5 Tools that will help you keep your office paperless.


5 Tools that will help you keep your office paperless.

The World has Changed.

We can all agree there is no going back from the digital age. Today we live in the world of emails and direct deposits. There is a chance that you work with someone you rarely see because everything is done with emails and software.

The same scenario is happening with the way we delivery goods and services. Most of the people we helped during tax season didn't show up. Most of them sent emails and/or faxed their tax documents.

Why paperless.

In our case, we need to keep all our client documents in a readable format. Also, we need a way to find documents fast if ever requested by the IRS.

But let’s look into another benefit, paper. Paper is expensive to our pockets and to the environment. I did not know how expensive paper was until I had the need to purchase it in large quantities.

I am going to detail 5 tools that I have mastered to keep my office paperless. I am doing this within my Google apps domain that I am already paying for.

There are companies out there that offer document management solutions. But I personally think that by using the Google approach I have more control and flexibility over my client data.

Also, those third party document management solutions are expensive as well.

First, let's put everything together in the following order.

#1 Domain name. $12 / year.

If you haven't, you should purchase a domain for your company. I suggest doing this through Google. With Google it is much easier to set up other essential services like professional email.

#2 professional email. $5 per user, per month.

Keeping it real! Assuming you have 5 members in your team. You’ll be paying $300 / year. With this, you get Google drive and the Google apps bundle.

With Google apps for work the big benefit is Google drive. With Google drive each user gets 30gb of cloud drive. What we are going to take advantage of is the sharing capabilities within the Google domain.

In one folder all your client data can be organized and shared with all users.

#3 Netdrive. Network Drive for Windows. Free.

This software helps connect the Google drive to the computer as a mapped drive in your computer.
We do this for each user on each computer connecting their own drive. The’ll see the shared folder within the Google drive domain.

#4 CutePDF. Free.

This is the tool that will help us print all our documents to PDF format and save them directly to our shared Google drive.

#5 Sing Request. Free.

This is a Google drive web app. We are going to use this app within Google drive and send signature request.  After the document is signed by the client, It stores the signed document right into Google drive. Sweet!

Now the workflow.

Assuming that you signed up for everything listed above and installed the necessary software, let’s do step by step the workflow.

Step # 1:

Receive the client information via email, digital fax, or request intake form. Save the documents directly to Google drive from Gmail.

Step # 2:

Before jumping to the tax prep software, let’s save the client’s contact info in Google contacts. Make sure it is being save to the shared contact group.

Step # 3:

Now that the contact information has been saved. Open your tax prep software and windows explorer.
If Netdrive was installed and connected properly, you’ll your Google drive connected. This is where we’ll save all data related to our clients.

Soon you’ll get used to work with multiple windows in your computer. A dual monitor setup comes handy.

Step # 4:

Once done with the tax prep software. It is time to print to PDF.

Assuming that CutePDF was installed properly. Now it is time to hit print on your tax prep software and select CutePDF as your printer.

When prompted to save the document make sure it is being saved into the Google drive shared folder and into the client’s folder.

Step # 5:

Now back to Google drive in your internet browser. Locate the client's shared folder. From here we can send a request to sign the document to the client’s email. Once everything is signed, it gets stored in Google drive. It is important to move the signed document to the client’s folder created earlier.

In conclusion, when putting together the tools that I just mentioned, I am able to keep my office paperless. All the files are in a readable format, easy to access and share with my associates and clients.

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