A paperless software system helps you find files faster, automate tedious workflows, and comply with legal requirements.

To run a paperless office, you’ll need a paperless software solution. A dedicated piece of software is essential for converting your physical documents into digital ones, then organizing, sharing, and protecting your files. Paperless software is just one part of the overall package, though. To enable digital-first workflows, you’ll also need a high-quality document scanner, powerful scanning software, and a way to start gathering customer information online.

In this guide, we’ll explain what paperless software is, what benefits you can expect from using it, and how to choose a program that suits your business. We’ll also cover how this software supports paperless validation, which helps pharmaceutical and life sciences companies remain compliant with legal regulations. With the right software, your business can ditch outdated, paper-based processes and adopt more efficient digital workflows.

What is paperless software?

When companies talk about paperless software, they’re usually referring to document management systems (DMS): programs that automatically organize, index, and control access to digital files. Some benefits of DMS tools include:

• Security: Custom user accounts and permission policies ensure that only valid employees have access to the files they need to do their job.
• Tagging: Automatic metadata tagging makes individual files searchable within large collections of folders.
• Version control: Employees can view changes to files and revert documents to their original states, if necessary.
• Collaboration: Staff members can work together on documents in real-time and collaborate across departments.

While DMS are the most common type of paperless software, you may also find other software for paperless office features, from scanning programs to online form builders. Ricoh’s PaperStream Capture, for example, is scanning software that converts paper documents to digital text and organizes scanned files. We’ll cover these tools in more detail in a later section.

Why go paperless?

Going paperless can save time by reducing the demand for printing and copying files, and save money by cutting costs related to creating and storing documents. A paperless office has many other advantages, including:

• Flexibility: In a traditional office, workers spend approximately 30-40% of their time searching for documents. In a paperless office, documents live on a server or in the cloud, meaning workers can access them from anywhere. Metadata tags and searchable text make documents easy to find. Files are also easy to share with both employees and customers, as workers can simply send a link rather than mailing out huge folders.
• Cost savings: Saving money is perhaps one of the biggest reasons to go paperless. Paper takes up space, and costs money to keep in stock at the office. Going paperless means saying goodbye to filing cabinets and the potential cost of managing them. You can use those extra funds and space to grow your business.
• Security: Physical files are easy to lose or damage. Digital files offer access controls and backups. Users without credentials can’t access your files at all, while users with credentials can access only the ones they need to do their jobs. Most security suites also encrypt files, making them unreadable to potential attackers.
• Environmental sustainability: Going paperless reduces waste. Between project outlines, vendor invoices, and assignment notes, office workers might go through dozens of pieces of paper each week. Moving to a paperless office cuts down on paper usage and can help make businesses a little more eco-friendly.

To create a paperless office, you’ll need a high-quality document scanner, such as the Ricoh fi-8170, as a powerful piece of scanning software, such as Ricoh’s PaperStream Capture Pro. A scanner lets you digitize important paperwork, while scanning software organizes scanned files and makes their text searchable.

Which features should you look for in paperless software?

There are many different types of paperless software, and the best platform for transitioning from paper to digital site systems will depend on the functionality you need. Some features to consider are:

• Automation: Automation is one key feature of software for a paperless office. Paperless software can automatically name, sort, batch process your files before uploading them to a cloud server. Automated tasks take less time, cost less money, and help make files more accessible for remote and hybrid staff members.
• Secure storage: Secure digital storage lets you know who is accessing which data. User permissions mean only specific users can access certain files, and with audit trails, you can see at a glance who accessed a file and when. Good cybersecurity can also be beneficial for businesses like hospitals and law offices, which need secure storage to comply with legal regulations.
• Document scanning and file conversion: Document scanning and file conversion is another must-have feature of software for a paperless office. Document management software can index and tag documents so that they are searchable in the system and can convert digital files to searchable and editable formats.
• OCR capabilities: Optical character recognition (OCR) is one of the most important features of software for a paperless office. With OCR, a document management system can translate printed text into editable online documents, making it possible to edit documents and extract data from them immediately after scanning.
• Intuitive interface: Ease of use is another important consideration when deciding on software for a paperless office. A system is only effective if people actually use it. A software product’s interface can make the difference between easy adoption and a difficult transition. If your document management software is not easy to use, it will likely go unused.
• AI integration: Some scanning software, such as Ricoh’s PaperStream AI, now integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technology. With AI, these programs can analyze incoming data, automate repetitive workflows, and ultimately help businesses scale their operations.

