The results of the OEM’s study found that “less than 10 percent of business processes will rely on paper” by 2018

MPS Connect reported on the results from the Digitisation of worksurvey of IT decision-makers in larger North American and Western European organisations, with Xerox pointing out that “the move from paper to digital processes is nearly upon us”, despite the fact that “many survey respondents admit they may not be ready for it”. Another finding was that data “is the lifeblood of business today, and it’s not easy digging through it to uncover insightful, actionable intelligence”.

42 percent of those surveyed cited cost and security separately as “primary issues [of] broad concern over paper-based processes”, while an average of nine percent of key business operations were expected to “run on paper in the next two years”. Despite this, 55 percent said that their companies’ processes “are still largely or entirely paper-based”, while 29 percent are “still communicating with end customers via paper, rather than email or social channels”.

This was an interesting finding given that 41 percent “agree moving to digital workflows will cut organisational costs”, and that 87 percent “appear to have the skill sets available to make this happen”. In terms of identifying areas for automation, 38 percent pointed to accounting; 37 percent to expense reporting; 36 percent to accounts payable; and 35 percent to customer care. Some basics were not yet instigated however, with 40 percent not yet implementing mobile workforce solutions, 47 percent not yet adding or improving cloud services, and 45 percent not using big data analysis.

Xerox noted that “in many cases, digitising or re-engineering paper-based processes before they are automated will lead to better results”, with one such example “analysing employee print habits”, which provides “insight into hidden opportunities for digitisation where paper use is high”. On this basis, 90 percent of respondents stated that they “have good tools to analyse employee print habits”, but only 45 percent of these “are using those tools to their full extent”.

Andy Jones, Xerox’ Vice President of Workflow Automation for Large Enterprise Operations, stated: “Organisations foresee a lean and agile digital future, but current business processes are still weighed down by paper. The disconnect between an organisation’s vision and the steps required to achieve successful digital transformation has stalled the promise of digitisation.”

Details: http://www.therecycler.com/posts/xerox-study-finds-less-paper-use-by-2018/