How long hath man dreamed of a paperless office? With the inroads made by e-ink readers like the Kindle, and with tablet computing taking off, plus the efforts of offices around the world - including mine - to reduce our dependence on paper, it does feel like the days of paper being a relic as envisioned in 1950's "World of Tomorrow"-type videos might actually be around the corner.
And then you go travelling or buy a house.
For all the work I'm seeing by corporates to remove paper from processes as much as they can, it still seems that there are some leftover processes that just don't seem to be budging from their current position of paper-only-thank-you-very-much. This was brought home to me as I was recently on a plane filling out my Customs declaration form before landing back in New Zealand.
I'm sure you know the type of form I'm talking about? "Are you bringing any illegal drugs or dangerous substances (like honey) into the country? If so, please tell us." I was filling it in while referring to my boarding pass which, on some airlines at least, can be electronic and simply an image on my smartphone. I was also writing my passport number down - a number printed on my passport which has an RFID chip in it to even make it's use of paper smarter.
But even with those examples of paper replacement technology near to hand, there I was filling in the same old plain piece of paper as everyone else on the flight, using a pen and remarking at how my handwriting skills have declined. And all I could think was why is there not some app on my phone, or app on my in-flight entertainment screen, where I can fill this out, acknowledge what I am bringing in, and leave the paper out of it? How backwards this process is, I thought, that I have to use paper for a guy to simply tick and write some code on, and then to tell me to exit to the left.
But that small slip of paper annoyance has got nothing on a sale and purchase agreement when buying a house!
This weighty, lengthy, standard-issue document is a necessary evil when buying or selling your house. For those who have been through this process, you know the deal: you get this document, make sure your lawyer has confirmed it's legit, and then you have to fill in with a pen (or quill) the various particulars of the offer you are making on the house. This includes - and I'm not joking, for those who haven't done this - cutting out and pasting in with glue any clauses that you are adding to the contract!
And it gets better. When the vendor gets your offer, he laughs to himself a bit, and then he crosses out your offer and writes a counter-offer at a much higher price. If you are buying from a trust or shared party, they both then initial that change and any others they wish to. Everything is in long-form to, so currencies are spelt out, full names are used etc. Back and forward you then go, like some papyrus-based, man-servant delivered (aka 'real estate agent') tennis match, and by the time the negotiations are completed, you need some sort of translation device just to read how much you are paying, and whether your firstborn has been thrown in on the deal.
And then you have to attach the deposit...by cheque! When doing this recently, I almost had to look up online how to write a cheque, it's been that long since I last had to write one. Seriously people - there has got to be a better way! iPads with some sort of digital non-repudiation device (like a digital certificate) perhaps? Or even using your finger (on an iPad) or a stylus (on a Galaxy Note) to sign without using scissors, glue and a ruler?
The conclusion I have reached is that paper independence initiatives, while laudable and worthwhile, will hit an inevitable papier-mâché ceiling stopping their progress unless we can find a way to remove these paper weighted processes that are used thousands of times each day.
Isn't it time to break our addiction to paper?