Scanning hard copy documents decreasing productivity

Employees across America and Great Britain are spending significant work time turning physical documents into digital files, according to a new study.

Digital pen maker Anoto released findings that indicate 66 percent of U.S. and U.K. businesses are busy scanning more than 50 pages per day. Forty-four percent of employees surveyed by the company spend one to five hours daily scanning paper to digital.

Never before has the impact on workers to manage information for digital platforms and mobile communications been so great. An emphasis on creating fewer hard-copies could lessen the burden for workers. However, the survey calculated that a reliance on paper, despite the benefits of electronic documentation, is the root cause of their need for scanning.

The ease of using digital data and the demand for backing up paper electronically makes scanning a priority despite the drain on worker productivity. The survey found that 45 percent of companies are committed to scanning because the cost to maintain digital file storage is less than archiving physical documents. As more information originates electronically and fewer hard-copies become source material, scanning could become less necessary in the future.

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