Paper is here to stay, highlights Epson research

More than 35 years have passed since British-American information scientist, Frederick Wilfrid, first envisioned a ‘paperless office’ in 1978. Today, the reality is that printers continue to be used daily and, according to an independent survey of over 3,600 European employees commissioned by Epson Europe, 77% of respondents stated that printers were vital in terms of helping them work more productively with an overwhelming majority (83%) felt a “paperless office is unrealistic”. In fact, of the 4% that said they didn’t have a printer in their office, half of them were intending to get one.

“It is clear from our research that – despite digital advances – people still like to work with paper, preferring print rather than working on-screen for certain tasks,” said Rob Clark, Senior Vice President of Epson Europe.

Khalil El-Dalu, General Manager, Epson Middle East, gives it a Middle East perspective: “We have experienced strong growth for our printer segment in the region which shows that printers are favoured by organisations and they are here to stay. Instead of cutting down on printing, companies are instead adopting printers, like our ITS range, that help to reduce the cost of printing.”

The research found that 88% of respondents said they printed an average of 21 items per day with the most popular printed items being reports closely followed by email attachments and emails themselves.

Clark added: “The reality is organisations need printing to not only help employees work more effectively but reap wider productivity and environmental benefits too. With inkjet printing for example, organisations can achieve up to twice as many prints while producing 95% less waste and with much lower energy consumption compared to similar sized laser printers and copiers[1].”

Renowned global futurist, Jack Uldrich, adds: “the paperless office hasn’t materialized for the same reason that microwave ovens didn’t replace all traditional ovens. Every technology has unique and tangible benefits, and paper is no different. Arguably, paper is the greatest instrument ever invented for conveying, sharing and disseminating information. In fact, recent scientific studies have demonstrated that people understand and retain information presented on paper at a far higher level than information presented electronically.” This may explain why 61% of survey respondents said that they believe “there is more chance of making errors when editing an electronic document than editing a print-out.”

“New technologies are of course changing the way people work. At Epson, for example, we see this with our wearable and projector based technologies. But when it comes to reading, editing and sharing documents like reports, emails, and attachments, office workers, from baby boomers to millennials, still prefer the tangible printed version,” Clark concludes.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in printing, visual communications, quality of life and manufacturing. Epson’s lineup ranges from inkjet printers, printing systems and 3LCD projectors to industrial robots, smart glasses and sensing systems and is based on original compact, energy-saving, and high-precision technologies.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises nearly 72,000 employees in 93 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental burdens.

http://global.epson.com/

About Epson Europe

Epson Europe B.V., based in Amsterdam, is the Group’s regional headquarters for Europe, Middle-East, Russia, and Africa. With a workforce of 1,700 employees, Epson Europe’s sales for fiscal year 2014 were 1,551 million Euros. http://www.epson.eu

About the study

The research was conducted online by FTI Consulting’s Strategy Consulting & Research team from 5^th-13^th October 2015 with white collar works in offices on location in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in their local languages.

A total of n=3,639 white collar workers completed the survey. The breakdown of the respondents who completed the survey in each country are as follows: United Kingdom (768), France (750), Germany (737), Italy (696), Spain (688).

The n=3,639 completes yields a 3% +/- margin of error with an industry standard 95% confidence interval.

Please note that the standard convention for rounding has been applied and consequently some totals do not add up to 100%.

For further information on the research methodology or FTI Consulting’s market research services: Market.Research@fticonsulting.com