Paperless office still a dream?

Despite predictions that paper would one day disappear and be replaced by new technologies, today’s businesses are printing more than ever.

Xplor, an organization that tracks the digital hardcopy printing space, estimates that paper use is growing six to eight percent each year and that the number of pages printed between 1995 and 2005 will more than double.

Xplor is a worldwide association representing more than 5,000 members in more than 2,500 companies that develop and use the technology of the $125-billion document systems industry.

Today, enterprise printing is costing companies around the globe only a small fortune. Printing costs of businesses represent a mere one to three percent of corporate revenues. However, Xplor said this amount is expected to increase exponentially unless CIOs, CFOs and CEOs take steps to gain control of this critical business function.

According to the Xplor study, the average worker prints 33 Internet pages each day. And, for every $1 billion of revenue, an average corporation generates 88 million sheets of paper – a pile of paper which, when stacked up together, could reach over a distance of seven miles. Certainly, the cost of printing all these pages is hitting the bottom line of corporations virtually without notice.

Moreover, the Xplor study quotes analysts’ estimates that the combined hard and soft dollar costs of enterprise printing represent anywhere between six and 15 percent of corporate revenue.

Breaking it down further, Lexmark, a top US printer maker, estimates that hardcopy output alone costs one to three percent of a company’s total revenue.

Thus, at these rates, a $1-billion company is spending $10 million to $30 million on printing without even knowing it.

However, Xplor added that companies which evaluate their hardcopy infrastructure can reduce these hard dollar costs by up to 20 percent, meaning a $1-billion enterprise can save $2 million to $6 million in output-related costs each year.

The study shows that these savings can be generated by optimizing output assets, printing more intelligently and streamlining business processes by moving paper-based information back into the electronic realm.

The Xplor study said these digital conversions, turning paper-based information into electronic information, can help speed up business, which can ultimately mean more revenue and less printing costs. — Quadmedia News Agency