How To Go Paperless: A Complete Guide for Businesses
Updated September 14, 2026
Going paperless is no longer just about clearing desk clutter. As businesses digitize more of their operations, the question of how to go paperless has become a question of operational efficiency, document security, and fraud prevention. Paper records get lost, damaged, misfiled, and forged. Digital systems, when properly implemented, eliminate all of those risks.
This guide covers why businesses go paperless, the practical steps to make the transition, and how to handle the documents that matter most.
Key takeaways
- The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year, and each misfiled document costs an average of $125 to recover.
- Going paperless requires more than scanning files. It requires a document management system, cloud storage, and a process for handling incoming paper.
- Management buy-in is the single most common barrier to paperless adoption. Forty-seven percent of survey respondents cite lack of leadership initiative as the obstacle.
- Digital documents stored in cloud systems are more secure against loss, theft, and physical damage than paper records stored in filing cabinets.
- Documents that require notarization can now be notarized online with legal validity in 49 states and the District of Columbia, removing one of the last remaining barriers to a fully paperless workflow.
- A paperless system is only as strong as its security layer. Standard cloud storage protects against loss. Cryptographic signing protects against fraud and forgery.
Why businesses go paperless
Going paperless means transitioning from physical documents to digital files for storage, signing, sharing, and retrieval. The shift applies to everything from invoices and contracts to notarized documents and customer records.
The business case is concrete. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year. Each misfiled document costs $125 to recover. Paper volume in the average business grows 22% annually, doubling every 3.3 years. Those numbers compound quickly into a significant operational liability.
Here are the five core benefits that drive businesses to make the transition:
- Time and cost savings. Printing, collating, filing, and retrieving paper documents consumes staff time that could go toward higher-value work. Switching to a document management system eliminates most of that overhead.
- Environmental impact. Paper production is carbon-intensive and contributes to deforestation. Reducing paper consumption directly reduces a business's environmental footprint.
- Document security.Paper records can be lost in a fire, stolen from a filing cabinet, or damaged by water. Digital records stored in encrypted cloud systems are protected against all of those threats. Critically, digital documents with cryptographic signatures are also protected against forgery in a way that paper documents are not.
- Organized, searchable records. A well-structured digital filing system lets employees find any document in seconds using search. Physical filing systems require someone to remember exactly where a document was filed and then physically retrieve it.
- Streamlined workflows.Paperless systems centralize documents and processes in one place. Employees can share, sign, and store documents without printing, mailing, or physically distributing anything.
How to go paperless: 7 steps for businesses
Transitioning to a paperless office is a process, not a single event. The steps below are ordered deliberately: build the system first, then handle incoming paper, then tackle the backlog.
Step 1: Create management initiatives to go paperless
Set clear, escalating goals that move your team toward paperless incrementally. Forty-seven percent of survey respondents identified lack of management initiative as the primary barrier to going paperless. That number matters. Without visible leadership commitment, adoption stalls.
Bring your team in at the beginning. Get buy-in early, identify easy wins to tackle first, and create a roadmap for the harder transitions. Include milestones and rewards for reaching them. Model the behavior you want to see by digitizing your own workspace first.
Step 2: Invest in a document management system
Scanning and storing files is not enough. You need to be able to access, modify, share, and retrieve them efficiently. That requires a document management system, not just a folder on a hard drive.
A good document management system labels, sorts, and stores documents in a structured way that makes retrieval fast. It also supports version control, access permissions, and audit trails, which matter for regulated industries and high-stakes documents.
Step 3: Use cloud-based document storage
Local hard drives fail. Filing cabinets burn. Cloud-based storage solves both problems by keeping your documents in a secure, redundant system that you can access from anywhere.
Choose a cloud storage provider that offers:
- Encryption at rest and in transit
- Access controls and user permissions
- Automatic backups and version history
- Compliance with relevant industry standards (SOC 2, HIPAA, etc.)
