More and more businesses are turning to India to supplement their workforce. However, once they overcome the challenge of finding remote workers, they’re confronted with a new obstacle–how exactly do you send money to India?

Fortunately, we’ve got the answer right here! In this blog post, we’ll tell you what you should consider before sending money to India, share with you your best options for transferring money, and discuss the various pros and cons of each of those options.

Things to Consider When Sending Money to India

Before selecting a payment method, you’ll first want to evaluate it based on the following criteria:

1. Speed

Everyone values being paid promptly. While remote workers typically realize there may be some delays sending money overseas, you should aim to make those delays reasonable.

For instance, although you could send a personal check through the United States Post Office’s First Class Mail International Service, deliveries generally take 7-21 days to arrive–and even that timeframe isn’t guaranteed. Rather than go that route, it’s a better idea to look for a service that offers a faster delivery time.

2. Ease-of-Use

Some money remittance services are more arduous to use than others. After all, there’s a big difference between driving to your local bank to get an international money order and hopping on your phone to send a payment electronically.

While you might not mind a bank trip for a one-off payment, it’s definitely worth choosing an electronic payment method if you expect to be sending money on a regular basis.

3. Fees

Regardless of how you opt to send money to India, you’ll typically have to pay fees. Be aware that these fees can vary significantly from provider to provider.

For instance, most banks charge $35-$65 to wire money internationally. However, Bank of America doesn’t charge anything–as long as you send the money in rupees, India’s official currency.

4. Exchange Rate

Exchange rates are constantly fluctuating. By way of example, at the time of this writing, one dollar is equal to 74.46 Indian rupees, whereas 5 years ago, it was equal to 65.11 Indian rupees.

While the exchange rate may not seem like such a big deal to you, it will matter to your recipient–who won’t receive the full amount of the money you send. Take, for instance, the difference between two $1,000 transactions, calculated using different exchange rates:

 

As you can see, even this relatively small difference in exchange rates translates into 3,000 less rupees for the recipient. And of course, the larger the transaction, the more money your recipient will lose out on.

That’s why it’s a good idea to find out the mid-market rate–the exchange rate banks use when they’re trading with each other. Then, compare different money remittance services to see what their exchange rates are–so you can see how much of a markup they’re charging.

To simplify this process, we suggest visiting Exchange Rate IQ, a website that lets you quickly compare exchange rates among different money transfer providers.

5. Reliability

According to Incomopedia, “Money transfer companies aren’t subject to the same legal requirements as banks. In fact, they aren’t closely regulated at all, so using them is inherently risky.”

To avoid those risks, Incomopedia suggests seeking out a money transfer provider that provides bank-grade encryption–that’s important because the provider will have all your bank details and were they to be hacked, you could have your money stolen.

Furthermore, you’ll want to select a transparent provider, since hidden fees are the most common way money transfer companies cheat you out of your money. To assess whether there are any hidden fees, be sure to read over the Terms and Conditions before using a money transfer provider for the first time.

The Best Ways to Send Money to India

To make it easier for you to choose a money transfer provider, we’ve identified our top picks for each of these categories:

• Best for Low Exchange Rates
• Best for Technophobes
• Best for Sending Money to Friends and Family
• Best for B2B Money Transfers
• Best for Sending Large Amounts of Money
• Best for Low Fees
• Best for Quick Transfers

Best for Low Exchange Rates

1. Wise

Formerly known as TransferWise, Wise was developed by two guys who grew frustrated by the expensive fees and bad exchange rates they experienced with other transfer services.

As a result, Wise has lower fees than many of its competitors, which is just one reason the company’s many fans give Wise rave reviews on Trustpilot (4.6/5 stars).

Although Wise doesn’t have branch locations, users can send money to India via the company’s website or its app. Additionally, money transfers can be funded with a bank debit, wire transfer, debit card, or credit card, although fees vary depending on the method used.

Pros

• Money transfers are done using the mid-market exchange rate; even better, you can lock in that rate for a period of time should you decide not to send money immediately.
• No hidden fees – you can visit Wise’s website to calculate how much it would cost to transfer money using Wise, as well as via its competitors. If Wise isn’t the cheapest option, the company will let you know upfront.
• Fast cash transfers – Wise lets you send money within one day using a same day transfer or even instantly, with an instant money transfer.
• Wise is considered a safe and reliable money transfer provider.

Cons

• You can’t fund a Wise payment with cash.
• No cash pickup option–you can only send money directly to someone’s bank account.
• When sending amounts larger than $10,000, a foreign exchange specialist may be cheaper than Wise.
• Customer service is only available by phone in the US from 9am until 5pm ET on weekdays.

Best for Technophobes

2. Money Order

If you want to send money securely to India but don’t want to do so over the Internet, a money order is a great option. A money order is a printed, pre-paid certificate that can be mailed to your Indian recipient for cashing. Money orders can be purchased at banks, gas stations, grocery stores, the post office, and other third-party locations.

Pros

• Relatively cheap – a money order typically costs $5 or less
• If a money order hasn’t been cashed yet, you can still cancel it (for a fee).
• Recipients typically don’t need a bank account to cash a money order.
• An ID is required to cash a money order, which minimizes your risk.

Cons

• Money orders usually have poor exchange rates.
• If you need to replace a lost money order, it can take the issuer 20-30 days to send you a new one and as long as 8 weeks if you don’t have the receipt.
• International money orders can be made out for a maximum of $700, so you’ll need several if you want to send a larger amount.
• It might take weeks for your money order to reach India via snail mail.

Best for Sending Money to Friends and Family in India

3. Remitly

Headquartered in Seattle, Remitly is a great option when you want to send money to friends and family fast. It’s also a secure and reliable choice for transferring money, since the company is registered with the U.S. Dept. of Treasury as a Money Services Business and offers 100% satisfaction on your transactions–or your fees back.

Additionally, Remitly makes sending money easy and convenient with its highly rated mobile app (4.8 on Google Play, 4.9 on the Apple app store).

Pros

• Remitly offers a more favorable exchange rate for first-time users.
• Two options for sending money–Express and Economy; Express arrives within 4 hours and Economy takes 3-5 business days.
• No fees if you send $1,000 or more; a flat fee of $3.99 for smaller transactions.
• Money can be transferred to 130+ Indian banks, and Remitly allows recipients to pick up their funds at 100,000+ cash pick-up locations throughout India.

Cons

The Express delivery option offers a less favorable exchange rate than the Economy option.

Lower sending limits than some other companies – you can send $2,999 to $10,000, depending on how much information you provide to confirm your identity.

Remitly is for personal transactions, not business ones – if you try to make a business transaction, your account is at risk of being flagged.

Remitly charges an additional 3% fee for credit card transactions – still, this is fairly comparable to many of the other companies on this list.

