The office desk littered with paper is quickly becoming a thing of the past in many businesses.

In an effort to improve efficiency, while also helping the environment, many businesses are transforming their operations to paperless systems. Rather than hold onto to every sheet of paper, businesses are using document management systems to digitize everything.

This software gives businesses the tools needed to convert paper documents into electronic versions that can easily be sorted through, edited and distributed to others.

While a paperless office can take some getting used to, many who have adopted the practice have found a variety of benefits. Here are 10 of the biggest advantages of a paperless office.

•  Easy to search
  Karen Walker, founder of ONETEAM Consulting, thinks one of the biggest benefits of going paperless is that it is easy to find the files you need, when you need them. "I can search my documents easily and from anywhere," Walker told Business News Daily. "My consulting projects generate a fair amount of information over the course of several years, and the ability to search for and retrieve presentations and notes is invaluable."

•  Environmentally friendly
  Aside from the benefits companies gain for themselves from going paperless, there is the added plus of helping to protect the environment, said Carol Haeck, director of credit and billing for BlueGrace Logistics."Not only are we saving trees, but less paper is less pollution. And by emailing invoices, there is no courier driving and polluting the air from gas chemicals," Haeck said.

• Saves space
  Randy Jourgensen, owner of Digital Office Solutions, said he converted his office to a paperless environment 15 years ago and has seen a variety of benefits. One of the best is the physical space he has saved in his office.We have converted former storage space into revenue-producing space," Jourgensen said.

• Customers love it!
  In addition to the efficiency going paperless has brought to the office, Michael Cruz, office manager of the Dee for Dentist dental care practice Las Vegas, said the practice has upped his business' status in the eyes of its patients. "Our patients love to talk about the coolness factor of doing all their paperwork on tablets and iPads," Cruz said.

• Easy access
  John Bustrum, CEO and founder of My403bCoach.com, said going paperless many years ago transformed his business procedures. He said the biggest plus is the quick access he has to his clients' accounts."Information is literally at your fingertips," Bustrum said. "I no longer stockpile
files on my desk, and if a client calls into the office, the information is
easily accessible."

• Added security
  Increased security is a huge advantage of moving to a paperless office system, said Andrew Southard, general manager of the Indiana-based Data Management Shredding, Inc. The [document management] technology has given us the option to track each document and assign privileges to
every individual who reads these documents," Southard said. "Having the capability to
provide proof to customers, clients or auditors of a chain of custody from
cradle to grave is essential in today's business environment."

• Better collaboration
  Gary Tuch, founder of the Professor Egghead Science Academy, said getting rid of hard copies of the group's papers has made it easy for his staff members to work with each other. He said it has allowed his company to be more
collaborative and stick to deadlines. "If several people are working off of
one document and editing is constantly happening, there is no time wasted
on printing revisions and double checking. You have the most up-to-date
copy," Tuch said. "Because everything online has a timestamp, it makes it easier to
manage the office remotely and make sure people are staying on task."

• Disaster recovery
  Small businesses that have all customer records stored in half a dozen filing
cabinets in the office face the risk that these files might be
damaged or destroyed, or that the business may lose access to the documents for a time, said Alan Baker, president and chief consultant at 
Spitfire Innovations."I
have personally seen an office fire, a burst water pipe, a flood, an extended evacuation, and a malicious employee damaging and altering files," Baker said.
"In each case, the paper files were recoverable, but if they had been
electronic and stored somewhere in the cloud, there would have been little
or no impact and the business would still be able to operate."

• Discipline
  Paul Schwada, director of the management consulting firm
 Locomotive Solutions, said running a paperless office improves everyone's discipline; it forces workers to think about what paper they want to keep and what they can get rid of. "When you're paperless, anything that arrives in hard copy
has to be scanned in, so you have to decide whether it's worth it," Schwada said. "But when
you can just toss it onto a pile of papers, why not?" In the end, he said, the "paper keepers"
end up with more stuff than they really need, plus the added task of constantly having to sort through those papers to see what's there.

• Always accessible
  As someone who often works outside of her office, Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and founder of FlexJobs, said storing all of her documents digitally provides a key benefit: it means she can get stuff from anywhere. "Having
access to all our documentation, no matter where we're physically working
from, is amazing," she said. "I know that if I go to a conference or even just the
coffee shop to work for the afternoon, all my documents come with me."

by Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Senior Writer