Going paperless: a basic 4-step guide that suits every legal department

published on Cloud technology, Legal Technology
Going paperless requires way beyond investing in a good scanner. When you go paperless, it impacts workflows. Simply put, it will change the way people work. As beneficial as going paperless can be, the changes that come about with it can take a toll on colleagues who will have to move away from their comfort zones to welcome the new way of working.

Having this in mind, we prepared a step-by-step guide to help your legal department to get started with going paperless so that your team is prepared to address challenges that might come your way.

1. Create a plan and develop a strategy for everyone involved:

When going paperless, the first and foremost thing to do is to create a plan and a strategy taking into account all those who will be part of the process. The idea about “going paperless” can vary among departments. Therefore, it is important to draft clearly written policies and procedures for everyone who will be part of the process. Setting a definite transition date gives everyone a workable road map and ensures everyone is on the same page.

2. Create a paperless workflow that is within the organisation’s workflows:

The paperless policy should outline the organisation’s workflows. Make sure that you define which documents you want to convert to paperless, and whether they include both incoming and outgoing documents. Whatever your paperless workflow is, should align with your budget and resources.

3. Back up your documents:

When you transition to a paperless office, make sure you have your data backed up at more than one location so that you’ll not lose them. Cloud-based solution providers are more responsible in backing up your data to their servers. Just remember that if you choose to store your data on your own servers, it is upon you to ensure that your data is backed up somewhere else.

4. Integrate your legal management software with other solutions:

With a legal management system like Legisway, it’s possible to integrate with other solutions to create an entirely paperless workflow. For instance, take contract management – in addition to a basic workflow for approving and managing legal documents (in this case contracts), with the DocuSign integration, legal departments can have an an entirely digital and paperless workflow, including collecting e-signatures for approvals.

If there’s one thing corporate legal departments around the world have in common, it’s paper – and lots of it. While typewriters and carbon paper may have been trending topics thirty years ago, legal departments can no longer rely on redundant processes. Implementing a paperless workflow not only saves time, but improves storage and retrieval resulting in higher efficiency and productivity.

Trying to reduce your paper trail and overcome information management challenges? Download the whitepaper “Digital Transformation for Legal Departments”  and learn how you can benefit from digitisation and steps you can take to implement technology in your legal department. Get it here.