When Paperless Leads to Even Greater Efficiency

Could it be possible that less than 5% of businesses today are “paperless”? According to one business survey, this may be the case. What gets lost these days amid major tech trends like mobility, Internet of Things and virtualization grabbing headlines is the fact that some companies are still in the process of taking primary steps in their process of innovation.

I recently came across an article that cited a survey from German-based print management services provider ThinPrint that revealed only 4.5% of business users surveyed have gone paperless. While the survey was focused more on the idea of printing practices, it got me thinking about AEC firms and their own struggles with going paperless amid the seemingly endless paper trail that can make up a construction project these days.

In fact, many of our customers here at The Cram Group initially came to us with help reducing the amount of paper that would circulate on a typical job. Take DECCO Ltd., for example. This contractor, based in the Cayman Islands, was looking for a way to streamline its file management system by moving from paper to electronic files.

With roughly 30 employees working in the office and in the field, the need was for an easier way to communicate and share information electronically. In 2010, AEC Cloud began hosting Meridian Systems’ Prolog Manager and Prolog Converge for DECCO, helping the company streamline its file management and archiving system.

Fast forward to 2015 and the company is much less dependent on paper files than ever. According to Harlan Dews, Senior Planner and Scheduler with DECCO, what was thousands of paper files used on projects has turned into a cloud-based one-stop shop for all project-related information, with the ability for files to be accessed any time from any location.

For a company like DECCO, the demand to go “paperless” was a steppingstone of sorts to unlocking even greater potential of a cloud-based service.

Since deploying AEC Cloud’s Portal Cloud Hosting Services in 2010, DECCO has also evolved its use of the technology. Today it plays a role increasing efficiency in other aspects of its construction projects. This includes the ability to provide a higher level of accountability and reporting capabilities, controlling project costs, tracking employees’ time spent on projects, and increasing employee productivity.

“We’re making better decisions earlier in the construction process, which translates into cost savings as projects progress,” says Dews. “We’re also more organized and efficient because we’re notified electronically as projects move forward. This helps prevent projects from becoming backlogged.”

It’s a true testament to the role that a good technology solution can play within a company today. Technology designed to solve one challenge that can evolve to play additional roles within an organization can prove to be a valuable investment. Today’s AEC firms that are simply making a push to go “paperless” are making a step towards improving efficiencies across the board.

With a solution like AEC Cloud, these benefits include:

Cost efficiency
Reduction of maintenance requirements
Flexibility and scalability of resources
On demand user administration
24/7 user support
Off-site backup of critical data
Regular maintenance and software upgrades
Employee mobility anywhere, anytime
Freedom to focus on core business

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Find out what AEC Cloud can do for your business migration to the cloud.
Schedule a live demo today and see for yourself the possibilities we can offer.