Best for B2B Money Transfers

4. XE Money Transfer

XE is a well-known, trusted money service provider that earns rave reviews from its customers (9.6/10). Although the company doesn’t have branch locations like some of its competitors, transfers can be made via XE’s website or mobile app and funded with a bank account or credit/debit card.

Unlike some of the other money transfer providers on this list, XE offers two different types of accounts–personal and business. Business account holders gain access to a variety of tools and currency risk management solutions–which is why it’s well-worth considering XE for money transfers if you own and operate your own business.

Pros

• XE is fast – most money transfers to India are completed within just a few minutes.
• No limits on the amount of money you can transfer – you can send up to $500,000 online or more if you contact XE by phone.
• Competitive rates – while banks typically charge 3 – 7% of the amount being sent (fees + exchange rate markup), XE usually charges .5 – 2%.
• XE doesn’t charge a fee when sending money funded with a bank transfer or direct debit (note: the company does add an exchange rate markup).

Cons

• For money transfers less than $7,000, XE charges a higher markup on the exchange rate.
• Recipients don’t have the ability to receive money via cash pickup; money must be sent to a bank account.
• Setting up a new account can be a lengthy process.
• All currency transfers are done through the SWIFT banking network, and banks at either end may charge the recipient some fees; XE has no control over this.

5. Payoneer

US-based Payoneer is a financial services company that was founded in 2005. With lots of big-name clients, like Google, Airbnb, Upwork, Amazon, and Walmart, Payoneer is a popular and trusted choice for B2B transfers.

Payoneer has extensive reach, and it offers services in India, as well as over 195 countries with 100+ currencies. When making an international payment, users have the option of paying via a bank account or a credit card, respectively incurring a 1% or 3% fee. However, no fees are charged if money is sent from one Payoneer account to another and funded with a Payoneer balance.

Pros

• Lower exchange rate than some other money transfer options (up to 2% above the market exchange rate).
• Once a payment is received, Payoneer transfers it within 24 hours to your recipient’s bank account.
• Payoneer typically receives high reviews from its users and has a score of 4.6/5 on Trustpilot.
• With the ability to batch pay multiple contractors at once, Payoneer makes it easy to process payroll.

Cons

• Payoneer allows business payments only, so you can’t use the service to send money to friends or family abroad.
• For a 12-month period of inactivity, Payoneer charges an annual fee of $29.95.
• Reportedly, there are a number of hoops your Indian recipient may have to jump through to receive a global payment, including presenting a copy of an ID, an invoice, screenshots of account activity, etc.
• Although Payoneer offers 24/7 phone, email, and live chat customer support, a small percentage of customers have reported that customer service is slow.

Best for Sending Large Amounts of Money

6. Wire Transfer

A wire transfer is used to transfer money electronically from one bank to another. The money is then credited to your recipient’s bank account.

International wire transfers can be made from virtually any bank and in many cases, online, via your bank’s website. Additionally, you can also send an international wire using a non-bank transfer service–which is well-worth considering since these services typically charge lower fees than banks do.

Pros

• Wire transfers are generally considered a very safe option for sending money internationally.
• Unlike ACH transfers, wire transfers are processed faster and typically take around 2 business days.
• Some banks don’t have transaction limits, so you can send as much money as you want with a wire transfer.
• There usually isn’t a hold put on the money, so recipients won’t have to wait for the funds they receive to clear.

Cons

• An international wire transfer is nonreversible–making it riskier than some of the other payment remittance services listed here.
• Banks typically charge a $30-$75 fee for outgoing international wires, making this a relatively expensive option.
• Exchange rates vary from bank to bank, sometimes significantly. Typically, banks don’t readily share their exchange rate markup, so beware of hidden wire transfer fees.
• No cash pickup option – the recipient must have a bank account that you can transfer the money into.

Best for Low Fees

7. Western Union

With 150 years in the industry, Western Union is a reliable source for making international money transfers to India. Plus, as the largest money transfer provider, Western Union not only offers online transfers and a mobile app, but it also has more than 42,000 US locations–making it really convenient to transfer money in-person at a Western Union branch.

Additionally, Western Union has a low exchange rate markup and zero fees if you fund the payment with your bank account and don’t mind a longer transfer period (0-4 business days).

Pros

• Transfers are done in real-time if you send less than 200,000 INR (about $2,709 USD) and pay with a debit or credit card.
• Western Union’s exchange rate markup is low, compared to other services.
• Western Union offers a 24/7 live chat option.
• No fees if you transfer money from your bank account directly to the bank account of your recipient.

Cons

• Higher fees if you arrange for cash to be picked up in-person, rather than transferring it directly to a bank account.
• If you make your money transfer in-person at a Western Union branch, you’ll be subject to a higher exchange rate markup.
• Western Union doesn’t have an email customer support option.
• Like most money transfer services, Western Union charges significantly more to send cash via credit card. For instance, the fee for sending $1,000 USD by credit card to a bank account in India is $29.99, compared to just $2.99 when paying with a debit card.

8. ACH Transfer

One of the more secure methods for sending money to India, an ACH transfer is a bank-to-bank transfer that goes through the Automated Clearing House, an electronic funds transfer system run by NACHA. You’ve probably sent or received an ACH transfer yourself, if you’ve ever been paid via direct deposit or used your bank’s bill pay option.

ACH transfers are super-convenient, since no trip to the bank is required, and fees are small to non-existent–however, be aware that with ACH transfers, it can take anywhere from 3-5 business days for recipients to receive their money.

Pros

• ACH transfers are typically free, although some banks may charge a small $1.00 fee per transaction.
• Unlike some other money transfer options, if you make an error when submitting an international ACH transfer, you may be able to reverse it.
• Most banks provide extensive customer support, offering multiple easy ways to get in touch with a representative.
• International ACH transfers are incredibly convenient, since you can do them online.

Cons

• Depending on the bank, you may be subject to per transaction transfer limits or daily/weekly/monthly limits.
• ACH transfers can take as long as 3-5 business days.
• No cash pickup option – this transfer method only works if your recipient has a bank account.
• Although banks use the mid-market exchange rate when trading with each other, they do markup international ACH transfers; the markup percentage varies, depending on the bank you use.

9. Ria

One of the largest money transfer services, Ria is a safe, secure choice for sending money to India. Even better, Ria offers several convenient transfer options. For instance, Ria users can send money via its website, mobile app, or in-person at one of its branch locations, which are often conveniently located inside Walmart and 7-Eleven. Additionally, Ria allows users to send money directly to a bank account or for cash pickup at locations throughout India

Pros

• Ria’s fees are cheap (just $1) when you send money from one bank account to another.
• Fast transfers – if you pay with cash, a credit card, or a debit card, your recipient can pick up their cash at a branch location within 15 minutes.
• Unlike some other money transfer providers, Ria doesn’t have a minimum transfer amount.
• Although Ria does add an exchange rate markup, the markup is competitive compared to other providers.

