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Is Paper Doomed?

Today is Paper Free Day (look here if this is news to you: http://www.aiim.org/events/paper-free-day).  Reading about it this week made me consider where we are, and whether we will ever really be paper free.

For the twenty-plus years I have been involved with document and image management, we have been talking about the emergence of the paperless organization.  It never seemed to arrive.  Mentioning the paperless enterprise at an AIIM meeting would give everyone a laugh.  Vendors of paper and related products like envelopes would talk about how their sales kept increasing every year.  But now I see a wave of change emerging.

Look at recent news:

• Last week Amazon said it sold more Kindle books than print books for the top 10, 25, 100, and 1,000 bestselling books during the previous 30 days.  In my hometown (and I expect yours) small bookstores are dying like plague victims.  A friend who owns a used-book store says he feels like he is becoming an antique dealer.
• On Monday the Audit Bureau of Circulations released figures that showed that weekday circulation at 635 newspapers declined 5 percent from circulation in the same six months last year. The decline last year was at more than twice that rate.  One quarter of Wall Street Journal readers have electronic subscriptions.
• Several studies^[1],[2]released earlier this year showed that, while reading from paper was 10% or more faster than reading on a Kindle or PC, users preferred using a tablet.

This only adds to trends of the past few years. 

• Many government agencies have offered Internet and electronic alternatives to paper forms.
• Some agencies, such as NSF and CMS have dictated that submissions can only be electronic.
• Many companies are encouraging their clients to go to electronic billing and payment.  It provides 24/7 availability and saves money for both parties.
• The push for paperless as a “green” activity
• Who still gets a paper airline ticket?

So, we have to ask:  Is the end of paper finally in sight?  Are we now finally on the brink of eliminating paper-based information transfer from our lives?

What do you think?

Comments

Submitted by Shiraz Ahmed November 12, 2010 - 5:14 AM

Although paper-based information transfer has definitely gone down in the last few years, it is still a long time before paper can be replaced completely. Of course, in more and more areas, it will continue to be complemented and supplemented by digital media.

Scanning documents, paying bills and taxes, and filing returns online, reading e-books...all these will go a long way in 'reducing' the amount of paper we consume, while making our work and personal lives easier. What will eventually matter is how you manage the information you have - no matter what format it is in.

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