The paperless government mission was born out of a White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs report that found paperwork costs the government $38.7 billion and $117 billion each year to the public.
Pulp and Paper is the third-largest industrial pollutant to air, water, and land in the United States. It releases more than 100 million kilograms of toxic pollutants each year.
Many U.S. government agencies and public sector organizations are trying to lower their carbon footprints as part of a national effort to improve public accountability and make society greener.
Adopting eSignature software is a great way to achieve this without making major changes. Continue reading to learn how an eSignature solution could help your company achieve paperless goals, and contribute towards the movement towards environmental sustainability.
- Adapting to a Digital-First Environment
The COVID-19 epidemic caused a major shift in how state agencies operate, communicate and serve their citizens. All public sector agencies have had to adjust quickly to meet the demands of digital operations.
Many organizations have integrated enterprise resource management software to improve their ability to manage accounting, procurement, or other tasks. Signatures are required for most of these important documents. It is difficult to scan documents onto the internet, get signatures and distribute printed copies.
This hinders digital-first businesses' ability to work as efficiently as digital signature software.
McKinsey's Kevin Buehler and Allen Weinberg of McKinsey said it best: "Rethink and digitize your physical processes and footprints." Many companies will have to quickly reinvent processes that used to require physical documents in order to go paperless.
Key priorities will be enabling scanned copies to be submitted for document verification and supporting contactless servicing capabilities (for instance, creating digital forms to replace paper forms and enabling electronic signature capture).
- Pollution and waste reduction
Gartner estimates that 4 weeks are lost each year due to mislabeled or misfiled documents. Most of these documents require signatures.
This is a significant waste of labor and causes a delay in company processes. Paper production is not only a waste of time but also has negative environmental impacts. Paper production is responsible for 25% of all landfill waste in the United States and contributes to 1 billion trees worth of pollution each year.
Preside Biden stated that the climate crisis requires a coordinated, whole-of-government response. Thankfully, more than 1,300 federal, state, and local government agencies across all 50 states use eSignature solutions for remote work and electronic processing of forms, agreements, and documents.
- Streamlined and Secure Operations
There are over 23,000 forms that are used by 66 state agencies. Half of these forms are printable and the other half require manual processing.
Filling out these forms can be time-consuming and could lead to wasted time. Individuals and businesses spend approximately 11 billion hours per year printing, reading instructions, filling out government forms.
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Software that allows for enterprise resource planning (ERP), allows businesses to work more efficiently and faster than ever before.
Digital business is a huge part of modern life. Paper is no longer necessary online. Digital recordkeeping is easier to manage and more precise than traditional office records.
Paperless offices can also process more paperwork in a shorter time period than traditional offices. Software features such as eSignature allow companies to quickly process documents and documents that require signatures and then distribute them more efficiently.
Signed forms and contracts can be lost or damaged easily. They must also be sent or shipped, which poses another risk. Digital signature software allows documents to be accessed online or by phone.
They can also be transferred between people and departments and archived to avoid deletion. This is crucial for government IT professionals who need to be able to secure transactions and securely store documentation.
Signatures are also susceptible to being damaged in the same way that paper documents can be. It is easy to steal or misplace important contracts that contain private information.
CFOs and government CIOs must ensure that important documents are securely transmitted and managed. Digital signature software uses text-based authentication to verify the signing entities. After the electronic signature is obtained, the software uses a tamper-resistant validation method to protect the integrity of the document.
eSignly software allows state agencies to provide secure and responsible services to citizens.
- Overall Financial Savings
eSignly integration can help you save money that goes beyond the use of less paper. Printing accounts for 10% of IT-related energy consumption.
You will save more energy if you print fewer documents. In addition, 59% of companies achieved a full return on investment in less than 12 months. 84% achieved ROI within 18 months.
Significant savings can be made by eliminating the need to print, use ink, mail, store files and manage physical paperwork. This could be a benefit to many state agencies and encourage more entities to adopt the paperless government mission.
CIOs and CFOs of government have a responsibility to ensure that tax money is used responsibly. Reduced paper spending allows government leaders and CIOs to increase public accountability and allocate tax money to more important causes.
