Oki, the business printed communications specialist, supports the growing belief that the much talked-about paperless office is far from happening. 81% of all trade, IT and business journalists from across Europe who attended Oki's recent Pan-European event in Berlin reiterated Oki's conclusions in agreeing that the concept of the paperless office may never happen.
Extensive research in the late 1980s and early 1990s had first suggested that the office without paper would be imminently upon us. However this idealized office in which paper is absent because all information is stored and transferred electronically has proved to be far from a viable reality.
Electronic communication technologies were going to revolutionise both the way we worked and the environment in which we worked. The speed of business was to increase whilst global paper consumption was to decrease as companies started to use documents in e-format as opposed to the traditional hard copy.
Whilst technological developments within business communication have undoubtedly increased the speed of business they have not reduced the amount of paper we consume. The workforce seems to have moved from the old model of 'Print and Distribute' to a new, more flexible, model of 'Distribute and Print.' Gone are the days where one document would circulate the office in a hard copy format, documents are now distributed in electric format for all to print as business needs dictate.
No one truly predicted the effect the Internet, electronic mail, personal digital assistants and even electronic calendars would have on the number of documents we print and the amount of paper we use. For example, a recent University of California, Berkeley study found that, worldwide, the amount of printed matter generated between the years 1999 and 2002 increased by a staggering 36 percent. Moreover, year on year figures are continuing to rise, with some companies seeing an annual increase in of paper consumption of between 6 and 8 percent (Source: www.xplor.org).
This more recent research proves the hard copy document is still an integral part of a corporation's information system. There are undoubtedly many reasons why this still remains the case. Sellen and Harper's concept of the "affordances" of paper offers one tangible explanation ('The Myth of the Paperless Office' by Abigail Seelen and Richard Harper) , i.e. the physical properties of paper (it being thin, light, porous, opaque, and flexible) make it pleasant for us to touch and handle, and entice the human actions of grasping, carrying, folding, writing, and so on. Simply put, people like to have something physical to handle. Other reasons why could be that some find printouts easier to read and to comprehend than electronic documents; others might find it more useful to annotate or scribble on a document.
The reduced cost of printing in recent years, both in terms of purchasing printers and also their running costs, offers a further explanation of why print figures have increased. Companies are consequently not as concerned as they once were about the number of documents being printed. In fact, according to Gartner, only 45% of businesses actually track their printer usage. This increased affordability has no doubt been facilitated by the advent of high quality, yet low cost, two-in-one colour / mono printers.
In addition to reduced costs the quality of print has dramatically improved. The possibility of printing colourful documents in-house, teamed with the ease-of-use that modern printers offer - particularly Oki's latest range - mean that companies increasingly can print material that was previously out-sourced such as stationery, business cards and multiple copies of large documents.
Andrew Montgomery, Managing Director of Oki Europe Ltd. comments, "International corporations have clearly not reduced their print output as was first predicted, in fact quite the contrary has happened. The ever increasing affordability of printing, particularly now of high quality colour printing, has enabled corporations to print freely without having to be too concerned about the financial ramifications. However, whilst organisations will continue to maintain high print volumes, the number of documents stored electronically - as opposed to in hard copy format - will continue to increase as organisations become more confident in their electronic document management systems."
-Ends-
Notes to editors:
Oki, established in 1881, is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, with an annual turnover of approx. $4.8bn (FY02).
Oki employs approx. 20,960 people throughout the world. Of the 5,650 employees outside Japan, 1,300 are based in Europe.
Oki Europe is the European headquarters of the specialist printer and fax division of Oki Data Corporation (ODC), part of Oki Electric.
ODC's sales are divided between 47% Europe, 28% US, 20% Asia and 5% OEM products.
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© Press Release 2004
