The Paperless Office?
By Richard Romano on February 20th, 2012
Via the Ecopreneurist, new research, and a spiffy new infographic, that indicates that the paperless office is finally coming. People have been saying this for decades, but waiting for the paperless office has been rather like waiting for Godot.
Still, TNS conducted the survey on behalf of the company Nitro, which makes PDF products, and found, among other things, that 32% of respondents felt that reducing paper consumption was “important” for environmental reasons (29% deemed it “very important”). And 44% said they planned to use “half the amount of paper” they currently use in the next 5–10 years. Uh huh—and Dewey defeats Truman.
What’s interesting is looking at the specific paper applications that are being reduced. The top items are “will reduce use of physical mail” (60.1%), “will reduce use of newspapers” (48%), and “will reduce use of printing paper” (47.8%). (Curiously, 6.1% said they “planned to use less toilet paper.” Um, I don’t think there’s an app for that. Or at least I hope not.)
Again, as I often point out, all of the things that are driving people away from paper have nothing to do with the environment, but have everything to do with speed, convenience, and cost. Which is faster and more convenient: setting up automatic bill pay through a bank’s Web site, or writing and mailing checks every month? Corresponding via e-mail and text messaging, or sending physical letters? Getting news online for free whenever you want it, or subscribing to a newspaper?
That is, people are reducing their use of these things anyway. The fallacy is in thinking that they are doing it for environmental reasons—or in thinking that less environmental impact is a happy coincidence. What—and I am speaking hypothetically—if it were conclusively proven that electronic media in fact had a negative environmental impact compared to paper? Would people be likely to give up the speed, convenience, and reduced cost of electronic media? I think not.
6 Responses to “The Paperless Office?”
By Evans Graphics on Feb 20, 2012 | Reply
Paperless living is a Generation Y way of living. Generation X have held onto their paper and found it very hard to let go. By contrast for Generation Y Cloud and Tablet are the natural way of living.
The new generation will be amazed at how wasteful their predecessors were.
By Heath Cajandig on Feb 21, 2012 | Reply
It is a keen point that people are moving away from paper because the alternatives solve their need now. People and organizations often cite the green benefits and sustainability, but more likely it is a rare, and excellent opportunity to get pro-environmental messaging.
A study I would like to see: Remove all of desktop and local printers from an organization and see how people’s work is impacted, if it is.
By Doug Rich on Feb 21, 2012 | Reply
It seems that companies in many cases move away from paper-based processes primarily because of cost savings and situationally better alternative mediums for distributing information, not because of green considerations. I would disagree that it is generationally based, but over time any person more friendly with technology will follow the trend towards digital media.
By David M. Baker on Feb 21, 2012 | Reply
To those who think that paper is wasteful and that electronics are somehow less so, I would suggest you take some time to do a bit of actual research. One needn’t go too far to find factual evidence to support the very legitimate argument that e-communication is DIRTY communication. The New York Times, for example, recently ran a lengthy expose on the labour and environmental impact (both negative) of Apple’s production of iPads and iPhones (I know, fellow Mac fans, it was a bitter pill to swallow). Paper, on the other hand, is made from entirely recycleable and renewable resources–and not just trees; fibre for paper making can be found in hemp, bamboo, sugarcane, and silk to name but a few natural and renewable alternatives. Paper making is also FAR more green than electronics in terms of carbon footprint, energy usage, and the like. There’s also the fact that paper can be recycled back into paper up to seven times; the average electroni doodad can have as much as 20% of itself recycled ONE time. Add to that the fact that most paper is produced domestically (in the US) and not in a dirty, slave labor Chinese factory and you can to see that the shine on the electronic apple quickly fades.
So, for Evans Graphics to call paper-based communication “wasteful” and somehow indicative of a trodlogytic need to maintain stasis is to engage in intellectual dishonesty of the highest order.
Sure, e-comm can be way more convenient. And it’s fast. And it has clear advantages–AT TIMES–over traditional paper-based methods. But the comparison stops there, and any value judgements of one against the other certainly must stop there. In that respect, Doug Rich gets props from me for realising the ACTUAL reason that companies are moving from print to e: convenience and a perceived value against cost.
Cheers,
-d-
By Pat Berger on Feb 22, 2012 | Reply
I look at paper as a secure medium. I put it in a folder in the file cabinet. Years later i can retrieve it review it make a few notes and put it back in the folder in the cabinet. I don’t have to worry about being hacked, hard drive crashes, multiple backups, software changes, keeping things private, did the private email get forwarded. Once you post and send anything on a computer it no longer belongs to just you. Anything on any networked computer is available to all.
By Pat Berger on Feb 22, 2012 | Reply
In my previous post I forgot about loosing controll of your laptop, phone, iPad, by being stolen. lost or misplaced, Just think of the extremely large amount of data that now belongs to someone else.
Yes you can have paper lost or stolen. It is about the enormity of and volume of data with the computer and its ability to be distributed easily.
Always keep in mind that what is on the net is for everyone.