The Paper Herd
It was only recently that I've come to notice the herding instincts of paper.
Almost as soon as it comes through the network or desktop printer, it seems to search out others of it's kind.
Printing on paper, is just usually the first step in a long process of non value adding activities that seem to attach themselves to that innocent, first piece of printed paper.
Once it's printed, then
- it is collected from the printer
- it's fastened, sorted, stapled, folded
- it is physically transported around the office
- it waits in in-boxes for work to be done to it,
- in a serial process (only one person can work on the piece of paper at a time), then
- it is wrapped in a file folder
- which is stored in a file cabinet
- which is contained within a file room, where
- it's retention must be managed, after which,
- it is stored in an offsite facility, where
- it is utimately shredded, discarded or recycled.
So much non value adding activity surrounds EACH piece of printed paper, that one wonders why we haven't tried harder to achieve the "paperless office".
Are our customers really willing to pay for all of this? I don't think so.
I think the reason is, I.T. guys like myself, push paperless technology, rather than making a case that printing paper launches a series of non-value adding activities that are really expensive in aggregate.
What we failed to do, was make the cost benefits case.
Businesses understand costs pretty well. And if they are to change behaviors (like printing), there had better be a good reason for it.
Want to go paperless? Try demonstrating the herding nature of paper to your company.
