Being paperless, going green or saving a tree: all these catchphrases have the goal of making us think about the resources we are consuming everyday, particularly paper.
Even the World Wildlife Fund’s webpage offers guidance on how we can reduce our impact by being watchful about what we print. One of the key areas they identify is “Using Technology”. The website goes on to say:
Today’s information and communication technologies provide many opportunities for businesses to function with far less paper. Electronic mail, Intranets, Internet and document scanners can radically reduce paper use, while also saving time and money.
Estimates show that 10-30% reduction in paper usage is possible with appropriate use of available technology.
As such, a case study is summarized showing the following efficiencies gained at Bank of America.
Case Study
Bank of America, the largest bank in the US, reduced its paper consumption dramatically through online reports and forms, e-mail, double-sided copying, and lighter-weight papers. The total tonnage of paper used for internal operations decreased 32% between 2000 and 2004 (by over a billion sheets of paper).Everyone can agree that consuming less is an admirable goal, however many businesses struggle with actionable ways to use their existing technology to support conservation initiatives. The following are five key areas technology can help:
- Increase efficiency: Use the digital tools at hand to more efficiently deal with items that were previously printed, like memos and meeting notes.
- Automate data entry: Take steps to ensure that new information coming in is in a digital form, and automatically entered into appropriate databases.
- Digitize old files: Improve access to historical data by digitizing it and hosting it in a centralized, searchable location.
- Automate workflows: Use software workflows to replicate and streamline existing paper handling processes.
- Educate customers: Inform and reinform customers about new online services.
Createch has had the opportunity to work with an existing client who was interested in how Maximo could help them “Go Paperless”.
We created a solution that included a number of standard templates that recreated the paper “forms” currently in use at the organization. Maximo is now used to send these formatted communications and required attachments to the desired audience throughout the organization. Maximo’s native Email Listener tool is being used to track replies to these messages allowing one source of reference for the entire message thread. Maximo leverages the organizations existing e-mail infrastructure to send and receive messages.
Some of the benefits realized by the client include:
- Messages and replies in the thread are stored in a structured and protected format. No more hitting “delete” by mistake and losing important business communications.
- Message logs are viewable and auditable.
- Attachments are stored with messages, so all reference material is in one place.
- Templates are easily updated and are used consistently.
- NO MORE PAPER FORMS!
For more information on how Createch can help your organization use Maximo to reduce paper usage/waste please contact us.