How to use digitalization to go paperless

When going paperless, your business will be working to digitize its backlog of paperwork. After that, you’ll want to digitalize your workflows, reducing the need for paperwork in the first place. You’ll need both hardware, such as a document scanner, and software, such as e-signature tools, to make that happen. The following paperless solutions will help your business make a successful transition:

• Online forms: Creating digital forms allows you to get information directly from the user and store it immediately within a database. Many options provide no-code, drag-and-drop functionality that enables the creation of dynamic forms that respond to user input.
• Electronic signature platforms: Electronic signature platforms enable your business to gather legally binding signatures for contracts and other crucial documents. Many platforms also provide integration with office productivity suites, allowing you to request signatures in programs that you already use.
• Workflow automation tools: A workflow automation platform can help you create project templates to manage digital document creation and editing. Due dates will automatically populate based on a project’s start date. Most programs will also send out notifications as users complete individual steps, letting the next employees in the process know that it’s time to begin their work.

What is paperless validation?

Paperless validation is how pharmaceutical and life sciences businesses use digital tools to demonstrate that their equipment and workflows are functioning as intended. Validation, whether paper-based or paperless, helps keep consumers safe and protect businesses from potential undue litigation by following government regulations. However, validating hardware, software, spreadsheets, and other processes manually requires a lot of time and labor. By turning to paperless validation software, life sciences companies can streamline the process while staying compliant with legal regulations.

Benefits of paperless validation

A paperless validation system can solve many of paper-based validation’s shortcomings. It can also introduce new and useful features. These make validation faster, more efficient, and more secure:

• Streamlined workflows: Moving paper documents back and forth between team members is time-consuming and inefficient. Digital documents let multiple employees collaborate on them simultaneously. Saving and sharing them takes just a few clicks. Digital files are also harder to lose or misplace, as you can index them and search for them using keywords, tags, and metadata.
• Reduced spending on materials: Paper validation is expensive, and the price of paper is only the beginning. Printer cartridges, file folders, filing cabinets, pens, staplers, staples, and other physical office supplies can eat away at your budget. Moving to paperless validation obviates nearly all of these costs. It even saves on the square footage needed to store and archive records.
• Automated reporting: Paper-based validation requires thousands of human inputs. Finding the right data, recording it correctly, sharing it, and signing off all take time. Each step is a chance for something to go wrong. Each step must be replicated over and over, and each step takes time. With paperless validation, your team can set up functions that automatically pull the relevant data for their reports, accelerating data collection and reducing human error.
• Boosted audit preparedness: Auditors require huge amounts of documentation to perform their jobs. Finding it all in paper systems can take a long time. A paperless validation system gets auditors the data they need takes a fraction of the time, as your entire document archive is just a few inputs away. Many systems can even generate audit trails automatically.

Our recommendation: RICOH fi-8170

Whichever piece of paperless software you choose, you’ll need a document scanner to digitize your business’s physical documents. The RICOH fi-8170 is an excellent option, offering scanning speeds of up to 70 double-sided pages per minute. A 100-sheet ADF means that you can scan dozens of documents with minimal oversight. The device also comes with the PaperStream Capture Pro software, which uses powerful OCR features and accurate metadata tagging to sort documents and index them for search. At 11.8 x 6.7 x 6.4 inches and 8.8 pounds, the fi-8170 should also fit easily into most office spaces.

Check out our full line of RICOH fi Series scanners to find an option that matches your company’s workflows.

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