Time was when you had a large desk –a messy one at that. You printed papers or had thick files that sat in huge drawers. You waded through them to find the stuff you wanted, and they cut more trees so you could do this.
If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then is an empty desk a sign?- Albert Einstein
Think again
now. Today Many entrepreneurs’ offices
comprise only of a laptop, which can be carried anywhere. Get up…. We live in
the Information Technology Era. Here people don’t do their own work, computers
does it for them.
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| Image Credit: Unchartedparent.com |
From a 6
foot by 2 foot table to a trendy iPad connected to the Internet (cloud, to be
more specific), the office has come a long way in a journey that involves less
and less paper –if only you can apply your mind to do it that way. Here’s what
you need to get there:
A Good
Camera: No, you
don’t have to buy a cool shooting device or an expensive DSLR camera. The
camera in your phone or Tablet will do, thank you. Use it now, not for
“selfies” to upload on Facebook or on Pinterest nut to click a visiting card,
an invoice, a bill or even and handwritten note. The new camera phones have
strong picture resolution to catch most of the text details. There you have
eliminated lots of paper –and more important storage that occupies real estate.
Must Read: How to deal with Anger Issues?
A Document
Scanner: If your
camera is no up to clicking the document you want to store –let us say it
is a huge certificate or a legal
document –you can use a good scanner. You can consider buying the Fujitsu Snap
Scan or my favorite, the Neat Connect. These scanners have slots built in for
receipts, papers and visiting cards, so that you can scan them at a go, and
they can scan both sides at one time. The best part is that you can link these
scan devices to the cloud.
A cheaper alternative is HP’s
all-in-one multifunction printers that come now with a scanner and needs no
separate PC link. You can simply scan to your phone or tablet –and that too
wirelessly. No hassles of booting or testing the scan quality. At 7,500-INR or
about $130, the HP3545Boffers a great starting point in a journey to a
paperless office.
Evernote
or Microsoft OneNote: Though I am a big fan of Evernote user, Microsoft is free –and it offers
similar features. These electronic note apps (that you can download) can take
the images you clicked or scanned. The photo can now also get comments and tags
to help you sort and track them as per need. You can also create folders to
make a collection of all the documents related. Since the documents are now
pictures, Evernote and OneNote will also do optical character recognition for
you and help you make these searchable –just like you Google something on the
Internet. You can use tags such as bills, lunch receipt, or name of the person
or organization associated with the document. You are, well, sorted now. Evernote
and OneNote allow you to share your notes with auditors and accountants.
Cloud
Storage: Parking
space on the Internet can be very useful. Evernote and Microsoft OneNote will
also back up your data, but since your data is now in digital format, you can always
store these on Dropbox.com or Box.com, or simply your Google Drive to access
them on other devices.
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| Image Credit: Samsill.com |
You are
ready for a paperless office culture, but remember, there is more to this
–because you have to change your behavioral pattern to make things easier in
the long run. This is what we call “life-hacking” –the business of building
your habits.
Try and make
sure you ask for every paper you get in electronic form, be it your utility
bill or a shopping mall receipt. And yes, do it for your credit card and bank
statements to complete the circle. Make people follow the same habits as you
do, because it will help the world conserve paper.
How new apps help you...
- You can keep scanned copies of your car registration or travel papers and take printouts for authorities right from your handset instead of unnecessarily varying sheaves of paper.
- You can do away with old fashioned business cards. You can store images of your cards that can be stored and searched easily.
- Using Evernote or Microsoft OneNote, you can convert old documents or even handwritten notes from meetings into files that use optical recognition.
If you have
your own life hacks to make this article more helpful, feel free to contact me,
or drop a comment.
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