Electronic Documents Improve Customer Service While Saving Money & the Environment

The primary reason that people use DocuSign is to help save money, grow revenue faster and operate more efficiently. But as we’re highlighting with the DocuSign Eco-Challenge, the environmental benefits of using DocuSign can be significant as well: Turns out that making paper and moving it around has a huge negative impact on the environment. Reducing paper consumption is also an easy way to lower costs. 

In the past, companies often linked environmental concerns with added costs and regulatory burdens. No more. In our more enlightened times, companies are finding that they can reduce their environmental impact while also improving the bottom line. As Wall Street & Technology’s Penny Crosman writes in Green is the New Black, Wall Street firms are working overtime to reduce energy consumption in data centers in order to cut costs. What’s not to love: save money and help improve the environment.

Another big consumer of electricity to power data centers is Google, which is taking aggressive steps to lower its power consumption by rolling out the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the US. Needless to say, Google believes that its investment in renewable energy will be profitable.

Beyond the direct cost savings, being green is good business. Consumers are increasingly looking for ways to help the environment, and want to do business with companies that “get it.” For example, what consumer isn’t going to think more highly of a mortgage broker who sends contracts with DocuSign along with a note about how e-signatures help the environment? Toyota’s long-term commitment to delivering environmentally-friendly products no doubt helped to push it past GM as the world’s No. 1 automaker. While GM was off building gas-guzzling tanks, Toyota was changing the world one tank at a time with hybrids.

Another way to help the environment – and improve performance – is through green building. The state of Washington, for example, is using green construction for new schools not only to lower energy consumption by 30 percent, but also because green buildings are proven to increase student test scores by 20 percent and reduce worker absenteeism by 15 percent.  Over at Quadrant Homes, a major homebuilder in the Seattle area, new homes are Built Green.  And, of course, Quadrant uses DocuSign.

While we’re on the topic of homes, as highlighted over at Amazon’s Green Life blog, a simple way (almost as easy as using DocuSign) to help the environment is to switch over to compact fluorescents (CFLs). Thanks to continued development, CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. The price is coming down too. For example, I picked up a 4-pack of 60 watt equivalent CFLs at Home Depot this weekend for $7. A couple of years ago this same pack was over $20 (and still a good deal).

This roundup is just scratching the surface. It’s not hard to find examples where companies are employing new technology to lower costs, grow faster, be more efficient and help the environment. If your company is looking to make a difference and help the environment, there’s nothing easier than breaking the fax and FedEx habit by switching to DocuSign. Go green and take the DocuSign Eco-Challenge today.