In 1975, a Business Week article titled ‘The Office of the Future’ painted a picture of a world transformed by technology. Back then, overflowing filing cabinets and mountains of paperwork plagued offices. The article predicted that companies such as Xerox and IBM, with their burgeoning office automation technologies, would usher in a paperless utopia. Visions of electronic documents processed on futuristic computer terminals replaced the drudgery of paper trails.
Fast forward to today, and the laptop and of course the smartphone has indeed become a ubiquitous desk companion. Yet, despite the rise in digital technology, the paperless office has yet to materialise. While digital workflows have significantly reduced paper consumption, reliance on printing continues, with over 70% of organisations in Quocirca’s recent study reporting that printing is important to their business processes. However, the tide may be turning amidst hybrid work environments and sustainability goals pushing companies to re-evaluate their paper usage and accelerate their digitisation plans.
The ‘less-paper office’
Why the ongoing reliance on paper? Several factors are at play. First, the convenience and ease of printing have only grown with advances in technology. Second, some tasks, such as reviewing contracts or marking up documents, are still seen as being easier to undertake or legally required to be on paper. Finally, there’s the human element. Many professionals find reading and annotating on paper a more natural and efficient process. Consequently, just 11% of organisations surveyed in Quocirca’s 2024 study, The Future of Document Capture, 2024 reported that their business was truly paperless. The top reasons for the ongoing reliance on paper are customers continuing to send paper documents (36%), legal requirements (30%), and the need for physical signatures (29%). Notably, cultural resistance is the leading factor among French organisations (32%).
Despite this dependence on paper, the shift to the ‘less-paper’ office continues to gather pace, with 75% accelerating their plans to digitise paper-based processes. Overall, as digitisation plans accelerate, businesses expect an average print volume decline of around 3%. Notably, SMBs (250–499 employees) predict a bigger drop of 6% in print volumes over the next year. This could be due to a greater ability to embrace change: larger organisations with deep investments in ‘legacy’ applications may find the digitisation of certain processes difficult.
The rise of advanced scan and capture technologies
While traditional print volumes are undeniably declining, this decrease is offset by a surge in scanning as organisations embrace paper digitisation. This trend is fuelled by a range of powerful drivers, including improved sustainability, business efficiency gains, and improved security and compliance.
Organisations expect their scan volumes to increase by 6% on average, rising to 7.4% on MFPs and dropping to 4% on dedicated office scanners. Scanning on MFPs is seeing a boost – 75% of organisations are encouraging the use of MFP scanning, and 69% are increasing their investment in cloud document capture solutions. Dedicated office scanners appear to be seeing increasing amounts of their workload carried out on MFPs.
Meanwhile, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is boosting the increased adoption of intelligent document processing (IDP). As organisations strive to reduce reliance on paper and streamline workflows, IDP is emerging as a powerful tool. IDP solutions not only scans documents but also extracts information from them using AI and machine learning (ML) to automate document processing tasks. IDP can also recognise text using optical character recognition (OCR), classify documents, and extract key information that can be entered into further digital processes, all without human intervention.
Overall, 62% of respondents in Quocirca’s Document Capture Study expect to increase their spend on IDP, rising to 69% among large organisations (over 1,000 employees).
Sustainability and paper
Sustainability is the most commonly cited goal of paper digitisation, with 74% of respondents to Quocirca’s Document Capture study placing this at the top of their required business outcomes for their digitisation initiatives. Quocirca’s research reveals that the majority of organisations are already implementing measures to recycle paper and minimise wasteful printing through advanced print management and digital workflow tools. Secure printing for instance, not only ensures improved document security but can also eliminate output being left uncollected in output trays.
It should be noted that managing paper consumption is not the only environmental factor contributing to a sustainable print infrastructure. Indeed, paper, a renewable resource that is increasingly well managed through initiatives such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification or reforestation projects such as those through PrintReleaf.
Other environmental impacts of the print infrastructure include the device hardware itself and consumables such as toner and ink. Organisations need to consider devices’ lifetime energy consumption. Newer, modern devices are generally more energy efficient than older models. However, they still consume electricity during operation and standby mode, and organisations need to evaluate the eco-energy modes available on devices.
Increasingly, printers and MFPs are manufactured using a percentage of recycled materials (for example, in plastic and metal components) or refurbished or remanufactured parts. Indeed, refurbished or remanufactured devices may be available, and these should be evaluated for viability as part of a sustainable print procurement decision.
Toner and ink cartridges can also be a significant source of waste. Many are not easily recyclable because of complex construction involving plastic and metal components and ink/toner residues. When thrown away, they can end up in landfills, potentially leaching harmful chemicals into the environment. Additionally, toner/ink cartridge production itself consumes considerable resources and energy.
Yet according to Quocirca’s latest research, while 66% of UK organisations formally monitor the carbon footprint of their IT environment, this drops to 57% that monitor the carbon footprint of their print environment.
As a result of these complexities, the need for clarity around print sustainability remains. The industry must provide guidance across the print lifecycle, from manufacturing and in-use impacts to recycling and disposal. 79% of organisations say they want their supplier to help measure the environmental impact of their print infrastructure. This is an increasing imperative as, in our 2024 study, lack of environmental data was cited by 27% of organisations as a barrier to measuring, monitoring, and managing their own sustainability initiatives.
Future outlook
While sustainability is one factor in accelerating the digitisation of paper-based processes, looking ahead, the office of the future will undoubtedly be characterised by even greater levels of automation. AI can potentially further reduce reliance on paper. Consider AI assistants automatically summarising lengthy documents, making intelligent decisions on the optimal way to print content, and extracting key data from information streams for review. Despite these advancements and a growing focus on sustainability the paperless office may still be a distant vision, and the future workplace is likely to be one that finds a balance of paper and digital workflows.
Further reading
The Future of Document Capture, 2024
