The paperless office continues to elude us

April 03, 2013

Since the dawn of personal computers there have been predictions of an all-digital future where paper was little but a distant memory. Decades later, it seems like we’ve made progress toward the “paperless office,” but the Utopian vision is still a long way off. Adobe, which bought digital signature company Echosign in 2011, conducted a study to find out how things are progressing on the road to our all-digital documents future. The study is based on data gathered from an online survey among 1051 U.S. managers who draft, send or sign contracts and agreements at small, medium and large companies. The report, "Paper: An endangered species?" uncovers some interesting results. Just over half of the respondents, 51 percent, believe that digital workflow makes filing and managing documents easier, and 61 percent say that working digitally cuts costs. Nearly a third even feel that digital workflow gives them an edge and helps them win business. Fair enough. Looking at the infographic from Adobe, those numbers are leaning in the right direction—albeit not as strongly as I would expect after decades of the promise of a paperless office. Then, we get to contracts. The survey results are almost unanimous (98 percent) that actual contracts or legal documents are still done using paper—even though nearly three fourths think life would be easier if contracts were done digitally. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032905/the-paperless-office-continues-to-elude-us.html#tk.rss_all