--- title: "Benefits of a Paperless Office" description: "Becoming a paperless office has benefits like saving costs and increasing productivity. Learn how to implement paperless document management in the workplace." url: "https://www.hyland.com/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office" lang: "en" published: "2026-08-04T23:08:03.401Z" --- # Benefits of a Paperless Office ## What are the benefits of a paperless workplace? By moving away from paper-based processes, organizations can reduce the risk of errors and oversights that come with manual document management and data entry. [Modernize with Hyland](/en/platform) ## Summary A paperless office reduces reliance on physical documents by using a central digital system, which cuts significant costs and inefficiencies. By digitizing files, organizations can solve challenges related to manual document management. The key benefits of adopting a paperless system include: - **Saving time** - **Promoting collaboration** - **Improving security** - **Saving costs** To transition successfully, select a flexible solution that meets your business needs, digitizes existing documents and manages the change by training employees. ### What is a paperless office? A paperless office is a workplace that has minimal paper-based processes and relies on digitized documents instead. Some organizations prefer the term “paper-light” as many offices and departments cannot completely eliminate paper files because of process or compliance requirements. Regardless, reducing the use of paper helps accelerate an organization’s digital transformation journey. This typically involves transitioning to an [electronic paperless document managing system](https://www.hyland.com/en/resources/articles/intelligent-document-processing-guide) that digitizes files and stores it in a [central repository](https://www.hyland.com/en/platform/content-management). ### 2023 Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Artificial Intelligence Explore Gartner’s analysis of how the trends and trajectories of AI-enabled innovations are transforming the IT landscape as we know it. [Read the report](/en/resources/analyst-reports/gartner-hype-cycle-ai) ### The benefits of going paperless Corporations in the U.S. spend more than [$120 billion per year](https://www.hrmsworld.com/converting-paper-hr-system-hrms.html) on printed forms alone, most of which become obsolete within three months and end up in the trash. On top of that, office workers spend 30-40% of their time looking for documents in physical file cabinets. Some of the most paper-intense departments are human resources, [accounts payable and receivable](/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office/accounts-payable), facilities management and customer service, which deal with a high volume of applications, resumes, receipts, work orders, invoices, bills and more. Evidently, working with paper documents creates problems that prevent an employee from being productive and an organization from saving costs. Adopting a [paperless system](/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office/accounts-payable/how-to-automate-accounts-payable) can solve these challenges and achieve benefits like: [**Saving time**](/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office/accounts-payable/accounts-payable-process) **spent on locating and retrieving physical files**\ Digital documents can be easily organized and indexed, which makes finding the files you need much faster with search capabilities. As documents become more accessible, the time taken to retrieve files is significantly cut down so your team can be more productive and focus on other high-value tasks. **Promoting collaboration among team members**\ Staff are able to share files digitally without printing and view updated and past versions of documents. This minimizes the steps and optimizes the workflow when working together on documents. **Improving security of information**\ Access rights can be assigned and revoked according to user level and document type. With granular security settings, confidential and sensitive information can be tracked and protected against misuse and unauthorized changes. This also reduces the risk of loss and theft. **Saving costs spent on printing and storing documents**\ Eliminating the majority of paperwork helps you save money spent on paper and filing cabinets, as well as other costs like photocopier ink and office stationery. > We’ve fully automated our internal procurement process, which is a very, very large and involved process. We fully automated that and have taken all of the paper out of it. We’re also doing a lot of back-end, workflow processes for different agencies that need the help. Mike Syversen, Director of BPM Platform Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts ### How to transform into a paperless office A paperless document management system [captures and stores information digitally](/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office/accounts-payable/how-to-automate-accounts-payable) on a single platform with integrated search options. In order to ease the change from paper to digital, you can start by: - **Determining the right solution:** The platform that you deploy should address and solve your unique business needs and challenges, with the flexibility to adapt to changes and scale with growth. - [**Starting the digitizing process**](/en/resources/articles/digital-transformation)**:** This is likely the most challenging part because of the time and labor involved. The magnitude of the work depends on how many paper files there are to begin with. However, with the help of your solutions provider, you can work on a strategy to tackle the digitizing process that can then be implemented as best practices for employees. - **Instilling change management:** A crucial part of any successful transformation initiative is gaining buy-in from stakeholders. Help your team understand the need for change and how a new system helps them become more productive, impactful and valuable in their work. Develop a training program to prepare employees on handling new processes and gather feedback from them for further improvement. As with any change, it will take time for your organization to adjust. It is recommended to start on a smaller scale with [critical processes](/en/resources/terminology/paperless-office/accounts-payable/accounts-payable-process) that have the most impact from going paperless, before scaling the solution to other processes and departments. ## You might also like: - [Reduce image hide-and-seek with artificial intelligence](/en/resources/articles/ai-dam) — Explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) work alongside humans to get the most value out of enterprise digital asset management. - [Harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in business](/en/resources/articles/benefits-ai) — Discover how AI helps organizations unlock efficiency, enhance customer experiences, empower a workforce and drive innovation. - [Automated intelligence vs. artificial intelligence: What’s the difference?](/en/resources/articles/automated-intelligence-vs-artificial-intelligence) — Today’s technologies pack a lot of similar words and complicated nuances into their meanings. Learn the differences between automated intelligence and AI.