Paper has been the lifeblood of businesses since the modern inception of the corporate world. Flowing in and out of businesses, it carries vitality that maintains the strength of every business. However, as businesses have grown, the use of paper has increased exponentially. According to efficiency expert K. J. McCorry’s “The Cost of Managing Paper: A Great Incentive to Go Paperless!”, the average office employee will utilize 10,000 sheets (or two cases) of paper per year. With the average cost of a case of paper sitting at $40, the average employee is consuming $80 worth of paper annually. In a small business of 30 people, that can amount to a total of $2,400 dedicated to paper each year!
The cost of paper, alone, can amount to an incredible tax on a business’s resources. However, McCorry goes on to further reveal the other costs associated with paper; costs for copying, delivering, handling, storing, and retrieving documentation disproportionately outweigh the cost of the physical paper.
To pull a few items on paper costs from a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers:
- Copying costs amount to 33% of total paper costs, while distribution accounts for 56%
- $20 in labor to file a document and $120 in labor to search for that same document
- 1,000 employee enterprise spends $2.5-3.5 million searching for or recreating lost documents annually
- Filing cabinets have their own set costs while also consuming square footage that a business pays for
The impact the use and cost of paper has on an enterprise is evident. While these costs may be hemorrhaging the company, paper is still its lifeblood and removing it is out of the question.
…or is it?
Claims Manager® – The Solution to the Paper Problem
Claims Manager® directly addresses the pain points caused by paper use:
Digitized Forms – Claims Manager® strays away from the traditional hardcopy paper forms in favor of capturing information wirelessly. Users can input information directly into the platform, which is then relayed to the necessary parties without ever having to put pen-to-paper.
Digital Database – Once information is captured within Claims Manager®, it is stored in a database. Whether a hosted storage or a cloud-based storage, the information is secured and easily retrievable. The costs of searching for and/or recreating information are nullified through the presence of the database while the desired documents being readily available with a quick search. Dedicating paid-for square footage to filing cabinets also becomes a thing of the past thanks to the power of this digital platform.