While critics have doubted the viability of a paperless office, going paperless provides significant benefits to businesses. Adopting electronic document workflow can save companies money by eliminating printing, shipping, and storage costs. It also allows documents to be easily organized, searched, and signed electronically. Implementing paperless systems frees up physical office space currently used for filing cabinets and paper storage. Although some studies have found that paper consumption increased rather than decreased, advocates argue that paperless technology offers real value and its adoption has grown as more companies work remotely. A fully paperless infrastructure could allow companies to reduce their need for a physical location altogether.

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IS THE PAPERLESS OFFICE A FANTASY?
As much as document management software can help businesses in any industry, there are still doubts surrounding the reality of a paperless office. Electronic workflow can be difficult to develop, but critics have been unnecessarily skeptical of the technology for years.
The undeniable benefits of paperless
Business 2 Community contributor Lou D'Adamo recently wrote a piece on the may ways paperless document workflow can assist the bottom line of almost any company. Here are just a few methods to consider when going through the many benefits that come with the paperless lifestyle.
 Electronic documents replace the need for any and all printed material
 All digital data can be easily organized and searched for specific content
 Shipping charges and inter-office mail can be completely eliminated
 Self-encrypting hard drives can better protect data than a physical lock and key
 Electronic documents can be e-signed with equally legal binding
What's more, implementing the electronic workflow that comes with the paperless lifestyle saves a great deal of physical space. Consider how many square feet a single office allocates to filing cabinets, copy machines, printing areas and paper storage alone. This space could be used for productive purposes, but many companies continue to stick to the same old things.
Why the non-believers are wrong
Even with the benefits of paperless on clear display, the technology still has its detractors, though they've diminished as time wears on. The Economist printed an article in 2012 detailing how paper consumption had actually increased since their report on the

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emerging paperless office back in 1980, using this argument as a basis for claiming the concept was a myth from the very beginning.
"In a 1980 briefing in The Economist entitled 'Towards the paperless office', we recommended that businesses trying to improve productivity should 'reduce the flow of paper, ultimately aiming to abolish it'," the article explained. "Since then, alas, global paper consumption has increased by half."
Though this statistic wasn't encouraging at the time, it doesn't lessen the inherent value that document management software undeniably possesses - just because any given industry is slower to catch on to a useful tool doesn't mean the tool isn't significant. Since 2012, the popularity of paperless has actually increased as the recession continued to hit smaller organizations, causing them to downsize their offices and, sometimes, work from home.
The paperless office isn't a myth - in fact, it can be the change that means that can change the productivity of an entire company in a very positive way. When a paperless infrastructure is fully implemented, there's almost no need for a physical location at all, save for face-to-face meetings and mutual projects. For the business that is trying to cut some major corners and foster electronic workflow, this may be the extreme financial solution that could change the sustainability of the company.
Open offices up to new possibilities while saving money when you switch to paperless. Whether a business views the change from a financial, spacial or security perspective, the technology is a win for everyone.
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