One of my biggest surprises during the onboarding at Boomer Consulting, Inc. was the dearth of office paper and printers. In fact, I know of only one printer at 21 work locations, tucked away in the back office at the one non-remote work location, the company’s Kansas City meeting space.
Well-vetted cloud-based applications, an amazing home office “kit” (see below) and a fervent devotion to real-time documenting in the cloud for all projects, tasks, minutes, meetings and sales calls make this paper-free environment possible.
Of course, going paperless takes a lot of getting used to. Without the visual aid of a file cabinet, I rack my brain for which app has the information I need and what I might have named it. This mental indexing and subsequent toggling between apps has taken me down many a rabbit hole. To this end, Boomer has incorporated several processes for its paperless environment.
Consciously minimizing the number of apps we use
Before making any new app available, our IT department goes through a serious vetting process, asking whether we already have something to accomplish the same task.
They exhaust the power of existing apps before recommending new ones, minimizing the number of places information can be. We currently use Asana, Box, Google Suite, Zoom, Bamboo HR, HubSpot and Microsoft 365, including Teams.
Naming standards
BCI has created naming standards for every shared communique, including calendar invites, travel information, meeting schedules, check deposit reports and files for delivering member engagements and Circle communities. This enhances the likelihood that documents in those relatively few, carefully vetted apps can be found by everyone.
The BCI team is entirely virtual, and BCI provides the following standard hardware “kit.”
A docking station - We also connected a 60w power adaptor to the docking station instead of 120+, the factory provided adapter, because we needed more capacity.
Webcam and a microphone - Yes, this webcam is also microphones!
Battery backup and surge protector - This ensures we can save our work in case of a power loss.
5. A wide monitor - The “pièce de résistance” is a 34” monitor allowing us to display multiple windows simultaneously.
Only carefully curated technology and standardized processes can make the paperless office possible. I control my printer-less panic by remembering that I can display multiple windows on the monitor at once and that my notes can be stored in only so many locations (i.e., apps).
I need only glance from Zoom to an Asana project to Box to Teams to Bamboo HR for any information I might have otherwise printed.
Could you benefit from structure and accountability as you strive to push your firm forward?
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As an Administrative Coordinator for Boomer Consulting, Inc., Leda Sedlock helps manage our Accounting Innovation Center meeting space by coordinating rentals and providing on-site meeting support. She also helps with scheduling and travel arrangements for our leadership team.
Before joining Boomer Consulting, Inc., Leda owned a market research company and consulted on the viability of business initiatives, market opportunities, and tactical market plans. Leda has a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from the University of California, Davis, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
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