Most law firms who are still working with paper documents have a collection of good reasons why it's never the right time to make the switch. To some it seems like an impossible task to get all their current and past documents scanned and digitised. A lot of firms are convinced that if they do make the change to managing their documents online, their employees will get confused and have difficulty adapting to the new system.

Let us take a moment to ease your worries. To start with, scanning may be a big task, but it's getting easier every day. 

And yes, it may be true that changing how you store documents will also change how you reference them, but rest assured plenty of other firms, old and new, have already successfully made the change from paper to a digital document management system (DMS) and are now reaping rewards of speed, convenience, and security.

Now that some of the misconceptions are out of the way here are some ways a paperless office can help your team.

1) 'Swinging by the Office' for Paperwork Costs Time and Energy

When everything you do is done in physical paperwork, not having the right form or file with you when you're outside the office can be disastrous. Having to drive across town to 'swing by the office' and pick up the needed paperwork costs valuable time and money. Whether that's paid by your staff or the company, it's still inconvenient and inefficient.

2) Improve Automation and Workflow Capabilites

When all of your documents become automated you can start to implement processes to improve how you handle them on a day to day basis. By automating your documents and improving your workflows, you can cut out many tedious manual processes. Manual data entry is reduced and with that comes a reduction in the potential for error. Not only will your staff get their work done more efficiently, but it will also have fewer mistakes and will be of higher quality.

3) Eliminate File Organisation Days

Many companies that deal in paper documents have a few days a year set aside just for file organisation. A time to find misplaced files, make backup copies, and possibly create a more optimised filing system. This results in many paid staff hours spent doing mind-numbingly boring literal paper pushing, something a DMS could do instantly, all the time.

4) Time to Locate Documents is Heavily Reduced

When an employee needs to reference a specific file that could be stored in one of three or four different places, depending on who filed it and what they were thinking, finding it can take a surprising amount of time. With a document management system, an intuitive search system could find their file in seconds, no matter who made it or how it was organised.

5) Tidier Desks, Less Office Supplies, Fewer Paper Cuts

The amount of money, human work hours, and effort that goes into maintaining a paper document system is truly excessive. Desks are covered in inboxes, out boxes, folders, and stacks of paper. Between paper clips, staples, folders, dividers, pens, and boxes, you're spending thousands every year just on paper accessories. A cleaner and less cluttered work space can do wonders for the productivity of your team.

6) Increased Security

Finally, your staff members want to keep private documents secure just as much as the firm as a whole does. With paper documents, this means locking everything away at night and worrying about desk security during the day. With a document management system, you can rely on all the most advanced cloud-based security protocols to keep your documents safe and ensure that curious office visitors can't simply peruse the documents on someone's desk. This applies to those using remote access to access their legal documents as well, no matter where they are, their confidential documents will be safe.

Here at LawMaster, we want your document management solution to be convenient not just for your law firm, but every single staff member and client who might work with even a single cloud-hosted file. From quick and easy document scanning to sharing and getting digital signatures, LawMaster has everything your company needs to not only go paperless, but enjoy becoming a digitally organised firm. Book a demo today to see how we can improve your efficiency by at least 30%.