Remember when we thought that e-business would actually reduce the amount of paper we handled? In reality, paper use continues to increase. The number of sheets of paper used by printers and copiers across all industries will have jumped to 2.3 trillion by the end of this year, up from 1.6 trillion in 1996, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Here's irony for you: The printing increase that results simply from the introduction of e-mail to a business averages 40 percent! We can't seem to get over our need to hold physical documents.
Insurers are particularly notorious paper factories. On the life side, for example, 70 percent of files are paper-based, according to Irene Macauley, president of Business Solutions Consulting International, which specializes in document management for insurance.
“Just 20 percent are electronic documents, and 10 percent are COLD-related (computer output to laser disc),” she said, adding that paper-use percentages are only slightly less at P&C companies-about 65 percent of file documents.
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