Everything goes better in pairs, and going green is no exception.

Both the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and the South Carroll Business Association (SCBA) have announced plans to eliminate large quantities of paperwork in favor of electronic correspondence. Doing rightby the environment is always good, but both Jon Allen, president of the SCBA, and Richard Haddad, president of the chamber, admitted that the switchover was more for the economical gains than the ecological benefits.

Green – it’s not just the color of nature

Talk about double meaning, though the environment is no worse off for the increased cash flow the they will experience as a result of the transformation. Allen said that the decision made sense, particularly with
increasing postage and printing costs.

“The SCBA will benefit by lowering costs, reducing paperwork, and increasing amount of information the SCBA can share,” he explained.

He added that with everything going digital, adding pages on top of pages of information has a minimal cost, whereas hard copies of that same information would not. For the SCBA the change means increased use of email and the association’s Web site for communication between business members.

Allen said he plans on encouraging other businesses in the South Carroll area to follow in the SCBA’s footsteps, and he even offered to educate and guide them along the path. “I think many will welcome the information and guidance,” he said.

Eco-friendly / Econ-friendly

Meanwhile, the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce is switching over to a completely online database management system, according to Haddad, a process that he said would be continuing throughout summer. He wasn’t shy about double purpose of the switchover. “In part it’s economically motivated,” he admitted.

Like the SCBA, the chamber plans on saving on printing and postage costs. Haddad said the change would allow the chamber’s followers to stay more up-to-date on economic matters, pointing out specifically that
there would be an increased frequency of press releases.

Haddad said the increased funds from the transformation will initially be used to cover the cost of the new online system. After that, he said it would be used to help the chamber workers, of which there are only
four that are full time, have a less hectic schedule.

“This will basically enable us to have a more normal work week,” Haddad joked.

Links

Carroll County Chamber of Commerce: http://www.carrollcountychamber.org/
South Carroll Business Association: http://www.southcarroll.org/