When the future of work greatly depends on minimizing the office clutter,  going paperless is becoming a reality sooner than we think.  The clear and present danger imposed by global warming has created an urgent calling to go green.  Did you know that in the United States alone, nearly 4 million tons of copy paper are used each year? Now, that translates to more than 700 billion sheets.  

Sadly, the battle to go paperless or not is still on the hot seats.  Most people just can’t seem to accept the idea of having no paper to write down stuff at all.  When doing business is all about record-keeping, cutting down the paper trail may be the most practical choice one can ever make, not to mention a two thumbs up from all those green campaigns out there.  The question now remains:  Is it smart to go paperless? To answer this timeworn question, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of going paperless:

Advantages of a Paperless Office

1.  Less Space

If you are to take out all your paper files and burn them outside, you’ll be amazed to see just how much free space your office don’t need.

2.  Savings

Going paperless means less bulky filing cabinets and lesser costs in paying for storage spaces ( rent, lease, etc. )

3.  Convenience

Not only will it be easier to search for archives, but doing data entry work in the future is far more efficient and faster.

4.  Eco-Friendly

It takes a day to cut down a single tree, but years to grow it.  By saying no to paper, you help put an end in the vicious cycle of tree cutting.  Small actions can make a huge difference in helping conserve what’s left of our forests out there.

Disadvantages of a Paperless Office

1.  Human Error

Not everyone is tech savvy in making that transition to a paperless environment, specially when one is used to doing data entry in paper.  There is also a high chance of entering the wrong data.

2.  Automation

To achieve a 100% paperless office, one must have all systems automated flawlessly and this can cost time and money.

3.  Bugs and Breakdowns

To go paperless means keeping all records electronically, which comes with an IT department’s biggest nightmare concerning software and hardware issues that can disrupt work.

4.  Security Issues

With the dawn of digital technology comes the golden age of hackers.  Going paperless means vulnerability to unauthorized third party access or worse, data loss.  This is definitely bad news for confidential data stored online.  For this reason, we encounter cases of identity theft, credit card fraud, and many more.

One thing is definitely sure:  People are becoming more aware of going green and we can only look forward to seeing a seamless solution that will remove the doubts and fears of those who don’t want to make that digital switch.  Are you ready for a paperless change?

Peek of the Day:

The Pros and Cons of Paperless Billing
Is the paperless Office Here at Last?
How Paperless Offices Work
The Paperless Office is Possible, Says JP Morgan

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under All About Invoices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.