Top 5 Reasons to Go Paperless

In this technology dominated day and age, I can’t seem to reconcile why so many companies still rely on paper documents to store and categorize essential information about their organization and their employees. In fact, I can’t think of one solid benefit associated with sifting through and storing massive stacks of paper; especially when you take into account that these documents comprise the most confidential and sensitive information imaginable. Managing paper forms is one of the most common and consistent pain points when talking to HR Professionals about possibly adopting an automated hiring system, so I thought I would address it in today’s post by sharing the top five reasons I think companies should go paperless.

Managing paper forms is one of the most common and consistent pain points

1. Timesaver

This seems like an obvious point to me, but I know that a lot of my clients were concerned about the amount of time they would have to invest in the initial phases of transitioning from their current system to one that is paperless. It’s a valid point, but what you may not know is that there are companies like ApplicantPro who have specifically designed a product to be intuitive, easy-to-use, and affordable. Making the switch to paperless is highly in demand (and has been for a while), so from a business standpoint, it stands to reason that there will be an influx of products available to help organizations digitize their processes. It’s simple supply and demand. Also, more competition equals more platform options for consumers with a wide range of pricing and features accessible.

2. Simplicity

Again, this seems like a “no-brainer” to me, but a lot of my customers express some hesitation in the beginning since there’s typically a learning curve associated with any new system. Not only that, but so many companies have been using the same hiring process for tens of years, and we can all relate to feeling a sense of fear surrounding the unknown, BUT the key here (and yes, I sound like a broken record because I mention something like this in at least one of posts each week) is that our world and how we do things has COMPLETELY evolved in the last 15 years. The web has made information abundant and organizing it even easier because everything is centralized and can be categorized, sorted, and stored in whatever fashion makes sense for your company. You don’t have to spend hours sorting through folders to find one person’s information; you simply have to type their name into a search field so everything you want to know is at your fingertips (literally).

Instead of removing staples and paperclips from stacks of paper so that you can alphabetize, date, file, and eventually pay for a storage facility for those documents, you have a system that does all of that for you and so much more with far less work”

3. Cost

I think a lot of my clients are surprised to learn how affordable ApplicantPro is. Obviously some of that can be attributed to creating a company on a “bootstrap” budget, but another big contributor is the fact that it’s software. Realistically speaking, it’s a bunch of code that creates a system powerful enough to manage all kinds of data so the initial investment isn’t that extensive because it doesn’t depend on manufacturing a “physical” product like a lot of other companies. Any costs associated with it really come from the support side of things so most software SHOULD be affordable; not only that, but the sheer amount of time it saves you to have everything controlled virtually is huge. Instead of removing staples and paperclips from stacks of paper so that you can alphabetize, date, file, and eventually pay for a storage facility for those documents, you have a system that does all of that for you and so much more with far less work. You also save on things that seem may seem trivial to employees like paper, ink, and printers, but has a huge effect on your CEO’s bottom line (especially if you work for a big company).

4. Green

This is a “hot button” for a lot of people so I’m not going to go too into detail with it because I’m a Tech guy-I’m “green” by default; not because it’s necessarily important to me, but because it’s easier and it just makes sense. Believe it or not, this is actually one of the criterion for job seekers now. There have been numerous studies done about how a sustainable company is more desirable for candidates than non-sustainable companies. Not only that, but there are a lot of companies who prefer to do business with “green” organizations.

It’s much easier to protect yourself with a system that has customizable and in-depth reporting

5. Compliance

There’s no question that as of recently, the amount of information required (whether it’s for the purpose of employment, health records, or taxes) is higher than ever before. Technology makes this information much easier to capture/mange, but it means that if you don’t have a system in place for mitigating it, then it can cause a decent amount of stress especially when prepping for audits. It’s much easier to protect yourself with a system that has customizable and in-depth reporting than it is to dig through mounds of paper hoping it’s there and in one piece.

Lastly, and most importantly; going paperless doesn’t mean that you’re entirely paperless. My clients print and have both a physical and virtual copy of certain documents because from a compliance perspective, that’s what’s required. Going “paperless” simply means digitizing your overall process and you get to decide if/when something should be printed.

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