Many city and town government agencies deal with massive quantities of paperwork each year, and the ability of any municipality to make the switch to a paperless office environment can help to save space and money. In addition, they may also be able to reduce consumption considerably, bringing multiple benefits to their own processes as well as saving taxpayer money.
One way in which government organizations across the country may shift more toward paperless environments may come as a surprise: Libraries are now looking for new ways to boost engagement and costs by cutting their paper use and finding more methods for boosting efficiency, according to a report from the Washington County Observer-Reporter. For instance, this might include summer education programs for local kids that use next-gen technology to engage with them, and many of these opportunities come through federal grant money.
Such initiatives may help smaller suburban and even rural communities in particular, because access to affordable technology and high internet speeds can be limited in those places.
"The programs, not only do they bring people into the library, but they also educate them," Michelle Hazen DeHosse, president of the library board in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, told the newspaper. "That's much more powerful than anything on paper."
Other efforts
Meanwhile, the district attorney's office in Broome County, New York, recently made a different kind of paperless switch, by digitizing all necessary legal documents and setting up workflows, according to Binghamton television station WBNG. In just a short time after implementing their new document management system, employees already say everything is easier and more efficient when it comes to tracking down the right files, and there are other benefits as well.
"We don't have the paper cost, we don't have the postage cost, because a lot can be emailed," District Attorney Steve Cornwell told the station. "And we don't have the storage cost. That's a big thing for when we run out of room. We have to store files for 25 years Well now they'll be stored electronically."
With these issues in mind, it's vital for any government agency – whether large or small – to examine how a switch to bulk scanning and digital document management can help improve their operations.