More sustainability through PDF
Saving paper through digitisation
Sustainability and environmental awareness now play an increasingly important role for all companies. Sustainable working, resource conservation and CO₂ neutrality are of great importance.
The use of the PDF format has so many advantages here that it can confidently be described as a kind of “green technology”. After all, the implementation of a paperless office, which can significantly improve the eco-balance, is also based on the use of the digital data format.
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What is the advantage of digital documents like PDF?
PDF increases the sustainability of a company precisely when paper is really replaced and saved. Many companies still have some catching up to do here, as it is still often the case that digital documents have to be printed out after all. If, on the other hand, PDF is used as a substitute for paper, fax or printer, then it really is environmentally friendly and sustainable. If only digital documents are used in a company, transport routes (post), the disposal of paper or even storage space and files (for archiving the paper) are also eliminated.
A company that is fully committed to sustainability can switch completely to PDF documents, since it is now easily possible to create all applications, contracts, invoices, descriptions and marketing materials in PDF format as a matter of principle.
How much of an environmental burden is paper?
Simply by eliminating paper invoices, a company’s sustainability increases enormously. Saving paper can be very resource-efficient. This is due to the fact that paper production itself is extremely polluting. For example, about 10 litres of water are needed in production for one DIN A4 page. The energy balance of an office with high paper consumption is therefore shockingly poor and there is a lot of savings potential in digital solutions.
Besides sustainability, however, there are other concrete advantages to digital conversion:
The workflow is significantly accelerated. A document is at the next location/the next employee within seconds. Another positive factor is that such PDF documents can be read by machine, i.e. processing time is reduced and sources of error minimised. In any case, most companies now want to make it possible for employees to work on PDF documents together and efficiently: As a rule, good ECM software solutions are already in use for this purpose. Fewer and fewer companies are still relying on pure “paper management”, which is no longer in keeping with the times anyway.
More transparency and effective work with PDF
An important advantage of using digital documents is that it is possible to work much more transparently. Transparent work means that, on the one hand, every employee can access the document at any time, and on the other hand, it is also searchable through OCR technology, i.e. documents can be found in seconds. In addition to the extra transparency, the PDF documents are not tied to a specific location, which makes work incredibly flexible. In addition, compliance and audit-proof archiving run automatically when you use an intelligent ECM system. Sustainability in the company by doing without paper can also have a positive effect on compliance, data protection and audit-proof archiving.
More sustainability through digitisation and use of PDF documents
- Air is polluted for the production of paper (and for delivery routes)
- Use of paper generates large amounts of waste
- By not using paper, trees can be protected
- Making paper requires a lot of water, not using paper saves water
- More sustainability in the office and the digital conversion benefits the environment on the one hand, but also has a positive effect on the employees, because working is possible flexibly from any location, decisions can be made conveniently on the go via tablet or smartphone.
- Transport routes and employee journeys are reduced
- Companies can save the costs of a paper archive (rent, heating, employees, etc.).
- In addition to paper production, paper printing itself has a reputation for being harmful to the environment and health: Printers also produce fine dust particles, which can become a problem if there is insufficient ventilation.
More on digital file solutions and examples of digital personnel files:
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