<p>The Implications<br />In today's world of technological utilization, it would seem like a logical step in the technological direction to go paperless. In converse to this, since the inception of desk computers in the 1980s, a large amount of day-to-day work is still paper-based in offices. Humans are creatures of habit, we still print things out to read or manipulate, we also thought the world was flat at one time. Change is seen differently by different people and businesses, sometimes you have to think differently to be different- this does not have to be a negative thing (could be quite the converse)!<br /><br />Save Money on Paperweights<br />The first point to consider while pondering going paperless is cost reduction. A business needs to calculate the cost of storing data, printing costs, and increased time found from eliminating filing. Depending on the nature of your business, there may be a large amount of space to be better utilized if one considers getting rid of the paper. If you are a business who owns or rents facilities mainly for storage of data, how can this saved money potentially increase the business' bottom line? Even if storage is taking place on a smaller scale, is there nothing else that the space can be used for to benefit your business (come on you're a business person, use your head)? Again, the nature of your business will play a role in determining just how much of a benefit a paperless environment can be in terms of cost as well. The number of dollars saved can be significantly greater if you are printing in-house in abundance or if you are taking advantage of an outside service to do so. Either way, the services of document scanning from businesses such as AccuServe (www.accuserve.com) may need an initial investment, but you're not in business for a short while, so think of the long term cost benefits from making the paperless move. Some business employees spend a great deal of time filing papers away. Can these employees be better utilized in your business if the need of filing were taken away?<br /><br />Be Efficient to Win It<br />In business you don't want to be known as one who "could have been a contender," you want to be the 'champ,' efficiency works from the inside out. If your business is running smoothly from the inside you are going to be passing the outside competition. It is vastly faster to access documents that are stored electronically. Think of the time and grief saved by having a completely organized library of documentation and data. This is a factor many businesses don't even think about. Time is money in business, you want your employees to be able to retrieve and analyze data quickly and efficiently. If everyone is on the same page without having waste time and energy to track down what page that is, then you are already taking strides in the right direction. All data will be conveniently and logically organized for you and your employees; use that extra time and energy towards strengthening the business in some other area.<br /><br />Smiling Clients<br />Whether your business provides product or service, your clients make your business go round. Have you ever been put on hold by a company because they need to trace your data or some other pertinent information about you? Sure it may not be a big deal, because this happens often. Have you ever dealt with a business that has all their information readily at their fingertips? It makes the consumer feel like they and their information are just as important to you as anything else if they need not be put on hold so the business can 'refresh' their memory as to 'who the heck you are' and 'what you might want.' This is another facet of business that is often overlooked or not looked into enough. Again, sure businesses can get away with making the consumer or client wait, because it happens so much. Sometimes the little things have monumental repercussions.<br /><br />The Formation of Information<br />We have discussed what the implications may be by having all of your data and documentation readily available from a client standpoint, but lets not be completely selfless, what about you and your business? Think about the possibilities as far as analyzing data if all of it is centralized to one location? The high level of organization and full text search features has tremendously advantageous inferences for your business from your end. When information is immediately available about every client, prospect, and service, it becomes possible to look at the documents as a multi-relational database that can be perused to pinpoint selling, marketing, and expanding opportunities.<br /><br />Paperless Tips<br />Good things take time and the businessperson with high anxiety may not see all the advantages of going paperless right away. Perhaps it would be wise to considering starting out slowly; take advantage of document scanning with one area of your business. Once the value is proven, you'll quell any anxiety over making the move to envelop the rest of your business. Document Scanning services are large and vary, linking up with the right vendor is vital. Taking advantages of business' services that can aid you in your way such as VendorSeek (www.vendorseek.com) will greatly make this process less stressful. Good vendors will work with you to provide a system that fits the way you do business.</p>