Cons

• Low transfer limits – users are allowed to send up to $2,999 per transfer and $7,999 per month.
• You can’t lock in an exchange rate with Ria – which is something some of the other money transfer providers allow.
• When funding your payment with a bank account, delivery time is slow–it can take up to 4 business days for your recipient to receive the money.
• Ria’s customer service team isn’t available by phone in the evenings if you live on the West Coast.

10. Paysend

One of the newer companies on this list, Paysend was founded in 2017. Headquartered in the UK, Paysend has expanded quickly and to date, the company’s served over 3.5 million customers.

Despite its relatively new entry to the financial services scene, Paysend is considered a safe and reliable way to transfer money. Not only is the company licensed in the UK, but it’s regulated by the UK’s regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Paysend is also certified by Visa and Mastercard and uses top-notch security protocols.

Pros

• Attractive exchange rates, typically between .5 – 2% above the market exchange rate.
• Fees are cheap. Paysend charges a $2 flat rate when sending money from the US.
• Money transfers are quick. Those funded with a debit or credit card are typically instant. If they’re funded with a bank account, Paysend transfers the money within minutes–however, it may take a couple of days for the receiving bank to credit the funds to your recipient’s bank account.
• Convenience – users can send money via Paysend’s app, which is available on both the Apple and the Google Play Store.

Cons

• Although Paysend allows you to make payments from a bank account, credit, or debit card, you can’t send a money transfer using cash.
• Money transfer limits are relatively low. Until you provide account verification, you can only send up to $999. And even with that verification, there’s a sending limit of $10,000/month.
• Account verification can be slow, taking up to a week or even longer.
• Paysend doesn’t offer phone support; users can only get help via live chat or email.

Best for Quick Transfers

11. Xoom

Xoom is a PayPal service that allows users to quickly and easily deposit money to a recipient’s bank account or arrange cash for pickup or delivery at locations throughout India. Because you can use Xoom from your phone or computer, it’s an incredibly convenient option when you need to transfer money.

Plus, Xoom’s been in the business for 14 years and is associated with PayPal, so this is a service you can comfortably rely on–so much so that Xoom promises a full refund should a transaction not be received by your recipient.

Pros

• Cash pickups and bank deposits to most major Indian banks are usually available in minutes.
• The Xoom app is highly rated by users, earning 4.7 stars on Google Play and 4.8 on iOS.
• Xoom offers multilingual customer support 24/7.
• Money transfers can be funded with PayPal, a bank account, credit card, or debit card.

Cons

• Xoom has daily/monthly/6-month sending limits based on your account type.
• Xoom doesn’t offer live chat support.
• You can expect to pay higher fees if you send money using a debit or credit card ($30.49 to send $1,000 USD).
• Xoom’s exchange rate markup can be higher than other services, totalling over 3%.

12. MoneyGram

Although MoneyGram doesn’t have the name recognition of Western Union, it’s the second largest money transfer provider in the world, with 30,000 MoneyGram locations in the United States alone. And like Western Union, Moneygram’s transfer service scores high points for convenience, since users have the option of visiting a MoneyGram branch, sending money online, or using MoneyGram’s mobile app.

Pros

• Flexible funding – payments can be funded via credit card, debit card, cash, or bank account; even better, MoneyGram doesn’t charge a fee when you send a payment from one bank account to another.
• Multiple delivery options – Money can be sent to a recipient’s bank account, VISA debit card, or for cash pickup at one of MoneyGram’s 30,000 locations throughout India.
• Safe and secure – MoneyGram is considered a trustworthy money transfer provider.
• Fast transfers – money is typically available within minutes if you send it to the recipient’s debit card or for cash pickup; transfers to a bank account take as little as 3 hours.

Cons

• Users can’t send more than $6,000 per transaction, and up to $6,000 every 30 days.
• MoneyGram’s exchange rate markup is higher, should you choose to send money to a recipient’s debit card or for cash pickup.
• Users report that transactions are sometimes declined without any meaningful explanation.
• Many users have expressed dissatisfaction with MoneyGram’s customer service.

13. WorldRemit

WorldRemit is a UK-based money remittance firm that was founded in 2010. Considered safe and reputable, WorldRemit’s app won Investopedia’s Best for International Transfers category, due to the company’s low fees, upfront exchange costs, and fee transparency.

WorldRemit also earns high marks for its convenience. The company not only offers multiple options for funding a transfer (debit, credit, prepaid cards, Apple Pay, and bank transfer), but it also allows recipients to receive money in a number of different ways, including bank transfer, cash pickup, mobile money, AirTime top up, and Alipay.

Pros

• Fast transfers – 95% of WorldRemit’s transfers are ready for recipients in minutes.
• First-time customers can usually find a promo code.
• Unlike a lot of other money remittance services, WorldRemit doesn’t require you to sign-in before viewing its money transfer fees.
• WorldRemit’s app is highly rated (4.3 on Google Play, 4.8 on the Apple app store).

Cons

• Lower transfer limits – WorldRemit allows you to send a maximum of $9,000 in 24 hours and $5,000 per transaction for debit, credit, and prepaid cards.
• Some users have reported that it takes too much time to receive a refund from WorldRemit.
• WorldRemit doesn’t allow you to pay for money transfers with cash.
• Although transfers typically occur quickly, sending funds directly to someone’s bank account can take anywhere from a few minutes to 5 days.

Do you remember those ball cages they used to have on the playgrounds at fast food franchises? You’d jump into a pool of colorful plastic balls, then sink helplessly until nothing but your arms and legs showed above the surface.

Navigating conflicting priorities feels a little like one of those pools. It’s a sinking sensation, and there’s nothing to grab onto as you flail around, trying to figure out where to start.

It’s not unusual to have a day or week when there’s just scads of things to get done—and only a teensy amount of time in which to do them. These days leave anyone with a sense of failure, as you’ll inevitably leave tasks half-finished, dishes unwashed, and laundry hampers full.

It’s also common to have conflicting priorities with people in our lives: a significant other or teammates at work. This sort of conflict is fodder for resentment and strife.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have perfect clarity and agreement about what needs to get done, and plenty of time in which to do it? It’d create so much calm in our lives, and free up brain space for creative thinking.

The good news is that you can achieve this clarity! By taking the right approach to handling conflicting priorities, you’ll be sailing rapidly through the tasks of your day in no time.

Overwhelm & Conflicting Priorities

Busyness is a condition that affects us all. If we really sat down and thought about it, most of us would come up with at least seventy things we could be doing right now. And the list would take at least two weeks to complete.

