If you’re thinking about office downsizing in a post-Covid world, you’re not alone. A survey among US businesses suggests that 69 percent of the respondents closed some or all of their office space permanently because of the pandemic. Employers made such decisions due to a work from home desire that many employees expressed.
A KPMG survey presented similar conclusions. Conducted among CEOs, the survey suggests that many businesses are hurrying to complete a digital transformation in order to carry out effective office downsizing.
Such a transformation often starts with the creation of digital documents. A comprehensive cloud-based data source is one of the biggest essentials to enable remote work.
If you haven’t considered the creation of digital documents yet, here are the reasons why you need to prioritize the task in order to engage in corporate space downsizing.
Most Business Processes Are Data-Based
We’ve previously discussed hybrid office document management and why it’s here to stay. Digital documents make it possible for employees to do their job regardless of location. Whether they’re in the office or at home, people will have access to all of the vital data required for task completion.
Digital documents in a cloud-based platform ensure sufficient flexibility and take the workspace to any location. This is why an electronic database is crucial for office downsizing. If you have such a database in place, you’ll make it possible for a significant portion of the workforce to partake in corporate activities remotely.
The Covid-19 pandemic showed many businesses that a lot of work can be completed out of the office. If this fact applies to your line of work, downsizing makes a ton of sense (both financially and operationally). If people cannot access information remotely, however, you’ll be setting yourself up for a really cumbersome process that will involve many a trip to the actual workplace.
A Paper-Based Archive Requires a Ton of Space
Office downsizing will be impacted by document digitization (or the lack of such) in yet another, very pragmatic way.
Depending on your industry and the amount of time your company has been in business, you probably have a rather extensive archive.
Paper-based archives require a ton of space. In fact, digitization and getting rid of paper copies provide viable opportunities to move to a smaller space (even if people aren’t going to be working remotely).
Not only does it require space, but a paper-based archive should also be maintained in certain conditions. You’ll need to be careful about humidity, temperature, and security. Because of these requirements, the offices available for rent will be limited.
Digitization is fairly easy and it can save you from all of that trouble. It starts with professional document scanning, followed by the selection of a document management system and online document storage. If you choose to outsource the digitization, a team of experts will handle everything quickly and efficiently so that you wouldn’t have to.
Digital Documents Are the Heart of Many Other Digitization Endeavors
Once you digitize your documents, you can go ahead and move many other aspects of corporate operations to the cloud.
Digital documents enable online collaboration, project management, billing, and customer relationship management (to name a few processes). The good news is that many software products and digital solutions are created to be compatible with each other. Starting with scanning, you’ll get access to a whole new world that will simplify and automate many procedures.
When you have all of these processes and activities digitized, you’ll find yourself capable of completing a major office downsizing project. In fact, many businesses have even managed to close their office altogether without interrupting professional activities.
While getting rid of the office entirely may be a step too far for you, shifting to a smaller venue will definitely give you opportunities to bring your business to the future. Workplace flexibility is a definite trend for 2022 and beyond. If you’re interested in attracting top talent and ensuring business stability, this is where your efforts need to be concentrated.
One Step at a Time
The creation of digital documents is sufficient progress to enable workflow modernization.
You don’t have to take your digitization efforts any further if you don’t want to. Getting rid of paper copies makes it possible to immediately shift to a smaller office. When you feel ready, you can take digitization to the next step.
In other words, you don’t have to carry out a complete digital transformation right now if you don’t feel ready for it. Remote work and downsizing don’t have to involve an entire tech revolution. Many teams aren’t ready for such overhauls. If your workforce belongs to that category, start out small. Have your entire archive digitized to test the opportunity. Finding out that people are comfortable with it will enable the execution of more thorough and intricate digital transformation projects.