September 2004

The Paperless Office

Initially, we worded the theme of this white paper “Implementing a Paperless Office.”  But based on the information our authors shared in their articles, we came to view that as too limiting. Creating a paperless office, we realized, is not only about replacing manual processes with technology — it’s about how all of us use (sometimes abuse) the technology; how, in fact, we often create “document chaos” even while seeking to relegate all paper to the trash bin of history. The misuse of technology may create more inefficiency than the paper world that we have chosen as the icon of outdated processes.

By way of incorporating our authors’ takes on everything from “Controlling Chaos in a Collaborative World” to “Technology That Thinks Like Lawyers” (and others), we’ve broadened the concept of the theme to “Implementing Efficient Technologies.”

Nevertheless, “paperless” text and subtext runs through each of these five articles — and we hope that if you’ve dreamed of never again touching or shuffling another piece of paper, you’ll find them interesting, informative and useful for your firm.