Less than 10% of Business Processes will Rely on Paper by 2018, say Executives

Executives think that less than 10% of business processes will rely on paper by 2018, a Xerox survey of 600 IT decision-makers in large North American and Western European organizations has found. However, the “Digitization at Work” report found that many survey respondents admited they may not be ready for the move to digitization.

The report found broad concern over paper-based processes, with cost (42%) and security (42%) cited as primary issues. Survey respondents predicted an average of only 9% of key business operation processes will run on paper in the next two years.

But more than half (55%) of the respondents admit their organizations’ processes are still largely or entirely paper-based, and about one-third (29%) are still communicating with end customers via paper, rather than email or social channels.

This is despite the fact that 41% agree moving to digital workflows will cut organizational costs, and 87% appear to have the skill sets available to make this happen.

When it comes to automating processes, almost three-quarters of respondents said they already have identified areas for automation. More specifically, they cite accounting (38%), expense reporting (37%), accounts payable (36%) and customer care (35%) as the most likely functions to become fully automated within the enterprise.

Yet the report identified a number of basics that many enterprises have yet to address to make automation and digital workflows a reality in key business functions. According to the organizations surveyed:

• 40% have not yet implemented solutions for the mobile workforce
• 47% have not yet added or improved cloud services
• 45% have not yet incorporated or improved predictive analysis through big data
• 47% have mostly or completely digitized invoice processing

In many cases, digitizing or re-engineering paper-based processes before they are automated will lead to better results. Analyzing employee print habits, for example, provides an insight into hidden opportunities for digitization where paper use is high. The report also found that 90% of respondents said they have good tools to analyze employee print habits, but only half of them (45%) are using those tools to their full extent.

“Organizations foresee a lean and agile digital future, but current business processes are still weighed down by paper,” said Andy Jones, vice president, Workflow Automation, Large Enterprise Operations, Xerox. “The disconnect between an organization’s vision and the steps required to achieve successful digital transformation has stalled the promise of digitization.”

The full Xerox report on the study can be downloaded from here.