White Paper: 12 Ways to Save Money Going Paper-LESS
The concept of an office without paper, and possibly a paperless society as well, has challenged business’ imagination and innovation like few other subjects.
After 1975, when an article in Businessweek announced that the workplace of the future would operate without paper, using automated processes and technology breakthroughs, (paperless document management) the idea of living paperlessly has become like the search for cold-fusion. The attached white paper from Office Gemini underscores 12 ways the paperless office can benefit you NOW.
“Is a 100% paperless office likely?,” questions Ken Norris who edits Pulp & Paper International, a paper-industry trade pub. “Demand for pulp and paper is approaching an all-time high. Foex, the Finnish company that publishes pulp, paper and paperboard price indexes, predicts the global paper market could reach a new record of 400 million tons in 2012. Another report earlier this year by Global Industry Analysts estimates global pulp and paper products consumption would grow to reach 446 million tons by 2015.”
Well, is a 100% paperless society likely?
Among the major hurdles for paperless document management for most businesses are legal docs, an obstacle first mentioned in the 1975 Businessweek article. “It always takes longer than we expect to change the way people customarily do their business,” said Evelyn Berezin, of Redacton Corp., once the second-largest installed-base of text-editing typewriters, behind IBM. Both remain in business today.
The legal implication of physical paper often holds more greater power than electronic documents and paperless document management in legal venues, despite digital records management and digital document laws in many countries, including the US, Canada, and most of Europe. Insurance contracts, wills, bank statements, accounting records all must be held for various lengths of time and many legal advisers still recommend keeping permanent paper records of the most important documents, such as stock certificates, articles of incorporation and tax records.
For the time being, the evidence points to society using less paper with paperless document management.
But isn’t that what the word always meant, perhaps, paper-LESS?