Sometimes, everything seems to come all at once. Confronted with a myriad of pressing needs puts us in a state of fluster. We’re left feeling really, really busy…but not actually completing anything!

Here are some methods for keeping on track by finding clarity amongst all our priorities.

1. Take a Step Back

When we’re in a tizzy over what to do with our time, it’s often because we’re looking at things in close-up.

Scaling back to an aerial shot provides greater visibility over the situation. Panning into the days and weeks ahead increases the visibility of our timeline.

Getting out of the weeds and minutiae means asking simple questions like “What do I need to get done today?” and “Which are the easiest things to do?”

From these wider perspectives, it’s possible to scribble out a sensible to-do list that ranks everything from least to most important.

2. Develop a Strategy

Planning is such an integral part of handling conflicting priorities. Just taking some time to look everything over helps to ease stress.

Sometimes planning your day takes just as long as some of the things on the list! But that’s ok. A day that’s well-planned saves time and energy: you’re not having to think about what to do, and when to do it. The execution has already been determined.

When laying out your plans for the day, week, or even the year, it’s important to allow time to breathe. If we jump from one activity to the next, it quickly leads to overwhelm and burnout.

Clarifying how long something takes, then adding an extra cushion, gives you the opportunity to press pause.

3. Think Laterally

Managing conflicting priorities is a bit of a riddle. Maybe your kids need dinner and your boss is expecting a report in his hands the next morning.

These sorts of conundrums leave you stretched. Solving them sometimes means thinking outside of the box.

Look to a friend or colleague who somehow manages to juggle it all. How would they handle the scenario?

Or brainstorm possibilities. Maybe working on the project piecemeal, in 20 minute snippets, is the answer. Having a pizza delivered is another way out.

Climbing out of fixed or traditional ways of thinking helps to manage conflicting priorities. Opening a window allows creative winds to blow in, and awakens us to possibilities we didn’t formerly realize.

4. Be Decisive

It’s easy to stall when we’re fretting over too much to do. Rather than figure out whether to pay the bills or go to the gym, it’s tempting to dilly-dally in the land of procrastination, with a good book or movie instead.

And then the pile of tasks starts to mount.

However, once you start knocking things off a massive to-do list, the cloud of overwhelm starts to lift. As each task is completed, you feel lighter and it’s easier to press on to the next thing.

That is, rather than vacillating about what should be getting done, taking decisive action is central to dealing with conflicting priorities.

And productivity often rewards us. After the end of a long day, we may find ourselves with a nice window for some leisurely reading after all.

In sum, overwhelm feels overpowering. However, managing conflicting priorities is something we can control. Using the right tools helps us to find clarity. And then it’s about taking decisive action.

Time Management and Conflicting Priorities

Do you ever have those exchanges with friends about how much you need to get together….and then it leads to nothing? Of course you do! We all have those conversations every day.

It’s so common, as well, to start off a New Year with a resolve to, say, start reading more….yet come February find that we’re so busy we don’t even have a chance to crack open a book.

Multi-tasking, sometimes, solves these sorts of priority conflicts. For example, rather than reading a book, it’s possible to listen to audiobooks on the commute to work.

But more often than not, we go from morning to night in a whirl of busyness, without finding any window to squeeze in the things we really want to be doing.

Here are a few methods for finding time for those priorities that keep eluding us.

1. Audit Your Time

Most days feel chock-full of activity. Yet, when looking back on any single day, it’s really hard to recall just exactly what we did, and even harder to remember how long anything took.

However, when we take a careful audit of just how we’re whiling away the 168 hours in each week, interesting patterns emerge.

Maybe we have a tendency to go down rabbit holes. Who of us hasn’t gone to the computer to check emails, and 90 minutes later realize we’ve done nothing but read click-bait articles and watch videos? And we haven’t even peeked inside the inbox!

Another huge time suck, it turns out, are things like trips to the grocery store, errands, and commuting in traffic.

Auditing time is a pretty simple process, really. First, build a spreadsheet with a row for each 30 minute interval of the day, and columns for every day of week. Then, every few hours during the day, using only a word or two, log how the time was spent. At the end of one or two weeks, go through and color code various activities, such as sleep, leisure, work, eating, social and errands. Finally, add up the total time spent on each activity.

Numbers don’t lie. After completing a time audit, most of us discover a time-wasting tendency, or even two. We may find that some of the stories we tell ourselves (“I am always working!” or “I never get to socialize”) aren’t entirely true.

This information empowers us to plan our schedules more deliberately. It’s easier to fit in those things we really want to be doing.

For example, waking up earlier to beat rush hour traffic opens up several hours each week. That’s plenty of time to fit in some leisurely reading. Or, consolidating errands and trips to the grocery store frees up time to meet friends.

2. Offload

It’s easy to get caught up into a pattern of thinking, “Everyone is busy, so I must do this” and “I must do this myself.”

One of the hardest words to use in the English language is that tiny little word, “no.” But sometimes that’s the only way to fit in those other things that need to get done.

When dealing with conflicting priorities, the solution often entails offloading. Ask yourself why you’re doing certain things. Could someone else be doing them?

If we’ve made commitments out of a sense of obligation, maybe it’s time to give them the boot, in order to make time for things that matter more.

3. Plot it Out

Time, as we’ve been discussing, is often the culprit who robs us of our ability to get it all done.

However, when we really pin down just how much time things take, it’s possible to snatch back a few of those precious hours and put them toward other important priorities.

Here is an exercise to do just that.

On a blank sheet of paper, create two columns. In one column, write down everything that you need to do in a given time frame (a day, a month, or a week). In the other column, write how long each item takes. Next, add up the amount of time.

When everything is laid out, look carefully through it all. What’s taking the most amount of time? Maybe these activities can be reduced, postponed, or cut out altogether.

Understanding how long everything takes shows you the windows where you can fit other things in.

In sum, time management plays a central role in dealing with conflicting priorities. And the solution isn’t magic. But with a few special potions approaches, it is possible to conjure up a few more hours in the day. And that extra time makes room for priorities we’ve been neglecting.

Priorities Abound

A “priority” means something of utmost importance. It’s at the tippy top of the to-do list.

Yet in a single day, we’re constantly presented with multiple “super critical” things that need to happen in the same instance.

Let’s say, for example, you really want to have a peaceful dinner when you come home from work. At the same time, it’s imperative that your kids eat a healthy meal. If your kids have a meltdown when they see a plate of steamed broccoli and carrots in front of them, however, it’s impossible to achieve both.

Or maybe we have a free hour in the afternoon. Do we spend it at the gym, in order to stay on track with our diet, or call the sister we’ve been meaning to get in touch with?

When life puts us between a rock and a hard place, it feels easiest to remain in the badlands of indecision.

