About 36 years ago, Business Week published an article titled “The Office of the Future” that originally coined the term “paperless office.” The authors predicted that by 1995 technology would exist that would let users access documents at the touch of a button, eliminating the need for paper. Ever since then, the concept of attaining a paperless-state has been an oft talked about ideal. I think it’s highly unlikely we will ever see a truly “paperless office,” but, with the technology available today there’s no excuse to not have a paper-efficient office.In a stunning contradiction, I saw a reference today to recent research: CompTIA’sExamining the Print and Document Management Market research study, that found that most companies expect to maintain or increase the level of printing and scanning they currently do. What? Is the volume of data (information age) driving this? Anna Matthai blogged about the research study, The Paperless Office and Managed Print Services Providers, and shared that they found that nearly ½ of companies with formal document retention policies say their primary method to store important documents is to save the original paper copy. Combine that policy with the explosive increase in data and that’s a recipe for a lot of printed pages. Despite the digital capabilities that exist that could be reducing printed pages, what this really reveals is how hard it is to change ingrained workforce habits.
For organizations serious about working towards a “paper-efficient” office, document management is a must. Digitize documents for efficient record-keeping and convenient document access. Another opportunity is workflow solutions to improve business processes. Businesses shouldn’t be looking for a way to get rid of paper altogether; they should be looking for ways to optimize their paper intense processes utilizing the sophisticated technology available to them today. The practical approach is a blended strategy to improving workflow where digital can take a lead while recognizing where paper still has its place.
The reasons to adopt a strategy to move towards a more paper-efficient office are compelling --- save money, environmental benefits, and you can increase productivity and efficiency through improved document workflow. On the flip side – change is hard and the transition to a paper-efficient office will force changes to some ingrained workforce habits. On top of that, some IT professionals still don’t think of imaging and printing as strategic. But, our customers that have adopted this new way of thinking have made significant strides, saved millions of dollars and grown their bottom line. Learn from the successes of these HP customersand explore what HP managed print services and document management solutions could do for you.
