4 Ways Microsoft 365 makes your company go green

Did you know that the Microsoft Office tools are very useful for making your company go green? Well, in this note, we are going to tell you how the suite of programs can help your company go green.

1. Reduce paper use with all of Microsoft Office’s tools

Okay, we have to start by saying that if we don’t need to print anything, it is best not to do so, since we save a significant amount of paper. That’s why email, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and more can all be shared from person to person with Microsoft 365 so that you can avoid having to print any of your files.

Moreover, if you consider it, your company (or even yourself) can save money on paper, ink, and toner. Actually, you can save time as well because you won’t need to invest in technicians for your copiers and printers. Currently, some companies have eliminated the need for copiers and printers completely.

2. Lessen the amount of storage space needed for paper files

Following the previous tip, if you no longer need to print reams of paper, and you can catalog all of your digital files for easy sorting, sharing, and searching, you can also eliminate bulky filing rooms filled with cabinets.

Imagine all the money you will be able to save if you don’t have to rent a room just to house their paper files. Instead of that, you can opt to pay a scanning service to scan all of their files into computers.

On the other hand, your electricity costs will be significantly reduced, you will get rid of the file room and will no longer need to pay a filing clerk to manage all those pesky folders.

3. Collaborate remotely with Microsoft Teams

This is perhaps another pretty important tip. Instead of traveling over thousands of kilometers (contributing to increasing your carbon footprint), you can chat from anywhere, meet online, call and collaborate with colleagues, vendors, even prospective customers with Microsoft Teams.
It is a perfect strategy because you will reduce expenses related to travel, which is also a great cost-cutting measure, and it is also a fabulous way to help your company go green.

As you’ll see, while reducing travel for your company might not stop all flights, it could ultimately help reduce the number of planes that need to travel on any given day, thus saving natural resources and lessening the pollution in the air.

Maybe someday, thanks to Microsoft Teams, you will be able to go partially or completely virtual. This could further lower the costs related to maintaining an office.

go partially or completely virtual. This could further lower the costs related to maintaining an office.

4. Reduce energy consumption with cloud storage

Cloud storage reduces the energy consumption of older and/or multiple machines storing the same content or using in-house servers. And, by reducing the higher computing power of desktops and servers, you also reduce the amount of heat they produce, saving you money on cooling costs.

Not only will they be able to access them anywhere with WiFi, but you’ll also be able to get away with less storage on hard drives and use more energy-efficient machines without having to worry as much about download and upload times.

Additional ways to go green, according to Microsoft

In 2018, Microsoft posted a review that contained 10 tips to make your business more environmentally friendly, and even though it’s been a long time since that time, we can still retain some of the ideas (or at least the most important ones) from that post that still work in the midst of 2022.

• Make it easier to recycle: If you have an office space, there should be recycling bins for paper products for employees that are ditching paper.
• Dispose of old electronics properly: Did you know that you can’t just throw away items that have LED batteries in them into the regular garbage? Nope! You need to use a proper disposal program. According to Consumer Reports, the three best methods are to take electronics to a recycler, donate them, and to take it to a tech firm.
• Have your teams work from home when possible: Not only will you save on utilities when the office is closed, vehicle pollution goes down too.

Finally, we want to remind you that the main goal of this article is to demonstrate that we are in the process of improving our environmental situation and that, even as an employee, you can make a significant difference without spending a lot of money.