How do we cross over into the lush valley of action and clarity? Here are a few pointers and guidelines.

1. Pick One (or Two) North Stars

If everything is important, it means nothing really is important. Every leader knows this. When you plot out too many goals, you don’t end up achieving any of them.

Managing conflicting priorities means stepping back from the din of to-dos, and assessing the bigger picture.

What are our overall goals, both professionally and personally? These can be for just a season, or the entire year. Maybe you want to spend more time with your family. Or increase clients for the quarter by 10%.

When you understand the direction you really want to be headed, it’s much easier to navigate all of the to-dos demanding your attention.

In letting the North Star be your guide, you may find that many of the other things fall into place as well.

2. Distinguish Between “Shoulds” and “Musts”

Podcaster Sherri Yuan Hunter has coined the term “shouldaholic.” It’s such a common addiction to clutch tightly a litany of “shoulds.”

We’re always telling ourselves things like: “I should be saving money, and I should be taking a vacation to the Baja Peninsula like all of my friends” and “Our kids should spend the hour before dinner doing homework, practicing the piano, and playing with friends.”

But the fact is, we can’t meet all of our expectations. Clinging to all of the “shoulds” is a recipe for feeling like we’re failing all the time.

A realistic approach means accepting trade-offs. Maybe a vacation is a great idea. But in order to save money, it can’t be to an all-inclusive resort. Or maybe the kids don’t finish their homework when friends come to play.

The “good cheap fast” triangle popular with project management provides a great framework for evaluating trade-offs. With this triangle, you pick two qualities, knowing that you won’t receive the third. For example, something can be good and cheap, but it won’t be fast. Or, something will be fast and good, but it won’t be cheap. Or, it will be cheap and fast, but it won’t be good.

When we similarly evaluate all of the trade-offs particular to our situation, it’s possible to identify the area where we’re most willing to compromise.
Handling conflicting priorities is about letting go. When we accept that something’s got to give, it’s easier to distinguish between our “shoulds” and “musts.”

3. Ask Questions to Clarify

When faced with conflicting to-dos, it’s easy to become muddled. From this state, the path toward is opaque and indiscernible.

Asking clarifying questions is a method for clearing away some of the brain fog. Some good questions include: “What is the real purpose of this activity? Can it be achieved in another way?” and “What is the consequence of not doing this?”

If the house is burning down, it needs to be attended to right here, right now. However, many things can be put off for another day, or even a week, and everything will be just fine.

Taking the time to answer these questions allows imperatives to surface. Journaling is a helpful way to flush everything out. From there, it’s easy to bring decisive action into a situation.

4. Look Down the Rabbit Hole

What we do with our lives today doesn’t only affect us in the here and now. It also impacts us in the future.

Managing conflicting priorities is about making good decisions. By carefully considering the impact of our choices, it’s easier to identify what we need to do today.

Five or six years from now, what is the impact of going to the gym in the evenings, versus putting in a few extra hours of work each day?

Writing these projections down is helpful. What is the fruit of a particular decision in one week, a month, a year, and five years from now?

Evaluating the long-term effects allows us to get real about what is important in the here and now.

5. Do the Simplest Thing

Sometimes, no matter how many times and from whichever angle we evaluate conflicting priorities, it’s never clear which choice is the best or what matters the most.

Maybe your daughter’s baby shower is the very same day as your BFF’s 50th birthday party.

In these instances where the scales are equally balanced on both sides, you can’t expect a clear priority to emerge.

At these times, picking the simplest thing is a good way to go. If one commitment means flying across the country, and another is only an hour’s drive away, then just stay put.

Although you won’t arrive at perfect clarity about the right decision, at least this way you’re saving money and energy.

In sum, we’re constantly faced with dilemmas in which several things vie for the top spot on our to-do list. In order to navigate a path forward, it’s necessary to accept that tradeoffs are unavoidable.

From there, identifying the most important item among the conflicting to-dos is about understanding the impact of each choice.

Teams or Relationships With Conflicting Priorities

It’s easy to hit a wall right away when broaching certain topics with a significant other. Take finances, for example. It’s tricky to arrive at a consensus around priorities when one person is a spendthrift and the other a skinflint.

The same thing happens all the time at workplaces. When people approach the same project with a different set of priorities, collaboration is a constant struggle.

It’s tempting to skirt around these sorts of conflicts. Discussing them can easily become argumentative and acerbic.

However, having these discussions is critical to navigating a path forward. Here are four guidelines to arriving at a consensus when people have conflicting priorities.

1. Re-Spin it

When our needs are sidelined, whether at work or in a personal relationship, oftentimes our first inclination is to throw a fit. “No one understands me!” and “They never get any work done over there!” and “What are they thinking?” are common reactions.

In order to approach a conflict from a place of respect, however, it’s important to pay close attention to the narrative we’re telling ourselves.

Is it really accurate to play the victim? Or to assume the worst of others?

When the problem is framed in a way that presumes another’s best intentions, it’s possible to move forward. Mutual respect is a cornerstone to fluid communication.

2. Establish Clear Boundaries

A boundary clarifies what you are responsible for, and what another person is responsible for.

When a project isn’t being conducted or progressing as you think it should, it’s tempting to do whatever you can to maneuver things back on course.

However, this can easily lead to the violation of another person’s boundary or role. After that, the relationship quickly deteriorates.

Respecting boundaries allows everyone in a team or relationship to thrive.

By accepting that certain areas of an issue or project are out of your domain, it keeps your focus on the areas you can control.

3. Have an Open Conversation

Forming a healthy narrative and establishing clear boundaries is a good foundation from which to discuss conflicting priorities with another person.

When broaching the topic, it’s important to air your concern candidly, with full transparency. “We need the reports finished weekly: I’ve noticed they’ve been taking three weeks.”

These conversations are about listening, and an open question allows things to surface.

Oftentimes, another person sees the situation from an entirely different perspective: they may be dealing with some overwhelm, or their understanding of a job well done is quite different from yours.

It’s important to clarify your priority, however: “My understanding is this.”

A transparent conversation, free of any accusatory language, allows all of the issues and concerns to surface and hopefully needs are met.

4. Talk With a Third Party

When a team cannot resolve conflicting priorities on its own, the next step is to bring the concerns to the manager. Oftentimes, the manager may not realize they have communicated conflicting priorities.

While in this conversation, it’s important for everyone to establish what “done” looks like, so the whole team is working toward the same finish line.

In the case of personal relationships, discussing a conflicting priority with a third party is helpful as well. A mediator helps both sides achieve a clear understanding of the other’s point of view, and work toward a solution.

In sum, it’s really easy to back off or become defensive when conflicting priorities arise within teams and relationships. It’s a delicate tightrope to cross.

