As many businesses are coming under increasing amounts of pressure to go green, paperless alternatives are being adopted the world over. This might seem like an easy change to make but there are often a lot of obstacles that must be navigated to ensure that the transition happens smoothly.

When you look at the sheer amount of waste that your business generates, you will probably find that the majority of it is paper waste. The annual cost of disposing of this waste can be quite high. It is worth keeping tabs on how much this is costing you.

Not only do you need to think about the bottom line, but also the carbon footprint of your business. Millennials are very discerning with how they spend their money and they’re always looking for socially responsible alternatives.

So, is going paperless worth it? The answer is an overwhelming yes. From a cost point of view and a PR perspective. There really is no reason to no consider this as the next step in growing your business and securing your future success.

Here are the top five paper alternatives to consider:

Alternative #1: The cloud

Known as one of the best paper alternatives, the cloud is essentially a paperless storage system that has the advantage of being easy to access from anywhere. If you have a great deal of paper-based files stored away in a back room there are services that will scan all of these documents in and then destroy the originals in a data safe compliant way. This frees up valuable space in your office and reduces clutter a great deal.

The cloud also functions as a secure back up of all of your data. Paper documents are susceptible to fire or water damage. With electronic documents, you don’t need to worry about this. It is a myth that the cloud is easily accessible to hackers and that your documents won’t be safe.

Online security has never been more robust. When you compare this to paper-based documents that anyone could pick up and walk away with leaving no trace.

You control the access to each level of data that you have stored. Not only can you limit access to your documents, you will also find that you can keep track of who views each document and for how long. If you handle secure information you will also be able to disable printing privileges for certain files.

Alternative #2: Electronic forms

If you are reliant on paper forms and other documents to record and make sales or process orders, then it might seem like an uphill battle to shift to another process. Thankfully, there are now electronic solutions that can be tailored to any business need.

Data entry, client management, form submission, it can all be performed and accomplished through electronic mobile forms. They are great paper alternatives with access of ease.

One of the best things about going paperless is that you will now have to use an electronic-based system to keep track of everything. This can do wonders for your productivity and accuracy of data capture.

Electronic data capture also has the advantage of being instant. You will be able to have your teams in the field working on tablets and smartphones taking down client data and having your system instantly update with the new customer information.

The best part about electronic forms is that you can customize them to your needs. Having the ability to create a client file that includes all of their data can speed up delivery and processing and payment of orders and services.

Alternative #3: Information sharing technology

If you have a big meeting coming up, the first thing that you might think of is printing a handout for all attendees. With information sharing technology such as Google Drive, iCloud and many more, you can easily send and share electronic copies of any document or brief to the whole team. The technology also allows you to easily collaborate on projects without having multiple versions of the same document.

Alternative #4: Electronic contracts

These paper alternatives, have been gaining popularity more and more over the past few years. Instead of having to print out a contract, sign it, scan it in and email it. You can simply use an electronic signature on a PDF document and email it right away. Some businesses are slow to adopt this technology for compliance reasons although if you can, this is a huge time saver.

Alternative #5: Digital receipts

Provided that your clients and customers are okay with this, you can provide bills and receipts to your customers electronically over email. Some clients might even prefer this as it is a permanent record of the payment and cannot be lost.

These paper alternatives also have the advantage of being sent instantly and automatically so that you don’t need to actually do anything. This is another major advantage of going digital. A lot of the process and submission of data that you had before can now be fully automated.