The Myth of the Paperless Office
Twenty years ago, the PC was introduced as a tool that would virtually eliminate the paper, then choking the average office. But that hasn't happened. With the ever-expanding application of computers into business areas as diverse as accounting, desktop publishing, billing, mail, and scheduling, it seemed in the early 80s that the real paperless office was just around the corner.
Ironically, just the opposite has transpired. The ease with which computers enable people to print all sorts of documents has created a flood of new paper.
It's no small issue. Hard-copy costs typically eat up 1 to 3 percent of a company's revenue. Meanwhile, worker productivity sinks, as knowledge workers spend 10 or more hours per week just sifting through paperwork.
However, today's travel industry offers a sense of how society is trying to move away from at least certain kinds of paper. It used to be that airlines, hotels and car-rental companies mailed a printed confirmation of each reservation, and some still do. Increasingly, though, an agent enters information into a computer and gives a confirmation number by telephone or via email
Alas, paper is here to stay. Eliminating paper in business certainly is a desirable goal. But, unfortunately it's not currently realistic, since paper plays important psychological, aesthetic and legal functions in today's business world.
Memos are still distributed via paper, students still hand in assignments on paper, and virtually every governmental record has a paper component. All of this paper and yet all we hear is how we are moving toward a paperless society.
Hard copies will continue to have many advantages over electronic documents, including better reader comprehension, less eyestrain, greater mobility, superior flexibility and an enhanced comfort level among workers.
However if you are one of those businesses that are choking under the amount of paper around the office do not fear as help is at hand in DMG Services. We can now offer a fully focussed ‘Cradle to Grave’ paper (and e-paper) centred Document Management system.
Whether it is secure scanning, electronic document management or hard copy paper filing, indexing, storage, tracking and retrieval or you just wish to dispose of the information securely DMG Services can create a tailored solution for you.
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