The Paperless Office and Managed Print Services Providers

The paperless office is an idea that has been talked about ever since the personal computer became a mainstay of the modern office. The idea was raised in a notable 1975 Business Week article titled “The Office of the Future.” Some parts of the article are very prescient and the authors predicted that by 1995 technology would exist that would let users access documents at the touch of a button, eliminating the need for paper. However, paper continues to play a very large part in the workplace.

CompTIA’s Examining the Print and Document Management Market research study found that most companies expect to maintain or increase the level of printing and scanning they do.  Given the expectations of rising volumes of printing and associated costs, moving to a paperless office is a priority for four out of five firms surveyed in our research. It is a higher priority for large- and medium-sized firms as their budgets are likely to be impacted more by printing and document management. Interestingly, firms that anticipate increasing print levels place a higher priority on moving toward a paperless office.

The move to the paperless office is driven by financial, environmental and technological factors. CompTIA’s research on print and document trends found that elements of the paperless office that drive efficiency and reduce costs are most important to companies. New technology, like tablets, has made the transition to the paperless office easier. A Morgan Stanley study published in February 2011 found that the greater adoption of tablets would contribute to the trend towards printing less. CompTIA’s research also found that majority of companies believe that the use of tablets is likely to lead to a reduction in printing in the future. The greater adoption of tablets in offices and the features of tablets such as mobility, screen size, ease of collaboration and resolution all contribute to this trend.

The move to the “less-paper” office does create opportunities for managed print service providers. To facilitate the move to the less-paper office, there is the need for a process that understands current document management protocol followed by companies. Our research found that a little more than 50 percent of companies have a formal document retention policy with 45 percent saying their primary method to store important documents is to save the original paper copy. This indicates that there is the opportunity to put more formal processes in place.  The opportunity is more pronounced in small- and medium-sized firms as a significant number indicate that there are no current formal procedures in place.

An important element of the paperless office for corporations is managing information more efficiently by digitizing it.  Four out of five companies in our sample said this was an important element of the paperless office. This represents an opportunity for companies engaged in document management to digitize archival and current information for efficient record-keeping and document access.

The transition to the paperless or less-paper office is likely to require changes in some ingrained workforce habits. CompTIA’s research on printing trends finds that a little less than half of companies believe that the transition will be easy for their employees. About a fifth expect a difficult transition. Having a managed print service (MPS) provider could make the transition easier.   Among those who currently use an MPS provider, only a tenth said that they expected a difficult transition to a paperless office.  The move to the less-paper office is likely to continue as digital media become more prevalent.  The efficiencies, productivity gains, improvements in technology, environmental and financial impact all point to greater adoption of this trend.