Going Paperless Helped One Company Save Thousands of Dollars (Stats Show They’re Not Alone)

Perth, Western Australia -

A property management company in Perth has found a way to improve their productivity and save money, while helping the environment.

The global pandemic gave Orana Property an opportunity to slash their paper usage and switch to digital technology when managing paperwork, liaising with clients and handling general tasks.

Department Head Brittany Trefort said some real estate workplaces spend at least $80,000 every year on stationary, but Orana Property wanted to keep their stationary costs as low as possible.

“That is a huge amount of money that could be better spent, especially during these tough economic times when many companies are struggling to stay afloat,” Ms Trefort said.

The bigger the company, the higher the stationary bill. Research from PwC shows that companies with 1,000 workers spend over $3 million on paper management every year.

Orana Property managed to cut printing and paper costs by thousands of dollars a year, by transitioning to digital technology for every administrative task other than taking notes and paying bills.

Although Orana dived straight into the deep end, Ms Trefort says it’s possible for companies to achieve impressive cost savings by taking smaller steps.

For example, businesses can save at least $36 for each document that’s signed digitally using a program called DocuSign. The savings would be substantial when repeating this process for thousands of documents every year

There are also operational benefits to consider, since poor paper management makes employees less productive.

The average office worker squanders around 30 to 40 per cent of their day searching for printed documents. On top of this, a lot of energy is wasted repeating tasks, chasing signatures and clearing up misunderstandings with clients.

The Orana team doesn’t have this problem, as digital technology drastically reduces the time that employees spend on contracts and paperwork. Going paperless enables Orana’s employees to focus their energy on building relationships with clients and tenants. Not only are staff more productive and relaxed, but clients and tenants are happier, as a result of better communication.

The financial and operational benefits of going paperless can’t be ignored, but the ecological impact is the cherry on top.

Workplaces in the Asia-Pacific region collectively saved almost 100,000 trees over a period of three years – just by going paperless. This translates to 7000 cars off the road, and 33 million kilograms of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere.

Department Head Brittany Trefort says Orana employees are motivated by the knowledge they’re helping the planet.

“Many businesses are leading the way when it comes to supporting sustainability. Our team wants to contribute to that mission, because we only have one planet,” she explained.

Ms Trefort says converting to a paperless office can be overwhelming, so it’s a good idea to start with small changes and build on it from there.

“It’s likely that employees will struggle to adapt to the changes, if businesses try to get rid of all their paper processes at once. The first point of call is to get your entire team on the same page, by giving people enough motivation to gradually reduce their paper usage,” Ms Trefort said.

Orana Property published an article that explains paperless office benefits in property management, with tips on how to smoothly transition to digital technology.