Going Digital: How Digitizing Your Company’s Processes Can Help the Environment

While there are still plenty of companies in the Philippines that have yet to embark on their digital transformation journey, it is encouraging to know that more and more business owners are realizing the value of adopting digital solutions in their respective companies. A recent survey commissioned by printing solutions provider Epson revealed that 86 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country believed that using digital technologies is an important way to improve business performance and customer experience.

It is important to point out, however, that believing and implementing are two different things. If you are an entrepreneur who acknowledges the potential positive impact of digitizing your business processes but have yet to fully try it out, you are missing a lot. Digitization can significantly reduce operating costs, increase productivity, open new market possibilities, and strengthen your brand. It is also critical to continuously connect with your market and remain competitive during uncertain times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perhaps the most underrated advantage of using digital solutions is its positive impact on the environment, which is unsurprising. After all, it is easy to overlook the effects of digitization on the planet as they cannot be seen by the naked eye or calculated in terms of profit. To help you appreciate how digital technologies can help protect the environment, read on.

Reduce Waste

According to the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), The Philippines generate over 40,000 tons of solid waste per day or more than 14 million tons of solid waste each year, a large portion of which is paper. Before you dismiss the idea that your company is contributing to the piles of garbage in the dumpsite, think about how many reams of paper you use in a year to print documents that will eventually end up in the trash bin.

Are you aware that the average office worker uses around 10,000 sheets of paper in a year? Multiply this figure with the number of employees in your company, and you will have a rough estimate of that much waste you generate on documents alone. If you issue invoices and receipts, send out fliers, and mail letters, your contribution to the country’s waste problem is increasing by the minute.

Fortunately, you can significantly reduce your paper consumption and trash through digital solutions like implementing an ERP system or similar technologies. Once you embrace digitizing, you transition from paper-based processes toward paperless operations. When you use less paper to carry out your work, you are significantly helping the environment by reducing waste.

Save Trees

 

One of the most helpful and practical ways of reducing the negative impact of climate change is by planting trees as they are effective in absorbing carbon dioxide. For this reason, the least anyone can do to protect the environment is to prevent the cutting of trees if planting is impossible. You may not realize it, but if you continue to use hundreds of reams of paper in your business processes, you are doing the environment a lot of harm by indirectly cutting trees.

Note that a single tree is needed to create around 8,000 sheets of copy paper, which is equivalent to about 16 reams. Based on the paper usage of an average office employee mentioned above, every worker of your company is basically cutting down at least one tree every year. Think about how your business is negatively impacting the planet in this aspect alone.

The good news is you can do something. By digitizing and going paperless, you can reduce the demand for paper and eventually save trees.

 

Minimize Greenhouse Emissions and Pollution

 

When you go digital and limit your printing and copying of physical documents to the bare minimum, you are also protecting the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions and pollution. Did you know that close to 2 tons of greenhouse gases, composed mainly of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, are released for every ton of paper produced?

Apart from the emission cost of paper production, unrecycled paper waste can also end up releasing harmful gases in the air. For instance, those that end up in the landfill and undergo decomposition will release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas with four times the impact of carbon dioxide. Burning paper waste, on the other hand, can cause the release of air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides.

Digitizing your company’s processes offers plenty of business advantages, and the best part is that you get to experience them while helping the environment at the same time. Ultimately, adopting digital technologies in your business is a win-win solution. Wouldn’t you want your company to do its share in protecting the planet from the disastrous effects of climate change?