A paperless office is a work environment in which the use of paper is eliminated
or greatly reduced. This is done by converting documents and other papers
into digital form. Proponents claim that "going paperless" can save money, boost
productivity, save space, make documentation and information sharing
easier, keep personal information more secure, and help the environment. The
concept can be extended to communications outside the office as
well. Traditional offices have paper-based filing systems, which may
include filing cabinets, folders, shelves, microfiche systems, and drawing
cabinets, all of which require maintenance, equipment, considerable
space, and are resource-intensive. In contrast, a paperless office could
simply have a desk, chair, and computer, and all of the information would be
stored in digital form. Speech recognition and speech synthesis could
also be used to facilitate the storage of information digitally.
Once computer data is printed on paper, it becomes out-of-sync with computer
database updates. Paper is difficult to search and arrange in multiple sort
arrangements, and similar paper data stored in multiple locations is often
difficult and costly to track and update. A paperless office would have a
single-source collection point for distributed database updates, and a
publish-subscribe system. Modern computer screens make reading less
exhausting for the eyes; a laptop computer can be used on a couch or in
bed. With tablet computers and smartphones, with many other low-cost
value-added features like video animation, video clips, and full-length
movies, many argue that paper is now obsolete to all but those who are
resistant to technological change. eBooks are often free or low cost
compared to hard-copy books. Others argue that paper will always have
a place because it affords different uses than screens [Sellen, A. J., &
Harper, R. H. R.. The myth of the paperless office. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.] History
The paperless office was a publicist's slogan, intended to describe the office
of the future. It was facilitated by the popularization of video display computer
terminals like the 1964 IBM 2260. An early prediction of the paperless office
was made in a 1975 Business Week article. The idea was that office
automation would make paper redundant for routine tasks such as record-keeping
and bookkeeping, and it came to prominence with the introduction of the
personal computer. While the prediction of a PC on every desk was remarkably
prophetic, the "paperless office" was not. The term "The Paperless Office" was
first used in commerce by Micronet inc, an Automated Office Equipment company,
in 1978. This has been attributed to the increased ease of document production
and widespread use of electronic communication, which has resulted in
users receiving large numbers of documents that are often printed out.
However, since about 2000, at least in the US, the use of office paper has
leveled off and is now decreasing, which has been attributed to a generation
shift; younger people are believed to be less inclined to print out documents,
and more inclined to read them on a full-color interactive display screen.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the
average office worker generates approximately two pounds of paper and
paperboard products each day. Environmental impact of paper
Paper product manufacturing contributes significantly to deforestation and
man-made climate change, and produces greenhouse gases. According to the
American Forest & Paper Association, paper manufacturing is the third largest
user of fossil fuels worldwide. Although measures such as recycling and using
tree-free paper can help reduce the environmental impact of paper, most
paper still ends up in landfills. Paper production also leads to air pollution,
as paper manufacturing releases nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon
dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are major contributors to acid
rain, whereas CO2 is a greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Waste
water discharged from pulp and paper mills contains solids, nutrients, and
dissolved organic matter that are classified as pollutants. Nutrients such
as nitrogen and phosphorus can cause or exacerbate eutrophication of fresh water
bodies. Printing inks and toners are very
expensive and use environment-damaging volatile organic compounds, heavy metals
and non-renewable oils, although standards for the amount of heavy metals
in ink have been set by some regulatory bodies. Deinking recycled paper pulp
results in a waste slurry, sometimes weighing 22% of the weight of the
recycled wastepaper, which may go to landfills.
Eliminating paper via automation and electronic forms automation
The need for paper is eliminated by using online systems, such as replacing
index cards and rolodexes with databases, typed letters and faxes with
email, and reference books with the internet. Another way to eliminate paper
is to automate paper-based processes that rely on forms, applications and
surveys to capture and share data. This method is referred to as "electronic
forms" or e-forms and is typically accomplished by using existing
print-perfect documents in electronic format to allow for pre-filling of
existing data, capturing data manually entered online by end-users, providing
secure methods to submit form data to processing systems, and digitally
signing the electronic documents without printing.