However, cautiously navigating these conflicts creates transparency.
Conflicts are part and parcel to any collaborative work environment. When issues are surfaced and discussed, it keeps things from festering.

The Path Ahead

Having three or four pots on the front burner is a sure recipe for getting burned.

Whether you’re working on your to-do list for the weekend, or juggling a project with your team, you don’t have to sink in the quagmire of conflicting priorities.

With the right approach, it’s possible to strike a balance.

Your priorities will look different from another’s, and so it’s about knowing yourself. Respecting another’s approach is integral to finding common ground.

When conflicting priorities are resolved, you’re able to move forward on a project with momentum and peace of mind. It creates space for curiosity and calm.

What is your go-to trick for handling conflicting priorities?

Sales has always been a demanding job. Success requires a unique blend of resilience, constant motivation and charming personality. While currently underutilized, one of the most powerful tools at any salesperson’s disposal—for helping them achieve more success with a more sustainable work life—is mindfulness.

Great salespeople have to engage with their own emotions on a daily, hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute basis. They have to manage themselves as much as they do the people around them. Mindfulness is crucial for maintaining the kind of clarity and self-awareness required to be a world-class salesperson and sustaining that performance over a long career.

The problem, unfortunately, is that most salespeople don’t even know what mindfulness is…

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is awareness. To quote one of the leaders in mindfulness practice, Mindfulness is the idea of learning how to be fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings without distraction or judgment.

It’s about observing what’s going on around you—on the street, in the room, in your head—and simply being there. Many people who think “mindfulness isn’t for me” or “it doesn’t work for me” are usually suffering from a misunderstanding of what mindfulness really means.

When we say mindfulness can help calm you during stressful situations, it’s not about convincing the brain to be calm; it’s not about achieving some goal like “calmness”. It’s just about being present. Being aware and seeing things how they really are.

Mindfulness is a practice. You need to work at it regularly, even for a few minutes per day. Deploying the “tools” of mindfulness takes time; it’s a resource you build up slowly, not a bomb you can detonate to remove a problem.

While we’ll only touch on mindfulness practice in this article, we will discuss the many challenges unique to salespeople that mindfulness can help overcome. If you like the sound of them, we strongly recommend investigating mindfulness and using it to take your career to the next level.

An essential ingredient for longevity

Burnout is unusually high among salespeople. Our scapegoat of long hours, weekend shifts, constantly hanging by the phone, always reaching for ambitious stretch goals—for a lot of salespeople, this is real life. It is an incredibly demanding career with no let up. Success breeds success and, in sales, hitting targets breeds higher targets.

When you add into the mix that these workers almost never experience true “time off” unless they’re on vacation, it’s no wonder that burnout is such a massive problem in the sector.

The problem with burnout is that it’s a manifestation of a gradual increase in stress: an extra hour here, a minor problem there. This eventually culminates in that state of total exhaustion brought on by long-term, unresolvable work stress.

And so one day the exhaustion just hits you. It feels like it’s come out of nowhere but in reality, it’s been slowly building and festering for a long time. Mindfulness can tackle the problem before it ever reaches this stage.

Connecting with what you’re really feeling

Practising mindfulness is predominantly about bringing awareness to the body. What’s going on? How do we feel? Do we normally feel that way?

It might sound like a tiny effort, but recognizing and acknowledging how and what you feel is the key to preventing burnout. It can be the difference between taking a couple of days’ rest and suffering a full-blown breakdown. It can be the difference between long-term sustained performance and being unable to work at all.

Anecdotally, mindfulness is used by salespeople to become aware of when we’re putting too much on our plate. It’s about moving away from that bad habit, addressing our emotional needs and stepping off the path to burnout.

Scientifically, work has recently been conducted which analyzed the effect of an 8-week mindfulness course on the Maslach Burnout Inventory—a test which measures factors like emotional exhaustion and depersonalization—and the results were very positive. Further studies on high-flying executives found that participants reported less perceived stress, improved physical and emotional health, enhanced sleep, better health-related habits and behaviors, and more self-compassion.

By noticing the symptoms of burnout before they take firm root, we can address them and protect ourselves over the long term.

Emotional intelligence and presence with customers

Most salespeople are obsessed with closing deals, constantly building relationships and opening doors, and generally going at 110% every day. And these are fantastic attributes in an industry that rarely lets you rest on your laurels.

As any good salesperson will tell you, personal relationships are fundamental to the majority of sales—especially over the longer term. Once price and product requirements roughly align, relationships take over.

Unfortunately, sometimes salespeople get caught up in the excitement and fervour of the job. It’s easy to come across as too pushy or aggressive; to go for the close too quickly; to misread the situation and let a deal slip away.

Being a top-tier salesperson requires well-developed emotional intelligence; mindfulness is one of the best tools for honing this skill.

How mindfulness “calms the beast”

There’s a part of your brain called the Anterior Cingulate Cortex that’s responsible for decision making, reward anticipation, ethics, impulse control and emotion—many of the crucial factors that determine a great salesperson.

Research from the Harvard Business Review found that mindfulness practice literally strengthens the ACC. This means a greater capacity to be “present” during conversations, to read emotions more clearly and not rush into decisions.

Part of mindfulness is learning to slow down and really take in our surroundings. When your brain is whirring along at 100mph, the practice of mindfulness means you can slow yourself down and truly focus on what the prospect is saying. You can deliver a more personable experience and be fully engaged in your conversations.

In other words, mindfulness can make you one hell of an attentive salesperson.

Coping with rejection

Part of the job if you work in sales is getting rejected. A lot. And while it’s easy to give advice like “don’t take it personally” or “treat it as experience”, it’s much harder to put that into practice.

A huge problem is that this kind of advice isn’t really actionable. It convinces us that we need to combat how we’re feeling. You need to believe that it’s them, not you; you need to believe rejection isn’t personal. When you’re feeling down or depressed with the constant rejections, you might find yourself trying to convince yourself that you’re actually happy and optimistic.

After all, look at all these opportunities for growth!

As you might expect, this rarely works. A core aspect to mindfulness is observing your thoughts and emotions, but not interfering with them. Say a rejection email lands in your inbox and it makes you feel like crap. Do not try to talk yourself out of feeling bad. Rejection sucks and it’s okay to feel that way.

This is where your mindfulness training comes in. You simply stop and observe the emotion. You find some inner calm. You are slowly able, as you sit there patiently observing your feelings and your breath, to put the rejection into context. You’re able to accept it, emotionally, without it being overwhelming. You’re better able to refocus and continue your day with a strong, forward-thinking mindset.

Improving your pitch and offer

We’ve already mentioned the ability to take rejection like a pro and move forward—but that’s not all you should be doing. A crucial part of rejection is taking the time (with a clear head and no bitterness) to understand why they said no. Mindfulness is a brilliant “hack” for giving you the clarity required to truly assess your pitch, delivery, offer and choice of prospect.

