Will The Paperless Office Ever Become A Reality - Essay Example

WILL THE PAPERLESS OFFICE EVER BECOME A REALITY The paperless office is a slogan that has been used to describe the office of tomorrow. This essentially means that the office of the future would therefore not be dependent on paper for its day-to-day activities. This essay intends to discuss whether this concept will ever become a reality by discussing the reviews and opinions on the topic from various corners. Even in today's world, paper continues to be an influential medium. It is still the most popular medium of reading and most of the information is stored in the form of paper documents rather than using other mediums.

However, electronic mediums such as the computer are being used as part of various attempts to reduce the dependence on paper. It has been known that the debate on the paperless office becoming a reality has been raging on for quite some time and many individuals involved in this debate have had their own facts & figures that support the stand that they have taken. This essay would therefore work towards using all such reviews found from various articles and internet sources for providing suitable information on how the paperless office is poised to become a reality in the near future.

During the past few years, with the introduction of he electronic mediums and with the option of being able to do almost all our work using this medium in the form of computers and software, it has been assumed that many have started to shun using paper wherever possible. On a similar note, there have been instances where people have not been in favor of using the electronic medium for activities such as reading novels, reports etc. of course, e-books continue to be an important form for storing information, but they are limited to technical manuals as on today.

In this context, it is interesting to know that around 30-40% of work is done on papers. One of the main reasons for this slow transformation towards paperless technology is due to the fact that using paperless technologies in portable devices such as PDAs is still a distant technology. Moreover, people find it much easier to navigate through a book's pages rather than have to slide through an e-book or document. Thus, assessing whether it is really possible to transform offices completely in favor of paperless technologies is possible or not, is in fact, a study on various connected aspects.

Firstly, there needs to be a study to ascertain on the manner and magnitude to which people use paper in the present day. Thus, it is a measure to assess our dependence on paper in this modern digital era. Secondly, there needs to be an analysis on how paper and electronic mediums continue to play a role in today's organizations and how they are expected to influence their working in the future, which also requires that there be a comparison between both on suitable parameters. A good criterion for assessment in this regard could be to assess the magnitude to which people in organizations perceive paper to be a problem, what makes them rely on using software for their work etc.

There are many existing case studies that reflect the views and opinions of many experts that can be used effectively to study the topic in minute detail. A final conclusion that can be reached after having gone through a lot of existing literature has been that paper will continue to occupy an important place in the office of tomorrow. Of course, there is a lot of analysis that needs to be done in order to support this conclusion. But a preliminary study supports the fact that replacing paper in the future is not real, simply because we are so much used to it.

REFERENCES1. Wikipedia (2006), Paperless Office. Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperless_office. explains the meaning of the word-paperless office.2. Abigail J. Sellen, Richard Harper (1999), The myth of the paperless office. MIT press.3. Margaret Coffey (2001), Towards the paperless office. Sydney: IBM Australia. Explains about the migration towards paperless offices.4. Kafgroup (2006), A Paperless Office or a World Series Title Found at: http://www.kafgroup.com/articles/paperless.html.

contains some case studies on the topic.5. ASP101(2006), Building a Paperless Office using Low Cost Technology. Found at: http://www.asp101.com/articles/stanley/paperless/default.asp. article shows how easy it is to migrate to a paperless office.6. CsMonitor (2005), What ever happened to the paperless office. Found at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p13s01-wmgn.html. depicts the trends in transformation towards the paperless office.