The first predictions for a paperless office were made in the 1970's. It was thought by some that by today all documents would be digital and paper would be redundant. However, despite the fact that people are communicating by email and the means are there to store and sort documents digitally, offices are using paper more than ever.
It was the predicted move into digital technology that prompted some people to envisage a future of the paperless office. However, although businesses have technology to be able to successfully reduce paper use, such as email, electronic faxes, scan and send features on photocopiers and electronic Document Management systems, in fact paper consumption has risen dramatically over the last 20 years.
Today photocopiers are likely to be multifunctional, allowing the user to print and scan as well as make photocopies. The scanning facility on these devices mean that documents can be scanned and saved instead of an extra copy being made. With functions such as i-send available on these devices users even have the ability to scan documents and send them directly to an email address, network folder, fax or ifax. These multifunctional devices can also often be integrated with document management systems.
Despite the fact that paper can be easily destroyed by fire or flood and paper documents are so often misplaced or accidentally destroyed, many people are still inclined to believe that it is safer to store paper hard copies of important documents than it is to store them electronically.
As long as the correct procedures are in place, businesses should have little concern about losing data that is stored electronically. Businesses need to employ a back-up schedule so that all IT data from the storage pool is backed up and saved onto tapes. These tapes can then be removed from the building each night or kept in a fireproof safe, something that could never be done with filing cabinets full of paper documents. As long as the back up schedule is validated periodically to check that it is working correctly, businesses can be confident that their data and stored documents are safe.
Document management systems not only can reduce paper consumption but also help to streamline business processes. Documents can be scanned in, recognised and then sent to the appropriate places – the original can then be stored as a hard copy if absolutely necessary. Documents can also be sent to a desktop computer, edited and then saved again, with all the changes being able to be tracked and saved. Document management systems can be designed to address document management, storage and retrieval issues that are specific to an individual business. One source claims that 25 percent of employees spend two hours everyday searching for documents, a figure that could be greatly reduced with the correct document management system in place
There are several things that businesses can do to greatly reduce their paper consumption, especially if they have a new device capable of up to date functions. Businesses could start by switching their multifunctional device to only print double sided documents as standard, which has been said to reduce paper use by up to 40 percent. Some up to date devices also have an option for secure printing, which forces users to enter a password at the device before the documents are printed, which eliminates unwanted and wasted prints left unclaimed on the printer.
There are many steps businesses can take to working towards a paperless office and with the right technology and procedures in place they should find that it also makes for a more efficient workflow. Taking steps towards a paperless office can save an organisation money not only on postage and buying paper but also a substantial amount on document storage. The technologies are there, it’s just a case of persuading businesses to use them.
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