Paper vs Technology
Thursday, October 16th, 2008The Business Economics Debate
It’s safe to say that debates can be a good way to see both sides of an argument. Differing points of view supported by sound reasoning and clear explanations can help us make up our minds about issues in question. But I’ve recently been reminded that not all debates fully resonate with logic and reasoning - some even make the issues more cloudy.
Fortunately for the small business person there is one debate that has a resounding winner; the debate over paper forms and paperless technology. If you use QuickBooks, and if you do business away from the office, and you’re still using clip boards and paper forms, this is a debate you likely have with yourself from time to time.
On one hand, a box of pre-printed, paper invoices may be cheaper than than a handheld computer. But the debate doesn’t stop there? Let’s hear from the other side.
Here are the facts:
Fact #1: With the proper technology you will save money INSTANTLY.
Multi-part NCR forms are not cheap. Their initial cost is .15 to .25 each, plus they require labor to print, plus the cost of envelopes to mail and of course, postage. This total can easily reach $1.50 - $2.00 per costumer or $300-$400 per month per Sales Rep for the average business.
But that’s just part of the story. By eliminating one trip to the office a day, you can easily add nearly 20 sales calls per month for each Sales Rep. At a average of $75 per stop that can work out to over $1,500 per month in added revenue. With these savings, your investment in hardware and software can easily pay for itself in just a few months, plus increase your professional image.
To summarize; printers, toner, ink, paper, postage and the labor involved adds up to thousands of dollars per year.
Fact #2: Reducing your paper dependence helps preserve our environment - while you save.
- The average office worker wastes 10,000 pieces of paper each year
- It takes 13 ozs. of water to process a single piece of paper
- The average tree only produces 16.7 reams of paper This translates to over 178 million trees per year that are removed from our eco system.
- Most discarded paper ends up in a landfill - not recycled.
Fact #3: Eliminating paper forms improves customer service.
Computer generated invoices contain fewer mistakes than handwritten order. Fewer mistakes translates into greater customer satisfaction. When your drivers/sales persons have instant access to inventory levels, current pricing and future promotions, more sales opportunities are created. Account information, product information, assets in the field, and new invoices with signatures, are all digitally stored in Route Manager. On-demand wireless data transfer with bMobile allows you to send new orders to the office throughout the day - no more waiting on the sales rep to return to process orders. Faster processes means faster service and more satisfied customers.
Fact #4: Eliminating paper forms raises productivity and saves hundreds of labor hrs per year.
Your business will spend less time and money on administrative work with a paperless office. Pick-lists and delivery route information is sent directly to the loading area without using a single piece of paper. Field sales reps can submit new sales orders to the office without returning to the office, savings valuable fuel, maintenance costs and keeping the sales rep selling.
No more slow and unreliable faxing, and re-faxing, of documents. With a handheld computer customers can sign orders digitally totally eliminating the need for paper copies. With bMobile you will have instant access to client information and historical documents, saving you countless wasted hours, and wasted labor costs, each and every year.
OUR CLOSING STATEMENT
bMobile Technology and QuickBooks have worked together to help a lot of small businesses like yours. We have testimonials from current customers who support our position that bMobile significantly helped their businesses