Step 4: Take advantage of digital tools
Going paperless extends beyond document storage. It applies to every business process that currently generates or relies on paper. Invest in tools that cover:
- Communication: Email, messaging platforms, and CRM systems replace paper correspondence and physical customer files.
- Accounting: Cloud-based accounting software handles invoicing, expense tracking, and payroll without paper.
- Contracts and agreements: Electronic signature platforms let you send, sign, and store contracts digitally.
- Project management: Digital task management replaces printed schedules, to-do lists, and status reports.
Each category of paper in your business has a digital equivalent. Identify the highest-volume paper workflows first and replace them systematically.
Step 5: Explore online notarization
Your business likely handles documents that require notarization: powers of attorney, real estate documents, affidavits, loan documents, and more. Historically, notarization required an in-person visit, which created a hard barrier to going fully paperless.
That barrier is largely gone. Remote online notarization (RON) is now legal in 49 states and the District of Columbia, with California's permanent statute taking effect January 1, 2030. With an online notarization platform, you can notarize documents entirely online, then store the completed, digitally signed records securely for future retrieval.
This removes one of the last remaining paper dependencies in most business workflows.
Step 6: Opt out of junk mail and paper billing
Stop paper from arriving in the first place. Contact vendors, credit card companies, and utility providers to switch to electronic billing. Most providers offer paperless billing through their online portals. For physical junk mail, contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to request removal from bulk mailing lists.
For mail that still arrives physically, establish a process for handling it immediately: scan it, file it digitally, and shred the paper. Do not let physical mail accumulate.
Step 7: Automate business processes
Automation eliminates paper at the source. Set up automatic electronic delivery for invoices, receipts, and statements. Use workflow automation tools to route documents for approval, signature, and storage without manual intervention.
Business process automation reduces the number of touchpoints a document requires, which reduces both the time it takes to process and the risk that something gets lost along the way.
What documents should you keep in physical form?
Most documents can be safely stored digitally. A small category requires physical originals.
Keep physical copies of:
- Documents with raised seals (certain government-issued records, corporate seals)
- Original wills (requirements vary by state; consult your attorney)
- Documents that explicitly require wet signatures under applicable law
For everything else, a properly stored digital copy is legally sufficient in most contexts. Scanned documents are accepted by the IRS for tax purposes, by courts as evidence, and by financial institutions for most transactions.
The key distinction is between documents where the paper itself carries legal weight (raised seals, certain original signatures) and documents where the information is what matters. When in doubt, keep the physical original and store a digital backup.
How to handle existing paper clutter
Most businesses starting the paperless transition have years of accumulated paper. Tackle it systematically using three categories:
- Throw away: Most old paper does not need to be kept. Utility bills from five years ago, duplicate copies, outdated drafts. Shred and recycle.
- Scan and throw away: Documents you may need to reference later but do not require physical originals. Scan them, file them digitally, then shred the paper.
- Scan and keep: Documents where the physical original has legal significance. Scan them for easy access, but retain the physical copy.
The scan-and-keep category is much smaller than most people expect. For the vast majority of business records, a high-quality digital scan is sufficient.
One practical recommendation: do not try to tackle the backlog before you have your system in place. Build your digital filing structure, establish your naming conventions, and practice with incoming documents first. Then work through the backlog systematically.
Document security in a paperless system
Standard cloud storage protects your documents against loss and physical damage. That is necessary but not sufficient for high-stakes business documents.
The additional layer that matters is cryptographic signing. A digitally signed document creates a tamper-evident record: any modification to the document after signing, even a single character, invalidates the signature. This is categorically different from a scanned paper document, which can be altered without detection.
For documents that carry legal or financial weight, the security question is not just "can I access this document?" It is "can I prove this document has not been altered, and can I prove who signed it?"
Cryptographic signing answers both questions. It binds the document to a verified identity and creates a permanent, verifiable record of the signing event.
How Proof helps businesses go paperless
One of the most common barriers to going fully paperless is the concern over how to handle documents that require signatures, notarization, or verified identity. With Proof, you can sign documents from anywhere, notarize them online, and store the completed records securely on the platform.
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