How Cystic Fibrosis Trust Eliminate Paper Costs

By Adam Johnson, Limpio MPS

Cystic Fibrosis Trust have announced that as part of their 3 year IT strategy that they will be completing paperwork 100% digitally. By implementing the latest technology this will allow them to reduce costs on paper processes and increase staff productivity.

Traditionally this aim was always a notable one but many organizations believed that the transition to paperless would be too complex, costly or difficult to achieve. I believe that in the last couple of years there has been a notable change in how people interact with digital documents. Going back many years, there was a wariness of using the internet for important tasks and people would still print hardcopy documents of their transactions made on-line for proof in case this data somehow disappeared. Moving on 20 years we now have no qualms in conducting our most vital personal and financial business online.

I believe the same transition has now happened with paper documents. More and more people have become comfortable with cloud storage of documents through popular services such as Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Dropbox etc. where they can store, read and edit documents via their mobile devices with ease. Now the next step is to be able to edit, annotate and sign these same documents without the need to print or convert into another application. This is the last major hurdle in reducing our reliance on the printed document.

Now, there are many tools available that will allow users to do this but there are two key considerations to make. First is simplicity in operation. If the process is not simple and intuitive, the user will soon lose interest and become frustrated believing that it is the opposite of improving productivity.

The second is trust and compatibility. A recognized and trusted platform that turns paper information into digital data that can be edited, managed and stored electronically is essential. Documents should be able to be distributed into automated workflows to accelerate productivity whilst eliminating manual data entry and filing.

With a holistic approach to transforming paper documents into electronic workflow organizations can become more productive, secure and promote a greener, less wasteful workplace.

Limpio MPS works with organizations to improve business practice and reduce the impact that printing has on the organization. This content is shared with permission. Any views expressed reflect the opinion of the original author(s).