Whakatāne District Council is adopting a ‘paper-light’ environment in the interests of increasing efficiency and reducing risk, as well as addressing its carbon footprint. Most departments throughout the organisation already have all relevant forms available online and will be promoting their usage over hardcopy versions and working to reduce the usage of printed documents through all Council workflows.

Brian Elliott, Manager Corporate and Information Services, says the Council has already made a major step towards being paper-light by undertaking the digitisation of all property files, with the building consents process set to follow. Elected members have also moved onto tablets and away from hard copies for all agendas and documentation.

“The benefits to the District are considerable,” Mr Elliott says. “In addition to the environmental advantages, digital processes also mean that multiple users can access documents at the same time, there is less risk of hard copies being lost, and we can greatly reduce our quite considerable printing costs. We understand some members of the public still prefer printed versions of documents, but our customer service staff are there to help and can walk you through completing any forms online.”