comps slips: Have not used these for a long time, goes hand in hand with not posting letters and cheques etc.
Greetings, Xmas, Birthday Cards etc: Easily replaced by mooooon pig dot com etc, although I don’t really send them anymore, bah humbug!
Business Cards: Name changes, office moves, re-branding, new phone numbers, staff joining or leaving all require throwing away 100s of cards each time. My last set (literally now) of business cards had a mobile bar code on them, as these are easy to generate (a nice Android App called QR Droid creates them from just about anything on the phone), I can just display on the phone and on the website contact page.
It does require the recipient to have a bar code scanner on a phone or tablet, but these are pretty much standard now, and if not, your details can be emailed or texted, with their details quickly entered into your contacts, which is what you have to do with the details on the card anyway. Apps like Swype and voice recognition all help to speed up the process.
Downsides: There are some potential disadvantages, you could get an important client contact details wrong whilst typing them, batteries running out or no Internet access, have to flick from another application in the class (unless the students all have tablets!), constantly looking at screens must be bad for our eyes, receipts can be lost as spam….
One tricky thing to replace is the certificate we give at the end of our web design course, its nice to give something physical but this serves to highlight the paradigm shift. I will be setting up a resource login for students on our site, so can store the course material links and also a PDF of their digital certificate.
I think most people will be happy that we are reducing paper usage and this will overcome any anxieties, and improving technology will overcome any difficulties over time. We are lucky in that being a web design company, clients and students will expect (or at will at least not be surprised) that we adopt such procedures thus making it easier for us to implement. We still have the printer plugged in for now, just in case…
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