The most popular and comprehensive Open Source ECM platform
ECM: One Step Closer to a PaperLess Office
The term ‘paperless office’ has been around since the late 1970’s and the introduction of personal computers. The idea was that office automation and electronic documents would make paper documents redundant and unneeded.
But desktop publishing and the laser printer revolutionized printing, and rather than a drop in paper, paper use increased dramatically. The amount of paper used in offices doubled from 1980 to 2000. But since 2000, the use of office paper has leveled off, and has actually started to drop.
Now electronic reading devices like Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader are finally offering light-weight durable devices for reading documents. Hearst is in a deal with a company called Plastic Logic to create a much larger screen device for displaying tabloid-like electronic newspapers.
Clearly electronic reading devices are set to revolutionize the distribution and consumption of books. Newspapers and magazines are sure to follow too.
But it is interesting to also think about what these electronic reading devices will mean for the office environment. These devices are pioneering a new type of content delivery. An electronic reading device integrated with an ECM system can provide a very portable and very extensive filing cabinet of all company information.