Just as futurists in the 1950s boldly but inaccurately predicted that computers would cut our work days in half, offices without paper have turned out to be a pipe dream. A book published by MIT Press in 2002 called The Myth of the Paperless Office found that e-mail caused a 40% increase in paper use in many organizations.
True, the role of office paper has been changing recently. Most large organizations now depend on digital, not paper, storage of documents. And the Christian Science Monitor found that sales of plain white office paper are, indeed, leveling off. But even if office paper consumption is leveling, take a look around your office: Is it paperless yet? Will it be paperless anytime soon? We didn't think so.
Computerworld offers its list of The 21 Biggest Technology Flops.
3 comments:
I love all the duck pictures! You crack me up!
We're trying to go paperless over here - not completely, mind you. Mostly we're experimenting with a paperless tax practice - the accounting practice by and large is sticking to paper.
All the incoming tax documents are still on paper because taxpayers are still getting their documents on paper from their employers and banks, etc.. While we scan and bookmark all the information, I find the paper documents a little easier to read and manipulate while actually preparing the return. Electronic retrieval of information, on the other hand, is an absolute dream which is where I'm seeing the greatest efficiencies.
While the IRS is expecting record levels of e-filers we might only e-file only 10 out of 160 this year. (Up from five last year). Which means most of our clients will file on paper via snail mail.
We polled our clients at the beginning of tax season and asked how they would like to receive their copy of their tax return. Most still want their copy on paper as well. It feels safer and more official.
It's interesting, though.
Well of course one difficulty with legal documents is the mysterious nature of the electronic signature. But your experience with e-filing is interesting.
I can pretty much do without a printer entirely since Apple built PDF printing into OS X (little commercial there). I only keep one around to print the occasional photo (although if you can stand the wait it's cheaper to buy prints online and have them delivered by mail) and print a few materials for class (although I could just as well take files to work and print them there). A cartridge of ink lasts me a long, long time.
We're doing the same thing, that is "printing" everything to Adobe. There used to be a requirement that we (the tax preparer) must keep an exact paper copy of the filed return, signed by the preparer. We are relieved from the signature requirement this now so we don't have to have paper copies of the returns. Electronic's okay. Cuts way down on storage and paper costs, too.
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