Since the late 1970s the concept of a paperless office has sparked heated debate. Analyst Amy Wohl famously commented, around 1978, that she thought that the paperless office was “about as useful as the paperless toilet” but as I have no desire to investigate the feasibility of the latter, my interest is on the reduction if not eradication of paper in the business environment.
Since the arrival of what was once known as the information age, employees have had increasingly widespread access to digital technology and numerous applications enabling the viewing and reviewing of documents and data ‘on-screen’. However the common view seems to be that this has increased rather than decreased our paper consumption. The internet provides universal access to millions of online sources and there is now more information than ever for individuals to read, comment on and contribute to. Alongside this, the continued trend that sees the majority of people still inclined towards printing off work in order to review it (as document flow and comparison is arguably easier to assess) results in the UK consuming more than 4 times as much paper per person as the world average. In 2008, office workers in the UK printed out 120 billion sheets of paper, enough to create a pile more than 13,000 kilometres high. Two-thirds of this paper is in the bin before the end of the day.
These factors make it unlikely therefore that we will ever achieve a truly paperless environment so perhaps our focus should instead be on removing paper from the office where it is possible to do so. In my experience, telecoms billing offers one such opportunity to reduce paper usage, contributing positively to both the environment and the corporate purse.
As an example, the BT blue bill costs an organisation £18 per annum for each bill produced and with late payment fees of £10 per bill; this could be adding unnecessary costs to your bottom line. Moving to electronic formats such as online (or even CDs) can not only reduce costs but also improve your billing processes. A digital bill enhances the ability to cross-reference the items charged for against the telecoms inventory ensuring increased accuracy and accelerating the payment authorisation process in order to meet the billing terms of the invoice.
In addition, with carbon reduction plans still a leading agenda item in boardrooms across the country paper-free billing reduces overall paper consumption per capita and contributes positively to environmental strategies.
So the achievement of a paperless office does seem as improbable as the mass take-up of the paperless toilet but incremental steps can be taken to reduce the amount of paper that is used, and wasted, every day. By moving to paper-free business billing you could report back to your management team positive results regarding carbon reduction figures, cost savings and improved efficiency across the telecoms estate. All by email, of course.
