Using paper in the office might seem essential, but if you pause to think about it, when someone hands you a report or handout, most of us ask: 'Can you send that to me by email?'Let's face it emails, or digital information in an excel spread-sheet, power-point presentation or shared document cloud are far more efficient documents. Rather than carrying around and leafing through 40 sheets of paper, you can dip in and out of these electronic versions.

Thanks to technological developments, it's become a lot easier to avoid paper altogether. Yet around 80% of office waste is paper, and the large majority of this goes to landfill. Moving towards a paperless office will not only save paper, and reduce your environmental impact, but also save you money.

Tatiana Antonelli Abela, founder of Goumbook, a green directory for the Middle East said today's culture is rapidly moving towards sustainable living and green computing, and, assessing the costs and inefficiencies of paper, a paperless office looks more attractive than ever. "For some, it's all about conservation and environmental protection, therefore paperless offices and paperless document management is a good idea... For others, for whom the paperless office has had no draw at all, it's definitely time to take a fresh look at this idea: a paperless office can benefit the bottom line as much as it does lakes and streams," Abela said.

On average, a single document is copied nine to 11 times - if you multiply those 11 copies by the millions of pages generated daily, the piles really stack up, she said."Green is 'in' right now, but smart and efficient never go out of style: showing off your paperless office to current or potential clients is a great way to impress. It tells that client or prospect that you are looking for ways to keep your business lean and mean and that you leverage technology to do that," Abella continued.

The true cost of copy-paper can be 31 times the actual cost of the paper when you factor in its lifecycle from procurement to disposal. Storing and filing documents takes up space, and so increased rental costs (e.g. filing cabinets).A lot of these documents either aren't necessary or can be stored digitally at a fraction of the cost.

The UAE has a very high per capita consumption of paper, 175kg, against the global average of 62 kg. The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi has been marking Paperless Day since 2008 in the UAE to drive home the message of the need to reduce paper use. Dubai Municipality, Dubai Customs, Dubai Health Authority, and some schools already apply a paperless rule. Banks have also moved over to paperless statements under names ranging from E-Statements, Email Statements, PDF Statements, and Online Statements etc. However, the end objective of all paperless statements is to save time and reduce paper. 

Barclays Capital in the UK has saved GBP 200,000 through office paper efficiency measures that have cut in-house paper use by 48.1%.Savings include energy and toner reductions as well as the actual cost of the 20 million sheets of paper they have saved. This 90-ton reduction is the equivalent of 2,340 trees, nearly a million liters of water, 567 tons of CO2, and more than 100 tons of other polluting waste.

"Targets help to drive cost savings and operational efficiency, improve purchasing decisions and support and enhance our reputation as a company that takes its environmental responsibilities seriously," said Paul Baglin, vice-president, Barclays Capital.

One idea was to reformat internal investment presentations known as 'pitch books', from single-sided A4 to double-sided A5. In one year, this new format use in London saved 7.7 million sheets of paper. A further three million sheets were saved by reducing valuations mailed to clients from 14 to five pages, and contract note schedules from 20 pages down to one page.

Another aspect to consider is your corporate social responsibility or CSR. The loss of forests is more damaging than just the physical loss of trees, as forests store approximately 50% of all terrestrial carbon, making them one of the world's most important safeguards against climate change. The destruction of forests also seriously threatens the habitats of many rare and critically endangered plants and animals.

Going paperless will increase your effectiveness, convenience, and ease of work in the office. It can also streamline organization within your company and eliminate unwanted clutter.

Zawya BusinessPulse 2013