If you’re old enough to remember the introduction of computers to business in the 1980s, you also may recall the many promises for a paperless society. Of course, as computer use exploded, we used more paper than anyone ever imagined. Since more things could be tracked and charted, they were…and printed on paper.

With the recent and almost universal acceptance of the Portable Document File (PDF) from Adobe, we are now actually getting to a place where paperless could work. I look at the reams of paper I use each month (and then have to store forever) and think I could do better.

So I’ve begun. Starting in August, I’ve stored all the project invoices that get emailed to me in separate project computer files as soon as they arrive. I stopped printing out hard copies. I will mark up the invoices with Adobe Acrobat using:

1. Dynamic Stamp tool (to indicate my approval to pay and the date)
2. Cloud tool (to clarify the amount to pay)
3. Text Box (to note any special circumstances or issues on the invoice)

I’ll also begin asking the contractors and vendors I work with to email me their invoices instead of mailing or faxing. I’ll agree to send back a response to every received invoice to let the sender know it’s in my system (which is more info than they would have had under the old system).

If folks still want to mail their invoices out of habit or concern that I get them, that will be fine too. I’ll just match the mailed invoice to the PDF, then throw away the paper copy.

I’m planning other technology improvements that I’ll be sharing with the contractors that I work with most often. Together we can get more efficient and improve our bottomlines.