“Not to worry… There IS a cure! It’s called electronic signature.”
Check out the stickers on this blog called “These Come From Trees” (click the image to see the blog!):
Can I put these stickers on your paper forms?? PLEASE!?!???
I like this blog because it points out the many ways in which everyday consumption leads to mass waste. While the burger joint they refer to (In-N-Out) is a West Coast habit and clearly one of the best burgers you can get, I do see the waste that occurs from simply taking more napkins than you need.
The same thing is happening with paper forms. Here’s why there is waste with paper forms. Ready? Hold on, there’s a lot.
- Stockpiling – Too many forms are stored on shelves than actually needed and thrown away when outdated.
- Errors - Handwritten forms are error prone causing extra forms to be used when an error occurs.
- Fillable Online - Even forms filled out online are still printed, sometimes as duplicates that are later thrown away
- Shipping - Forget the cost of FedEx and UPS, what about the carbon expelled by the shipping cost? Or the time it takes??
- Rejections - Paper forms are rejected, on average, 75% of the time. The shipping, time and labor doubles every time a form is rejected.
- Misused As Collateral - Forms are intended for transactions but paper ones are often used as marketing collateral instead, and to little positive effect.
- Loss - 1 in 20 documents are lost, especially paper forms that are handled by several people (up to 10 in the typical financial account opening process).
Not to worry… There IS a cure! It’s called electronic signature. With seamlessly integrated e-signature within your paper-based process you can eliminate all paper use and 95% or more of errors, rejections, lost time,shipping costs,storage costs and lost documents.
And yes, it is possible. We’re doing it. See what DocuSign put on their blog about what we’re doing: DocuSign Blog about Efficient Technology Inc.