Eighty-four percent of UK advertisers and media professionals consider their company’s overreliance on paper ‘ridiculous’, with 73% wanting their company to be more conscious about the impact this has on the environment, according to new research from content services provider, Hyland.
While the research has found that a slight majority (52%) of UK workers share the ‘ridiculous’ sentiment, the media industry as a whole feels much more strongly than most – more than nurses (72%), accountants (64%), customer service agents or IT professionals (both 60%).
With the vast majority of UK businesses (92%) still relying on paper documents, the study of 1,000 full time UK workers shows that half (50%) of professionals actively feel guilty about their company’s paper usage. Sixty-nine percent specifically want their organisation to offset the amount of paper it uses through tree planting initiatives.
Particularly for advertising/media professionals, the solution is digital. A huge 90% believe that transitioning to a digital document management system would significantly enhance their company’s sustainability. With more than half (68%) reporting that their company’s existing document management system is not up to scratch, it appears that the limitations of legacy technologies are partially perpetuating the paper problem.
Tim Hood, VP for EMEA & APAC, Hyland, said: “The majority of British workers agree that the volume of paper usage in this country is unreasonable. The demand to change things is high, driven by a conscientious desire to operate more sustainably – there are genuine moral grounds to consider technological solutions to the UK’s paper problem.”
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