Now that you’re centered and “recovered” from the rejection, it’s time to get analytical. What could you have done differently? How did you deliver your pitch? Can you ask the prospect why they said no, in order to build your presentation for the future?

Trying to engage in this process without a clear head (i.e. without practising mindfulness) will lead you down false paths. You might decide the prospect was simply an idiot for not choosing you; no need to think about them!

Or worse, you’ll assume you are personally the problem: you’re not likable, not charismatic, not clever. This is an extremely common rabbit hole for salespeople to fall down, and simple mindfulness can keep your feet firmly on the ground.

Calmly navigate stressful situations

Every now and then a high-stress situation will hit you like a train. In sales, these situations come up far more often than in most other roles, building on one another over the course of the day. If we haven’t sufficiently recovered from the previous stress trigger, our stress levels rise to unhealthy levels.

Mindfulness helps us recover faster between triggers. This means that our peak stress level doesn’t compound and grow, allowing us to remain more neutral and balanced.

Mindfulness is the most powerful tool in our arsenal for reducing our reactive, fearful responses to these situations—but it’s not a switch you can simply turn on and off. Building this kind of capacity for managing stress takes time. It takes repeated, short practices over the long-term.

Consistent application—even in situations where you aren’t stressed at all—is probably the most vital, and most difficult, aspect of mindfulness.

How does this help with sales?

The more you can control your stress response over the course of a day or week, the better you can deliver pitches to clients, generate creative ideas, and weather bad news. Over the long term, it’s exactly this kind of response that prevents burnout and allows us to sustain our intense work style.

Connection to bigger goals and purpose

Something that sales roles demand more than almost any other is the need to be in the moment. You’re juggling a dozen different conversations at once; they’re all different, challenging, and all want special treatment.

As we’ve seen, mindfulness is extremely powerful for allowing you to stay calm, grounded, and present with all this chaos going on—but what about the bigger picture?

Working in sales, it can be challenging to stop and truly consider the context of our work. What am I really working towards?

Mindfulness has this funny habit of making us realize what the bigger picture is. In most cases, it’s not really hitting a sales target or shifting 20,000 units of whatever—it’s making a life for our kids, or making money to buy a house, or that our identity is tied to success at work. For you, it’s probably something equally serious and more meaningful than simply selling.

While it’s not the “goal” of mindfulness to consider these things, it is a by-product of the process. The clarity we can harvest in terms of what we’re doing and why (really why) is extremely empowering. It can make rejection easier and it can prevent us from chasing down bad opportunities, as well a helping us find greater fulfilment in our daily work.

Why isn’t mindfulness common practice already?

For many, it’s the simple perception that mindfulness is some woo-woo airy-fairy nonsense—something that hard-hitting, strong, successful salespeople don’t have time for. This perception is changing, however.

As the wider world wakes up to the idea that mindfulness doesn’t mean living on a mountain and foraging in profound silence for five years, but is in fact an immensely powerful tool for creating more impactful, centered, meaningful lives, it is becoming much more prevalent in all sectors.

For others, it’s simply that they’re “too busy”. “Come on. Right in the middle of a crazy day with meetings, client visits, calls, and slowly sinking into the ground, and you want me to stop everything and just “be” for 10 minutes? That’s crazy talk!”

But actually, that’s the whole point. You need to stop now and then to prevent that burnout, cope with stress and get clarity on the big picture. It’s about the quality of time, not just the duration.

• 10 minutes more work is just 10 minutes of work.
• 10 minutes of mindfulness practice is a significant investment in your future self (and you can even do 10 more minutes’ work if you really need to!)

In the long run, mindfulness might save you hours of work or generate thousands of dollars in revenue. The hard part is that you need to commit now, with small daily practice, in order to get that long-term payoff. And that’s probably the biggest reason why we haven’t (yet) seen mindfulness really penetrate the sales industry.

Quickfire “hacks” for high-pressure situations

Okay, we’ve talked extensively in this article about how mindfulness is a practice that’s honed and developed over time. There are no shortcuts or hacks.

Well, here are two quick hacks you can instantly deploy when faced with a particularly stressful situation. It might be something we’ve covered, like a serious rejection or the anxiety of an upcoming pitch, or some other uniquely stressful situation.

Focus on the breath

Set a 10-minute timer on your phone, put it to one side, then sit down in a comfortable chair. Then start breathing: in through the nose, out through the mouth.

That’s it. Don’t try to solve your stressful situation or “address” your emotions. Just keep breathing and focusing all of your attention on that breathing. Do this until you’ve done “quite a lot of breaths”.

Next, you’re going start taking deliberately slow breaths:

• 3 seconds inhale
• 4 seconds holding your breath
• 5 exhale

And keep going. Every time your mind wanders to something else, just bring your attention back to your breath. How does it feel? In out, in out. You can stop when your timer goes off.

Or, if it actually feels quite good, keep going for as long as you want, always bringing the attention back to your careful breathing. You might just find that when you’re done, that terrifying stressful situation is looking a whole lot more manageable than when you started.

Do absolutely nothing

The next time you have a break in your schedule, don’t take out your phone. Don’t strike up a conversation, start new work, or go make a coffee. Instead, go find a quiet spot and sit yourself down.

Then set a 10-minute timer and just sit there. Let the mind go wherever it wants without focus. Close your eyes if you want. If you find yourself focusing hard on a particular thought, try to let it go.

This is going to feel weird. But, like the previous exercise, you’re probably going to come out of your reverie (which will feel like way more than 10 minutes) with an unexpected sense of calm rationality. Make sure to stick the 10 minutes out and warn colleagues not to interrupt you, if necessary.

The allure of creating a paperless environment in the workplace is too hard to resist. Relying on paper is outdated and has a negative impact on operations as well as contributing to deforestation and global warming. Companies need to adapt to digital to stay competitive and agile.

Its effects can be felt throughout the business with departments like HR, operations, and transport benefiting the most from a paperless model. Too many man-hours are wasted sifting through documents that are easily lost or mismanaged.

Making the change to paperless is a smart business decision and as a conscientious leader, you’ll want to switch things up sooner rather than later. Don’t let yourself lose out to your competition because you’re lagging behind. Digital is the only way forward.

So then, how does an organization implement paperless process management? In this article, we’ll give you the best methods for creating a paperless environment in the workplace.

What Are the Benefits of Paperless Process Management?

Switching to paperless process management means that documents can be accessed digitally. It makes things easier to access, update, and errors can be noticed and remedied quicker. There is also more opportunity to automate certain things to increase efficiency and reduce human errors.

