For decades, it didn’t matter which industry you were talking about – most industries existed in a world of paper. Paper documents were created and stored away in endless filing cabinets. If you needed a document to work, you had to retrieve it physically. If that document was stolen, you could have a significant problem before you know it.
Thankfully, the tide is turning, and modern technology is to thank for much of it. Today, it isn’t just far less expensive to embrace digitization and store essential data in the cloud. It’s a major boost for communication, collaboration, and even security. Digital documents that are properly backed up are available instantly. They can’t get stolen or lost in a fire. The list goes on and on.
Again – this is not specific to any one particular field. Four diverse industries are finally ditching paper for the cloud that we could all learn a thing or two from moving forward.
1. Education
One great example of these ideas in action is in the education space. Whether you’re talking about K-12 or higher education doesn’t actually matter—historically, educators have leaned heavily into paper for not only assignments and tests but also administrative documents. As a result of the massive shift to remote learning due to the 2020 pandemic, districts have (understandably) opted to make some changes in the last few years.
When you consider the average number of students in a classroom multiplied by the number of classrooms in a school and multiplied again by the number of schools in a district, you begin to get a sense of just what an overwhelming volume of paper we’re really dealing with.
For example, consider the significant impact that something seemingly as simple as a data collection form can have. Rather than requiring students to make it home and back with a field trip permission slip (which is sometimes half the battle), parents can simply fill out a form from wherever they are to complete the same task. The same goes for homework assignments, quizzes, surveys, and more. Gone are the days of “blaming the dog” for eating your homework.
The opportunities for cloud-based solutions are truly endless for schools. Many districts are opting to equip their students with small computers or tablets to incorporate digital learning into their routines. This will make cloud-based solutions even more accessible and keep everyone connected in the future.
2. Healthcare
Another perfect example of an industry that is finally ditching paper for the cloud is the healthcare field. Even a patient who doesn’t go to the doctor often still has a massive amount of data associated with them. There are records for every visit, test, or procedure they’ve ever had. There are authorization forms. There is information about any prescriptions they might be taking. The list goes on and on.
If a primary care physician wants to collaborate with a specialist, the patient must wait for documents to go from one office to the next. This could cause a substantial delay in the time it takes someone to get the care they need,- particularly if something is lost or delayed in transit. Not to mention the time savings of the check-in process—if a patient’s data is readily available before they walk into a practice, it is a much more seamless experience on that first visit.
Additionally, patient portals have made data much more transparent from provider to patient, resulting in better quality care. Images, reports, test results, clinical notes, and more are now readily available for both medical professionals and patients to review.
When patient information is stored in the cloud, communication and collaboration happen easily, and care can be provided as quickly as possible.
3. Finance
The financial sector has also historically been known for drowning in a proverbial sea of paper. If you’ve ever tried purchasing a home, you know just how many paper forms you must fill out. From financial statements to application forms to closing documentation, even a “simple” transaction can still require countless paper signatures, creating a time-consuming and stressful process for everyone involved.
Buying a home is a great example because there is also a lot of overlap (naturally) with the real estate industry—one that has had its own problems with paper-based records in the past.
However, with the cloud, digital data collection, and advancements like e-signatures, all this changes instantly. Applications, contracts, and even reports become far easier and more effective to manage. Processes that used to take weeks or even months to complete can now be finalized in a matter of days.
Home buyers are no longer restricted to working with local banks; they can secure a loan at an even more competitive interest rate through national lenders, doing all the paperwork remotely. Everything moves quickly, creating more efficient lives for professionals and a more enjoyable experience for those who enlist the services of those same people.
4. Manufacturing
Last but not least, we arrive at manufacturing, an industry that has long been considered the foundation of the United States economy.
For decades, it’s also been one that has used paper for everything. From work orders to quality control checks to inventory management, paper has always slowed down an environment that typically needs to operate as quickly as possible.
Thankfully, all those things can be digitized via cloud technology. You get the same quality results in a fraction of the time, allowing smaller manufacturing businesses in particular, to preserve their already thin profit margins as much as possible.
When you consider the many different use cases that the cloud brings, it’s clear that this widespread move to digital is long overdue for most businesses.
Streamlining workflows, dramatically empowering collaboration, and creating a more secure (and therefore more productive) working environment are just some of the goals that most businesses would give anything to accomplish successfully. Most businesses would give anything to accomplish any one of these goals, let alone all three of them at the same time. That’s a perfect example of how the cloud literally transforms how businesses operate.
Wrapping it Up:
These are just four of the many examples of industries that are leading the charge and encouraging many others to finally leave paper behind. The more efficient, digital future is finally upon us. If yours is a business that hasn’t already chosen to embrace that with open arms, now would be an excellent time to start.
