Being environmentally conscious is a concern that was once reserved for industries like oil and manufacturing, but now it has become a widespread concern, touching every industry, not just those that have a significant impact on the environment. Even the financial services industry has become concerned with the environment. According to a new study of 120 senior finance professionals in the United Kingdom, conducted by document management software company V1, 95 percent of finance professionals are interested in the environmental benefits of document management software.
Some of the functions of document management solutions include creation, management, delivery, authorization, storage, and retrieval of documents. Greg Ford, the managing director of V1, cites several positive impacts document management has on the environment, the obvious benefit being that it reduces paper consumption, and the less obvious benefit that it reduces carbon emissions.
In some cases, going green can save money, and, in others, it can cost money. Despite the fact that the survey revealed that 88 percent of businesses are concerned with their environmental impact, 54 percent admitted that their decision to go green is, ultimately, based on the potential economic benefits that it holds for them.
For those companies that do not find their carbon footprint a compelling enough reason to sway their decision to switch to a document management solution, the benefits of using a document management solution do not stop with the environment. Some commonly cited benefits include: faster search, disaster recovery, improved security, and reduced storage.
While Ford’s primary benefits lie in the functions that the system has to offer and the potential money and time that it can save, he says that the survey reveals that an environmental agenda is still top-of-mind; “This research shows that despite the economic climate, organisations are still seeing the importance of a green agenda.”
Edited by Ashley Caputo