Before the coronavirus crisis, working from home was not very common. Indeed, if this practice was already widespread in other countries such as the Netherlands, in France, just a few companies used to encourage their employees to do it.
However, in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the government recommends the use of telework for all jobs that allow it since the first lockdown of March 2020. Even today, it is one of the major axes of the governmental strategy to fight the pandemic.
This first lockdown has, moreover, highlighted the delay of a good number of companies in the digitalization of their activities. They had more difficulties to adapt and to set up teleworking at the beginning of this period of crisis.
Why is it beneficial for companies to introduce teleworking?
While the use of teleworking came suddenly, it appeared that it had many positive aspects for companies. First of all, your employees are less tired. They are then more responsive and productive in their work.
Teleworking allows them to find a better balance between their professional and personal life. They are thus more fulfilled, which improves their motivation and their involvement in their work.
These beneficial effects reduce psycho-social risks, absenteeism and sick leaves.
Contrary to what one might think, we observe an increase in the productivity of teleworking employees because they are less often interrupted during their tasks, which increases their concentration.
At the same time, this frees a part of your premises. You can reduce your costs by removing part of your offices.
What are the effects of teleworking on your employees?
As seen previously, teleworking has many advantages for companies because it is often beneficial for employees. In fact, reducing the time spent in transport frees up time for work but also for the personal lives of employees. They find a better work-life balance because teleworking offers greater flexibility in the management of their schedule. In addition, the working conditions are generally more comfortable, which reduces stress and tiredness.
Why are some companies reluctant to telework?
First of all, not all jobs lend themself to it. Only so-called โofficeโ jobs are adapted with teleworking.
Second, some companies have concerns about the privacy and security of their data. However, the crisis showed that the companies resistant to telework struggled to adapt quickly during the first lockdown which could have put their activities at risk.
Indeed, telework have to be anticipated. It is in particular necessary to set up new modes of interaction to overcome the feeling of isolation that some employees may feel. But the essential element for the success of teleworking is undoubtedly dematerialization. If this has not been put in place beforehand, teleworking will not make it possible to maintain a usual level of service.
What do we mean by “dematerialization”?
Within a company we can distinguish the dematerialization of documents and the dematerialization of processes. Dematerialization of a document is just producing it in digital form. This then leads to a change in the processing and managing processes of these documents. Dematerializing your documents requires you to also dematerialize all or part of your processes.
Here are some examples of documents that can and should be dematerialized: pay slip, customer and supplier invoices, order and delivery advice, contracts, etc.
These documents must comply with certain standards in order to comply with the legal obligations in force.
Factur-X and Order-X are two examples. To find out more about these two standards, we invite you to read our articles on the establishment of a common standard for electronic orders and on the new model of dematerialization of invoices (french article).
What are the different dematerialization solutions in companies?
In order to dematerialize your commercial and administrative documents, you can turn to different solutions. For example, there are documents management systems or EDM solutions that allow paper documents to be digitized. There are also electronic archiving solutions as well as solutions in hosted or Saas mode.
Regarding the dematerialization of processes, we distinguish solutions for P2P or Purchase ta Pay processes such as receipt, control and validation of invoices, electronic signatures, payments, etc. ; managerial processes with solutions allowing the implementation of dashboards to organize, monitor and manage activity remotely, which is essential to ensure the efficiency of teleworking.
What are the advantages of document dematerialization?
Dematerializing your documents and processes has many advantages which should be taken into consideration, particularly in view of the current context:
- Reduced risk of data entry or archiving errors thanks to process automation.
- Less time spent by your employees on time-consuming tasks, resulting in a focus on tasks with higher added value and an improvement in employee well-being.
- Reduction in costs related to paper, ink cartridges, storage, methods of distributing documents such as envelopes and postage costs …
- The circulation of documents within the company and with your partners is facilitated and accelerated, which allows you greater efficiency and responsiveness in the context of teleworking.
- Improved security of data that is saved on secure servers.
Apart from the COVID-19 crisis and teleworking, dematerialization allows greater reliability in document management (fewer errors and omissions), better responsiveness and refocusing of employees’ work on tasks with higher added value.
But in the current context, it is essential to realize that teleworking is not simply making laptops and smartphones available to its employees. The dematerialization of systems is a prerequisite for work efficiency to be maintained. It is essential to find solutions that respect confidentiality and data protection while allowing the efficiency of teleworking.
The documents must be made accessible to all people who may need to access them regardless of the medium and their location at the moment.
TX2 CONCEPT and dematerialization
Such a transition must be prepared with care. This is why it is preferable to be supported by companies specialized in dematerialization.
At TX2 CONCEPT, as an expert in electronic data exchange or EDI, we are able to help you. Our solutions make it possible to dematerialize any type of flow, whether they are trade, administrative or logistics flows.
Whether with hosted EDI, licensed EDI or web EDI, the flows you exchange with your partners can be dematerialized. This can be done in a fully integrated way with your ERP if you have one. Your commercial transactions such as your purchase orders, shipping advices and invoices can thus be dematerialized thanks to our EDI solutions in order to simplify your exchanges.
In particular, we offer an invoice dematerialization solution. This allows you to dematerialize your invoices for tax purposes in EDI or PDF format. TX2 E-INVOICING is available in hosting as well as in license in different languages.
It is also possible to dematerialize your product sheets in order to reduce the administrative costs of maintaining the product databases and to optimize processes with partners in order to avoid errors and disputes.
To find out more about our solutions, you can contact us to be advised and supported in your digital transformation project.
