More sustainability through PDF
Saving paper through digitisation
Sustainability and environmental awareness now play an increasingly important role for all companies. Sustainable working, resource conservation and CO₂ neutrality are of great importance.
The use of the PDF format offers so many advantages that it can confidently be described as a form of "green technology". After all, implementing a paperless office, which can significantly improve environmental performance, is also based on the use of digital data formats.
More on the topic of environmental protection through digitization:
What is the advantage of digital documents like PDF?
PDF increases a company’s sustainability when paper is genuinely replaced and reduced. Many companies still have room for improvement, as digital documents are often still printed. If PDF is consistently used as a substitute for paper-based processes, fax, and unnecessary printing, it can significantly improve sustainability. If only digital documents are used in a company, transport routes (postal delivery), paper disposal, and physical storage space for paper archives can also be reduced.
A company committed to sustainability can switch largely to PDF documents, since applications, contracts, invoices, descriptions, and marketing materials can all be created in PDF format.
How much of an environmental burden is paper?
Simply by eliminating paper invoices, a company’s sustainability can improve significantly. Saving paper is highly resource-efficient because paper production itself is resource-intensive and polluting. For example, around 10 liters of water may be required to produce one DIN A4 page. Offices with high paper consumption therefore have substantial potential for improvement through digital solutions.
Besides sustainability, however, there are other concrete advantages to digital conversion:
Workflows are significantly accelerated: a document can be available to the next location or employee within seconds. Another benefit is machine readability of PDF documents, which reduces processing time and minimizes errors. Most companies now want employees to collaborate on PDF documents efficiently, typically supported by ECM software solutions. Fewer and fewer organizations still rely on pure "paper management."
More transparency and effective work with PDF
An important advantage of digital documents is increased transparency. In practice, this means employees can access documents at any time, and OCR technology makes documents searchable within seconds. In addition, PDF documents are not tied to one physical location, which supports highly flexible work. With intelligent ECM systems, compliance and audit-proof archiving are easier to implement. Reducing paper use can therefore also support compliance, data protection, and long-term archiving goals.
More sustainability through digitisation and use of PDF documents
- Paper production and delivery routes contribute to air pollution
- Paper usage generates high volumes of waste
- Reducing paper helps conserve trees
- Paper production requires large amounts of water; using less paper saves water
- Digital workflows improve sustainability and also support flexible work from any location (including mobile work on tablets and smartphones)
- Transport routes and employee travel can be reduced
- Companies can reduce costs for physical archives (rent, heating, staff, etc.)
- Printing can also impact environment and health (e.g., fine dust particles from printers in poorly ventilated spaces)
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