The technologies that may be used with electronic forms automation include -
Portable Document Format - to create, display and interact with electronic
documents and forms E-form management software - to create,
integrate and route forms and form data with processing systems
Databases - to capture data for prefilling and processing documents
Workflow platforms - to route information, documents and direct
process flow Digital signature solutions - to
digitally sign documents Web servers - to host the process,
receive submitted data, store documents and manage document rights
One of the main issues that has kept companies from adopting paperwork
automation is difficulty capturing digital signatures in a cost-effective
and compliant manner. The E-Sign Act of 2000 in the United States provided that
a document cannot be rejected on the basis of an electronic signature and
required all companies to accept digital signatures on documents. Today there are
sufficient cost-effective options available, including solutions that do
not require end-users to purchase hardware or software.
One of the great benefits of this type of software is that you can use OCR to
search the full text of any file. Additionally, tags can be added to each
file to make it easier to locate certain files throughout the entire system.
Quite possibly, the best part is that paperless software is completely
compatible with all of your files and programs, while also supporting the
virtual cloud. Some paperless software offers a scanner, hardware and software
and works seamlessly in separating and organizing important documents.
Paperless software also allows people to enable online signatures for important
documents that can be used in any small business or office.
Digitizing paper-based documents Another key aspect of the paperless
office philosophy is the conversion of paper documents, photos, engineering
plans, microfiche and all the other paper based systems to digital
documents. Technologies that may be used for this include scanners, digital mail
solutions, book copiers, wide format scanners, microfiche scanners, fax to
PDF conversion, online post offices, multifunction printers and document
management systems. Each of these technologies uses software that converts
the raster formats into other forms depending on need. Generally, they
involve some form of image compression technology that produces smaller raster
images or use optical character recognition to convert a document into
text. A combination of OCR and raster is used to enable search ability while
maintaining the original form of the document. An important step is the
labeling related to paper-to-digital conversion and the cataloging of scanned
documents. Some technologies have been developed to do this, but they generally
involve either human cataloging or automated indexing on the OCR document.
However, scanners and software continue to improve with the development of
small, portable scanners that are able to scan doubled-sided A4 documents at
around 30-35ppm to a raster format. An issue faced by those wishing to take
the paperless philosophy to the limit has been copyright laws. These laws may
restrict the transfer of documents protected by copyright from one medium
to another, such as converting books to electronic format.
Securing and tracing documents As awareness of identity theft and data
breaches became more widespread, new laws and regulations were enacted,
requiring companies that manage or store personally identifiable information to
take proper care of those documents. Paperless office systems are easier to
secure than traditional filing cabinets, and can track individual accesses to
each document. Difficulties in adopting the paperless
office A major difficulty in "going paperless"
is that much of a business's communication is with other businesses
and individuals, as opposed to just being internal. Electronic communication
requires both the sender and the recipient to have easy access to
appropriate software and hardware. There may be costs and temporary
productivity losses when converting to a paperless office. Government regulations
and business policy may also slow down the change. Businesses may encounter
technological difficulties such as file format compatibility, longevity of
digital documents, system stability, and employees and clients not having
appropriate technological skills. And, there may be a reduction of paper,
but some uses of paper will remain. Despite the myth of a truly paperless
office, a recent questionnaire suggests that nearly half of small/medium-sized
businesses believe they are or could go paperless by the end of 2015.
Methods for adopting the paperless office
On the other hand, commercially feasible technology is widely available to
digitize documents, even full libraries of backlogs, at feasible cost.
Sufficient processing power, storage, backup, and Internet speeds are
available that can make old paper records instantly available not just
from stationary computers, but also from laptops and even phones. Inexpensive
skilled workforce is available in places like India and the Philippines to
perform workforce-intensive work, like naming files or creating links and
bookmarks. Its Sufficient processing power is available to perform massive
amounts of optical character recognition.
See also Environmental impact of paper
Evernote Document management system
References Further reading
Sellen, Abigail J.; Harper, Richard H. R., The Myth of the Paperless Office,
Cambridge, MA, USA: The MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-19464-3 - discusses limitations
of the paperless office, and the valuable role paper can play for
knowledge workers. Gladwell, Malcolm, "The Social Life of
Paper", The New Yorker Oates, Stephen, "Join The Paperless
Revolution, Retrieved online. 09join-the-paperless-software-revolution
External links Weekend Project: Create a Paperless
Linux Office | Linux.com