Technology keeps marching on and changing the way we approach business processes in a whole host of ways. Yet the phrase “paperless office” is one that anyone under 50 has been familiar with for their entire working lives. Way back in the 1990s, people were talking about going paper free in the digital age. A quarter of a century later, we are still talking about it. But are we any closer to achieving it – and is it really so important after all?
People like printed media
Surveys carried out by market research firm IDC examined the way that the modern day workforce interacts with printed versus digital media, and the results are somewhat unexpected. One of the biggest surprises was that the younger employees, aged under 25, are more likely to print off longer documents of 6-15 pages to review and annotate. Their older colleagues, those aged 36 and above, are more likely to print shorter documents of five pages or fewer.
The reason is that having something in paper in front of you is easier to work with than messing around with it on a screen, scrolling up and down from one page to the next and trying to work out how to show changes, add annotations and so on.
The survey asked employees how often they use their office printers and two thirds replied “very frequently.” This is an aspect that should not be underestimated in terms of importance. Businesses place more focus than ever on productivity and employee comfort and happiness than ever before – and rightly so. Happier workers are more productive, and less likely to feel disengaged and start looking elsewhere.
Investing in the latest digital technology so that employees can work on the go is well and good – but the studies suggest that traditional office equipment like a printer is still popular in the office environment.
Printing is less costly than it used to be
There is a common misconception that printing is bad for the environment and a drain on money. With today’s printing technology, that is not really the case. For one thing, even laser printers are nowhere near as expensive as they used to be, and for another, by purchasing supplies online from Printer Inks or a similar supplier, the cost of consumables is drastically reduced.
Add to that the environmental factors of using recycled paper, low energy printers and sending toners for recycling, and the cost to the planet is similarly negligible.
The customer is always right
It’s not just staff who like printed documents. Some customers have embraced paperless billing and are delighted to receive all the necessary documentation relating to their transaction by email or via a smartphone app. However, some have neither the desire not the technical ability to operate in this way.
Businesses cannot afford to ostracise their customers any more than they can afford to upset their employees. Bearing all these points in mind, there is clearly still a place in the corner of every office for a printer.