Productivity 501 blog puts online ten myths about going paperless (full article at http://www.productivity501.com/paperless-office-myths/7375/).

What follows are my comments:

1. Technology isn’t ready for a paperless office: Technology is ready, but are we? The average user (but also the high end one) isn’t. Changing from paper to digital isn’t at all a problem of technology: is mainly a problem of habit.

2. Going paperless is “All or Nothing”: True what is said. Is not an “all in” affair, but a step by step go through, with positive impacts also if made in minimum part

3. Paperless is less secure: Did someone remember “social engineering”? We leave more risky and interceptable traces in paper than in electronic format. The only point is that our feeling of control on paper is stronger.

4. Scanners are the most important part of going paperless: Not at all. The most important thing is how securely and fast we can store and access the datas.

5. Reading on a monitor is too hard: is hard but manageable. On pure feeling point of view, you can like or not reading something on monitors (and in my case there are some kind of documents I appreciate and other that I don’t : for example books)

6. Going paperless is good for the environment: I’m not sure of the balance, since less paper means more eletronic, more power used and definitely more CO2 in the air

7. Going paperless is too expensive: Yes it is, or at least it is expensive if you seek for high end solutions.

8. Paper is safer than digital: Not at all, but in some cases it is, because of some institutions need to have original paper docs.

9. Digital formats are all equivalent: no they aren’t.

10. Going paperless will save time: depends a lot on instruments but also on personal attitude (e.g. since Windiws CE I tried many times to go digital with a PDA. Never succeeded. Then came the IPhone… )

This post as a comment also at  http://www.productivity501.com/paperless-office-myths/7375/