The Paperless Office

by Mark Shead

Monday, March 22, 2010 at 01:50 PM EDT

We have reached an interesting point in moving toward digital technology. The the barriers between paper and paperless offices are no longer technical but cultural. The components of a paperless office are readily available and not particularly expensive. High quality monitors are getting cheaper every day and sheet fed scanners can be had for less than $500.

Humans are use to using paper. We’ve been doing it for a long time and changing to a different paradigm is going to be difficult. One of the biggest things holding back a move to more digital technology that replaces paper is the lack of ubiquitous encryption and digital signatures. Without secure way to transmit information and verify who sent something, we are going to have to continue to rely on paper based procedures.

A lot of the hold up is that people don’t really understand how encryption or digital signatures really work. The benefits are great. The amount of gasoline and trees that could be saved by getting the general public to shift to more digital technologies is tremendous. Environmental groups may find that their efforts promoting and educating about paperless technologies will accomplish more toward reducing carbon emissions than some of the other more direct projects.

This article originally appeared on Mark W. Shead.