The Paperless Office

The introduction of Personal Computers from the 80's inflamed the notion of a paperless office. It was envisaged that computers will one day eliminated the need for paper documents in the office, as documents can be stored in electronic format in the computer's hard drive. It was also envisaged that this will also have a positive impact on the environment, as less trees will have to be cut down to make paper.

Well, that is what was expected. But in reality, the paperless office still remains a dream. Personal Computers has increased the paper output than reducing it. With more access to computers and printers meant that people are taking more printouts than ever. We are still used to reading paper than reading from the computer screen. Therefore the need to take a printout, even a email. The internet has also played its part in increasing the paper output. Web pages are printed for easy reading. The cliche of old habits never die, rings true here.

Email has somewhat reduced the need to post letters, but we still print our emails, for filing etc.

The old habit of keeping paper documents as proof still remains, even though electronic documents are being accepted even as evidence in courts.

E-billing, a concept of paperless billing, is still not a success, as we would rather have a paper bill than a electronic bill (its alien to most of us). Well, the people who are in the bill printing business will be happy to hear this!

But we should not give up on the concept of paperless office either. There are solutions in the market for companies to go for a paperless office. Document Management software and Work flow management software, helps companies handle documents without actually using paper documents.

Document Management software archives electronic documents, such as your MS Office files, emails for storage and easy retrieval, so you don't need to take a printout and file it for future reference. The archived file can be access by anyone (who has the rights), as it is saved in a central location (network server). Electronic archiving documents is safer, as only authorized employees will have the access to the documents (with password authentication) . This is an added safety for you documents, which paper documents cannot provide.

Work flow management software, helps the flow of documents from one PC to another PC (automated) without the need to take printouts. The documents can be signed digitally (eliminating the need to take printouts for the documents to be signed by pen).

We also need to stress the importance of asking email recipients on preserving the environment by not taking a printout of the email they have received.

As a lst thought, I hope you won't take a printout to read this article!.....