Organisations across New Zealand, like those in many countries around the globe, are wrestling with the challenge of paper clogging and choking their processes.

AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) conducted a survey of 650 New Zealand businesses to find out more about how they are changing the way they work with paper. We've detailed some of the more interesting findings below that outline the changing role of paper in the workplace.

Download the full report at the bottom of this page.

NZ Businesses want to make the change to a paperless office

It’s clear that NZ business see a marked value in reducing the number of paper processes; from reducing storage costs to improving compliance and providing easy access to stored data, digital documents are seen as the way forward.



71%

of NZ businesses have implemented, or are investigating paper-free business processes

The three main areas that businesses are looking to increase spend in 2018 are:

60%

of NZ businesses see storage and retrieval as the biggest challenge in a paper-based office

The biggest drivers for digital data capture in NZ business are:

87%

Of NZ businesses are looking at cloud-based or hybrid cloud and on-premises systems for data management

So what’s holding them back?

The most commonly identified restraint for going fully digital is people’s current predilection for paper’s physical format.

People like paper for reading, for reviewing and for writing on. The physical aspect provides (a perhaps false) confidence. This also includes citing paper as more tangible evidence of an event (e.g. a signed contract) than digital.



53%

told us staff prefer paper for reading, handling and review

30%

cite wet ink signatures as a business requirement

24%

see paper as needed for long-term records keeping

What's the answer...?

Identify the valuable processes for change

While there may still be merit in reviewing and annotating a paper version of a document, automatic processing of invoices and digital storage of documents can provide marked cost and time savings.

Engage the experts

Speak to the people who can: walk you through identifying where a process is causing an inefficiency; show you how to alleviate it; educate your staff about the benefits of change and, who can then manage that change process.

Find the right solution for your business

There's no one-size-fits-all solution. Find a combination of technologies and processes that meets your resource, system and cost requirements.

As put by one respondent:

The best way to keep paper out of a business is to provide a workable alternative with a better process performance.

Download the full research

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Thanks for your interest. You can download the research here - The Modern AP Manager's Automation Toolbox.

See how Ricoh can help you improve your working processes and reduce your paper usage at businessofchange.co.nz