How Developers Can Support Sustainability with Document Processing Solutions

Summary: Organizations are increasingly implementing sustainability initiatives, and making procurement decisions based on them. Here’s how to join the conversation with document processing technology that supports digital transformation and is kind to the planet.

Sustainability continues to be a major concern for businesses and consumers, and commitments to sustainability impact business decisions such as which software tools to use. A recent study highlighted in Forbes showed that 96.7% of respondents have a sustainability project in place at their organizations.

Document processing technology and increased digitization of paper-intensive document workflows has a clear positive impact on environmental sustainability. U.S offices use 12.1 trillion sheets of paper a year, and solutions such as e-signatures, PDF reviews and annotations, and intelligent document processing may help reduce this paper use. And don’t forget ink and toner, which contribute to harmful pollution and emissions.

However, for software developers creating document processing solutions, what’s the best way to develop products that best support sustainability initiatives? Organizations looking to procure software solutions consider environmental and social sustainability initiatives. Here are a few ways to boost your project’s sustainability appeal to help not only your customers, but also society and the planet.

With corporations spending more than $120 billion a year on printed forms and a typical employee spending 30-40% of their time looking for information kept in filing cabinets, digital transformation has an important role to play in not only saving paper and trees, but also money. To be part of this digital transformation, document processing software must offer the robust functionality users need to complete a wide range of tasks, such as processing forms and invoices, completing reviews, approvals and signatures, sharing documents, editing documents, and generating new documents.

Our Webviewer and Server SDKs offer all these features and more, including:

Digitizing workflows using these key elements does more than save paper (try comparing printed documents without going cross-eyed.) The environmental sustainability of digital document processing tools also effect transportation emissions of all those tons of paper products, as well as emissions for paper submission of documents by mail or courier, kilowatts of energy used to print and recycle the paper, and tons of ink, toner and disposable packaging such as printer cartridges. Like any business process, simplifying brings efficiency.

The longer a development team works on a project, the more costs increase. Using proven SDKs and libraries to quickly add functionality at a low cost not only improves business performance, it also enhances sustainability by putting tools to support these initiatives in customers’ hands sooner, and reducing the energy and resource expenditure required to produce your product. Faster time to market also puts your tools in customers’ hands before your competitors.

Sustainability initiatives and the companies that put them in place value not only the health of the planet, but also social responsibility. Universal Accessibility is a key part of how software and web tools support social sustainability. Using Apryse SDKs is a great way to ensure your document processing UI is accessible to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards, and compliant with regulations such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in markets across the globe. More than likely, customers that consider sustainability during procurement will also place a high value on accessibility.

Check out our latest accessibility improvements here. 

While it’s important for everyone to respect and conserve our planet’s resources, business sustainability initiatives are shown to not only reduce waste and carbon footprint, but also provide positive effects by encouraging businesses to adopt more efficient processes that also save money. Providing document processing tools that support these initiatives is a great way to not only do your part for the Earth, but also to ensure your product is part of the conversation at organizations that strongly consider these values.

To learn more about how Apryse SDKs can fit into your project, contact our team!