Let’s be honest: If you aren’t going digital, you’re living in the past. It’s faster, easier to keep organized, and takes up significantly less square footage. Making your event company digital also helps you avoid errors, streamline your payment systems, and keep accurate tabs on your inventory items. Plus, clients expect it. Think about travel: when was the last time you purchased a plane ticket not online? I can’t remember either. Even grocery shopping is moving to digital — and for most of us, we’re not looking back. Digital saves time, and as the saying goes, “time is money.” Plus, it’s just so convenient!

#1: More ways to save money

We’ve done some posts about how software can save you time, which translates into more of your time and energy you can devote to activities that will increase your bottom line. But it’s not only time you can save by going digital, it’s money, too.

In the case of a solid accounting software, it can help you save money on fines, overpayments, and tax-related surprises.

With a good inventory management software, you can avoid double-booking, which will reduce the number of refunds and disputes you receive.

If your accounting software and your inventory management software can integrate (like Goodshuffle Pro and QuickBooks Online), you’ll also have the ability to stay on top of your client’s payments through auto pay, automatic payment reminders, and see any billing issues faster. This means you’ll get paid faster!

#2: It’s more secure

Theft is a big way you can lose your event company’s data. With paper documents and local storage, people can literally walk off with your records. Many people worry about digital storage and hackers, but with proper protocols, encryption, and security measures — many of which are built into software — it’s highly unlikely that you’ll fall victim to that kind of attack. You’re much more likely to have someone walk off with your computer.

There are a number of things in life that we don’t have control over, nature being at the top of the list. There was a time when if a fire, flood, or other natural disaster occurred, all of your documents would be destroyed. Now we have Cloud storage and the ability to make multiple copies of our data, which significantly reduces the likelihood of losing data due to natural causes

You’re also less likely to just plain lose or misplace a document with digital storage. One of our Goodshuffle team members told us about how, back when she was an event pro, she would sometimes forget her notes on site during setup. Now she’s a huge fan of the Goodshuffle Pro feature of being able to make notes on events from anywhere, at any time; not only can your team see any notes or updates you make ASAP, but you’re not going to lose them! This feature would have been a game-changer for her.

#3: It’s more convenient

Speaking of being less likely to lose track of your files, digital file management is just more convenient. Let’s say that you’re out getting coffee and your client contacts you about a special request for their event. What do you do? Write it on a napkin and lose it later? If you’re all digital, there’s no more of that! You can add updates and notes to your event projects right into your software from your phone.

Going digital for your files also makes collaboration much easier — everyone doesn’t need their own printed copy of a document! Software like Google Drive and Dropbox make sharing a variety of files easy as pie. If you tie in a video conferencing software such as Zoom or Whereby, remote collaboration becomes as easy as in-person collaboration.

Going digital with your files and documents also makes updates and changes much easier and faster, too. Updates and changes take place at the same time on shared documents, so everyone is on the same page, all the time— and you can track changes, too. No more wondering who changed a file!

#4: Clients prefer it

Everyone is mobile. Companies without a mobile-friendly presence will soon be passed over for a more user-friendly company. We’ve heard from many of our clients who use our Website Integration that their customers love being able to shop for rental items before bed, first thing in the morning over coffee, and other times where in-person or phone meetings just aren’t preferable. Having your services available digitally means that your clients can research, browse, and make decisions on their time.

With Goodshuffle Pro, clients can also sign documents online, which eliminates the need for appointments and extra trips to sign paperwork. They can also pay online through a secure platform, which is far more convenient and secure than keeping their credit card information in a drawer.

#5: Less waste

Even if you recycle, if you’re still printing everything out, you are creating a lot of waste. I’m always amazed at how easy it is to go through a pack of paper for work— and paper gets expensive! We’ve had clients tell us that they were spending over $3,000 on printer ink and paper a year before switching. Going digital will significantly cut down on paper consumption and waste. And, it means you don’t have to print out 20 copies of something to make sure everyone gets one. If everyone brings their laptops or tablets to meetings, then everyone can be on the same page with no waste. Plus, paper takes up a lot of space and is surprisingly heavy! When was the last time you calculated your paper and ink costs?

As I mentioned before, if you’re still running your business on paper, you’re spending a lot of time looking for things. Finding documents in a filing cabinet takes a lot more time than finding things on a computer (thanks, search bar!), especially if something is misfiled.

If you make any changes to a paper document, you usually have to throw out the old document and replace it with a new one. It takes a lot more time than making a change and hitting “save.” The same applies for reorganizing your files: with digital, it’s “drag, drop, and done.” With paper, it’s “pull files, box it up, and maybe throw out your back moving it.” Which would you prefer?

Welcome to the digital age

It’s officially 2021. Save a handful of businesses (some of which would be illegal), I cannot think of a good reason to keep your event company paper-based. It’s expensive, bad for the environment, and takes up a lot of space. Staying with paper opens you up to a world of disorganization, paper cuts, and misplaced documents on a daily basis. Sure, you may need to print something from time to time, but operating digitally opens your business up to a lot of opportunities to save time, money, space, headaches— and your back.