The concept of paperless office is gaining popularity more
than ever before. With increasing pollution leading to global warming,
governments across the globe are stressing on minimizing the means of pollution
and increasing greenery. Reducing the use of paper is a part of such an effort.
As per Wikipedia - "A paperless office is a work environment in which the
use of paper is eliminated or greatly reduced". To achieve this, companies
are implementing a number of measures at the workplace. A paperless claim for
company reimbursements has been introduced in many organizations. All you need
to do is send a pdf/doc as a proof of an expense to get it reimbursed. You can
present emails as a proof for hotel/flight/train/etc expenses. This not only
reduces the use of paper but also reduces the total effort required in
processing and storing them.
In many IT companies, office printers are pre-configured to
print on both sides of the paper thus minimizing paper usage. Emails are
configured to have a footnote suggesting the reader to print an email only if
it is required. Most companies have also automated certain modes of
communication. Faxes can now be received and sent directly from your email
inbox. All you need to do for sending a fax is to attach the fax message
(pdf/doc/image/etc) to an email and send it to a particular email address.
Service and utility companies now send service bills directly to your email
address and also provide you an incentive for choosing this mode of bill
delivery as it will reduce paper usage and save the postage expenses by the
company for delivering the bill to your doorstep. It is not distant when
everything will be done online almost eliminating the use of paper making the
concept of paperless office a complete reality.