Organisations across the globe had plenty of a-ha moments last year.In the face of extraordinary adversity, they realised work could still get done when they weren’t in the office. They saw that people could still collaborate and innovate, despite scarce face-to-face contact.
Many of these a-ha moments were made possible thanks to technology.
Indeed, digital transformation accelerated at a remarkable rate in 2020. Multiple years’ worth of tech adoption occurred in mere weeks.
McKinsey & Company goes so far as saying that digital adoption took a “quantum leap” due to COVID-19.
One quantum leap that many organisations made last year was the move from pen and paper to paperless agreements.
Now, while this switch might not feel huge – let alone quantum – just take a moment to think about all the agreements that circulate in your business.
Sales agreements, employee contracts, event registrations, purchase orders, the list goes on.
Prior to the shift to remote work, many businesses were saddled with archaic processes for getting these important business contracts signed. Their processes were costly and time-consuming.
COVID-19 changed all this. To keep the wheels of business in motion, businesses switched to digital platforms like DocuSign to sign and complete contracts. Indeed, DocuSign grew its global customer base by 46 per cent year on year as of October 31, 2020, as businesses flocked online.
As Asia-Pacific and Japan vice-president of customer success at DocuSign, I’m thrilled with this growth because more organisations are reaping three big benefits of going paperless.
The first benefit is the time savings. Using electronic signature technology reduces the paperwork burden for sales reps and support staff.
By automating proposals, contracts and other customer documents, teams can focus on value-adding tasks. For example, Fuji Xerox Australia has saved a massive 3000 hours per year on contract management.
End customers also appreciate the time savings. With electronic agreements, they can sign documents anytime, from virtually anywhere – in the office, at home or on the road. It’s a lot more convenient for them.
The second benefit? The cost savings.
Companies waste money in many ways, from $37 billion per year in unnecessary meetings to $162 billion in ineffective training.
Finding easy ways to save can make all the difference to the bottom line. And removing paper and postage is one of the easiest cost savings you can achieve.
Studies show that DocuSign eSignature delivers benefits of more than $36 per document, including hard dollar savings, productivity and revenue gains. Multiplied by thousands or even millions of documents per year, the gains can be huge.
Then there’s the environmental benefit.
Looking at the Asia-Pacific region specifically, in the past three years alone this region has saved almost 100,000 trees by going paperless.
This is the equivalent of taking almost 7000 cars off the road for a year or saving 33 million kilograms of carbon dioxide from hitting the atmosphere.
Imagine how much further we can push these great savings?
By saying goodbye to office printers, paper shredders and filing cabinets – and by truly embracing a paperless future – we can all do our bit to help the planet.