Why the agriculture industry should go paperless

1. Easier data entry on-site

Instead of using a paper form or checklists, data entry can be performed on-site with the use of a mobile data collection app such as Locale Central. Most data collection apps automatically sync your data to the cloud when you submit your form, simplifying the data entry process. With Locale Central, you can also customise your form to match your business needs, and add validation to your form to make sure you enter the data accurately.

Aside from using applications for data-entry, IoT, or Internet of Things, can be used to automatically capture data points on your farm, orchard, or other areas to feed into where you store data on the cloud. This automates a lot of the basic data collection process, simplifying the process of capturing data on-site.

2. Save money, time, and space

At a basic level, going paperless saves you money spent on paper, printing, scanning, office equipment, and other basic costs associated with managing and storing paper documents. Going paperless also saves your team time recording, transcribing, and storing documents which can be redistributed to more profitable tasks.

Administrators especially benefit from a paperless approach because it improves the productivity of their workflow. Instead of scanning, storing, emailing, or re-entering data from paper forms as part of your daily routine, a digital form automatically stores your data securely online in a format you can typically export and re-use with other technology such as Excel or invoicing software.

Going paperless also saves you physical space, which would have previously used on filing cabinets and hardware to print, scan, and store your paper documents.

3. Fast access to your documents

Have you ever tried finding a document by a transaction number, or small snippet of text? It’s like a needle in a haystack, especially if your paper documents are not properly organized. By storing your documents on the cloud, one key benefit is the ability to quickly search your documents by many attributes such as it’s name, when it was created, and it’s contents to find the document you want quickly.

4. Improved security and disaster recovery

It’s not easy to recover paper documents in the event of a disaster, but in the event of a fire, flood, or other disaster, your documents on the cloud remain secure and easily accessible. By storing your documents on your cloud, you can also improve the protection for your confidential documents by controlling access to who can view them.

5. Better impact on the environment

Less paper and ink used is simply kinder on the environment. Less printing means fewer trees are cut down, waste is reduced, and less energy is used to manufacture and transport the raw materials that go into making your paper documents.

6. Data-driven decision making

By storing all your data and documents on the cloud, it is easier to leverage your information to make informed business decisions. With a thorough paperless solution, you can track the status of your projects and other critical information to give you visibility and support your business decisions.