Despite investing in document and content management systems, the vast majority of businesses still rely on paper to some degree, with electronic processes "breaking out" into paper at some stage.
This is according to Avi Rose, SA country manager at ARX, who notes one of the biggest culprits is the need to obtain signatures. The signature process has become part of the DNA of both organisations and people, and changing this habit can be difficult.
He explains other barriers to the adoption of the paperless office include automated processes that were not designed with the paperless goal in mind; a lack of education on the impacts of paper usage; and an ingrained habit of printing and filing documents for storage and safekeeping.
Rose maintains technology is available to address all of these barriers.
"Research conducted by Gartner indicates the amount of paper companies produce is growing by an average of 25% per year. This is despite the rapid return on investment (ROI) of paperless office initiatives, with 66% of organisations achieving full payback in 18 months or less," he says.
"Reducing the amount of paper used in any size of business has significant economic, efficiency and environmental benefits, and many of the barriers to the paperless office are actually quite simple to address. The paperless office is thus a cost-effective option for any business, including the SME."
Rose believes the paperless office has a positive impact in many areas, including finance, operations and green initiatives. Obviously, the paperless office saves money by reducing the amount of paper consumed ? a direct benefit to the bottom line.
For example, he says, a significant cost for many organisations lies in storing and finding paper-based documents. This can be dramatically reduced or even eliminated with a paperless office environment. In addition, printing out documents not only consumes paper, but energy as well.
"Electronic signature solutions, an important part of the paperless office journey, can help organisations of all sizes achieve ROI in less than 12 months, reducing paper consumption, printing costs, and courier and postal costs, while at the same time improving efficiency and reducing the harmful impact on the environment," he notes.
According to Rose, in SA, paper-based signatory processes are ingrained into our businesses. Approvals and authorisations require sign-off, which often means physical signatures need to be collected from multiple levels of management, as well as from external parties. Therefore, South African companies would be wise to invest more in paperless solutions.
However, he says the benefits of electronic signature solutions have an even wider impact. Wet ink signature processes can take weeks using the familiar "print, sign, scan, e-mail/fax/post/courier and repeat" processes. With an electronic signature, these processes can be reduced to a matter of hours, improving both internal efficiencies as well as customer service.
He notes many local organisations have already made the first step towards a paperless office and have implemented a document management system, while leaving the "last mile" manual, ie, the signature process.
As a result, the company cannot gain all the benefits from its automated and paperless solutions. In order to make the paperless office a reality in SA, it is necessary to improve investment in digitising the "last mile" by implementing electronic signature solutions, says Rose.
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