For example, when you onboard a new employee there are a lot of forms that will need to be filled out. If you have an HR team they will need these to be collected and filed accordingly. In a new paperless world, all documents can be stored online and easily accessed with just a few clicks.

Automation is one of the biggest benefits of a paperless environment. Record-keeping used to be time-consuming but digital tools can slash time investment significantly.

Going paperless has historically been referred to as the ‘office of the future.’ However, this was back in the 1960s and now the future is here. Some executives are slow to adapt to a paperless office because having something tangible to hold is too great a desire.

The boom in printer and scanner technology during the 1990s and 2000s delayed the adaptation to paperless as reproducing documents became too easy. However, not being digital is going to make businesses slow to take advantage of new technologies like Customer Relationship Management software.

Start with Creating Business Process Management

This may be something you already have in place which will make the transition to paperless a lot easier. Business process management (BPM) is the method in which you manage business affairs.

Every department will follow certain processes which are important to ensure continuity. In order to monitor and maintain these, leaders should develop business process management. Any repeatable task from employee onboarding to picking and packing an order should be categorized and stored.

It’s crucial that these processes are optimized to ensure things run smoothly and every employee is using the same playbook. Processes can then be updated, fine-tuned, and accessed by any employee who needs them.

Even if you don’t go paperless, creating and logging BPM’s for your company can decrease human error. Just having a standardized process that everyone can follow can decrease accidents, complacency, and missed inputs by up to eighty percent compared to companies without them.

If your goal is to go paperless then this will be the first step. Without BPM’s it’s going to be incredibly difficult to figure out how paperless will come into play. You need to identify where paper enters the process before figuring out how to make it paperless.

To help create digital BPM’s you should consider using the Teamly software to help manage your workflow. It’s a cloud-based project management tool that connects your entire team remotely.

Pick Someone to Oversee the Project

This is an important project so you should install a project manager who can monitor the progress. Pick someone who is knowledgeable in digital software and is capable of coordinating between departments. You may want to consider doing a trial run with a single department such as HR before rolling it out to the whole company.

Whenever radical changes are being implemented there are likely to be detractors or people who are apprehensive about changing their working style. A project manager can help to teach people how to make the most of a paperless environment. They can also provide training resources and can field any questions from employees.

Invest in Cloud Storage

If you’re going to go paperless you need somewhere to store your documents and to do that you’ll need to invest in cloud storage. Thankfully there are plenty of companies that can provide you with this and it’s not that expensive. Reputable companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft all offer simple cloud storage solutions which can integrate with your software.

By using a cloud storage solution you can create an entire library of files and documents that can be accessed across the business. Employees working remotely will be able to access the same files which creates a more flexible workplace.

Integrate with Your Tech Stack

A tech stack is the collection of apps and software that you use throughout your business. If your tech can’t communicate with the cloud storage solution then it’s going to slow down everything you want to do. Thanks to modern technology this shouldn’t be too difficult to implement.

Many apps are designed to talk to one another and an application programming interface (API) means your IT team can customize to the business needs. Your computer hardware, database systems, and web-based applications can run in sync which makes processes more fluid.

In simple terms, API is the middleman that connects two pieces of software or hardware together. One piece of software can request data from another and receive it seamlessly. When transitioning to a paperless environment in the workplace, it’s a good idea to find solutions that can revolutionize how you work and speed processes up.

Take a conscious approach to choose your tech stack to ensure that your business is fully optimized. It future proofs your business and if you decide to introduce new applications to your company, utilizing API can get things up and running quickly.

Start Digitizing Company Documents

Once you have a service for the documents to be stored in you’ll need to start digitizing your company paper resources. The easiest way to do this would be through scanning or taking pictures with a high-quality camera. It’s going to be time-consuming especially if you have thousands of documents that need to be filed.

After scanning everything onto the computer your team will need to make sure they’re labeling things correctly. To make it easier to locate and access documents, develop a filing system that is comprehensive and easy to understand. Create folders for each department and subfolders for different areas.

This is a great opportunity to create and store templates for future use. Remove the burden of creating documents from scratch each time. For example, when a new employee is being onboarded. Templates will speed up processes as they can be accessed and edited when team members need them.

Plan Your New Processes

If you already have a detailed BPM then you’ll be able to start creating your new paperless process methods. Otherwise, this is the time to get the details sorted by speaking with the teams to develop a report. This will be another time-consuming part of going paperless but the payoff is huge as you’ll develop standardized processes for everything.

Depending on which software you use to manage your processes, they may include services to help you implement your BPM into the app. It will help them if these processes are already documented on paper to refer to and ensure you’re set up exactly as you need to be.

Once everything is decided and set up it will be time to roll out employee training. This can be led by the project manager and their team. Start with the most crucial members of staff and the departments that will benefit the most.

Be aware that there will be a learning curve when going digital for new processes, team members will need the time to transition.

Create Security Permissions for Staff

After everything is set up and ready to be used, part of the rollout to the staff should include setting permissions. Sensitive documents will need to be protected so that they can’t be viewed by everyone. Things like HR documents are sensitive and a breach of confidentiality can lead to lawsuits.

Setting permissions is how you control who has access to what. Most apps you will use will have detailed security settings which will make granting or restricting access easy. Security against hackers is also an important thing to consider.

Sometimes hackers will attempt to break into your data to steal it or hold companies to ransom. Follow the guidance from the companies in your tech stack to make sure your settings are optimized to protect the business.

Review and Reshape Processes

The job isn’t over once everything is set up and everyone is trained on how to operate in a paperless environment. Modern technology moves at a fast pace and businesses need to keep up to stay relevant. This includes switching to new technologies, updating your computer hardware, or adding more paperless processes to your operation.

Once the foundation is set for your business’s new paperless environment in the workplace, create a process for reviewing everything once a year. This will help you to identify any incompetences or flaws in the design. If anything isn’t working as well as it should, look for new paperless solutions instead of reverting back to paper.

Going paperless is the start of future-proofing your business. As technology continues to improve there will be more opportunities to automate in ways that were not possible with hard copies. Automation can help keep you competitive in your industry and keep you ahead of the competition.

What Paperless Processes Can Be Automated?

In the interest of making the most out of your new paperless process let’s go through the things that can now be automated. Implement these to save money, time, and resources and get your business set up for even more success.

Tackle the pesky high volume and repetitive tasks such as:

• Data entry
• Sales orders
• Invoicing
• Reconciliation for the accounting department
• Data queries
• Payroll
• Onboarding new employees
• Exit management
• Report generation
• Purchase order requests
• Customer support
• Social media management

It’s worth noting that automation can’t fix bad processes. Start with the processes that already work well and are optimized. When creating an automated process the goal should be to increase staff efficiency, reduce compliance risks, and eliminate human error.