Where are businesses with their Transition to paperless office?
The pace of change in business is fast. Staying on top of what’s happening is both increasingly challenging yet important. Here’s our quick guide to all you need to know about the state of paperless office from a recent AIIM survey.
Paper in the office
- 17% offices are now paper free
- 31% offices are piled high with papers
- 40% companies still file paperwork when it’s “important stuff”
- 56% rely on physical signatures
- 20% companies report using more paper than a year ago, 49% are using less
Paperless processes
- 3% companies have gone “as far as they can” with removing paperwork
- 36% are actively making good progress in reducing paperwork
Why have some companies not adopted paperless yet?
- 49% say lack of management initiatives
- 49% also say staff prefer paper
- 39% don’t really understand what paper-free options exist.
Data Capture
- 41% companies use OCR (optical character recognition scanning)
- 53% say scanning helps searching and sharing documents
- 27% say they scan because of their environmental policy to reduce paper usage
- 41% of companies get over 50% of their invoices electronically – but 31% print them anyway!
Digital Mailroom
- 26% scan documents before they are processed
- In Europe just 10% scan after the process for archiving purposes.
- The biggest benefits are seen as faster turnaround for customers, improved productivity and better quality data.
Business Processes
- 14% companies have made significant progress or are already paper-free
- 15% have stalled in their efforts
- 37% say progress is slow
Business Process Return on Investment: How long until you have positive ROI
- 26% saw positive ROI in 6 months
- 59% saw positive ROI in 12 months
- 84% saw positive ROI in 18 months
Mobile
- 12% see mobile as essential in their business processes
- 24% have no mobile projects yet
- 39% are in the planning stage
- Bandwidth, and security of device and connection have been the biggest challenges
Cloud and Outsourcing
- 11% use the cloud for capture
- 17% have plans to do so within 18 months
- Data capture is widely outsourced
- Some organisations outsource scanning and shredding too.
Industry Opinions
- 80% say paper is a barrier to remote access and teleworking
- 72% say “business at the speed of paper will not be acceptable in a few years’ time”
- 57% businesses are committed to digital transformation with paperless office being the starting point.
- 79% agree all businesses should have e-signature capability
- The fastest growth is expected in workflow solutions and business process review over the next 12 months.