We still haven’t colonized Mars, don’t drive flying cars, and cannot exchange our thoughts like telepaths. Predictions about the distant future don’t always come true. The progress takes its path and sometimes is slower than we expect.

Yet, it’s not about a paperless world future. Even though we haven't become fully paper-free, the paperless office trend is more powerful than ever. In the recent decade, a lot has been done to reduce environmental impact and print volumes. The transition is still in the ON mode and only gaining pace. More and more companies are adopting PDF rendering solutions to go paperless.

This saves them money, optimizes business processes, gives a competitive advantage, and brings other benefits of a paperless office. The timely transition can turn traditional businesses into innovation leaders.

If you are still considering whether it’s worth implementing PDF rendering for digital communications, check out these facts about going paperless. A paperless world future is coming and will become even closer in the next few years. So you’d better start the transition now.

The Current Situation with Paper Consumption

The global paper and cardboard production amounts to 419.72 million metric tons. The stunning volume of paper manufacturing shows that people utilize lots of paper for various purposes. Over half of this paper is used for packaging. Graphic paper use takes around 30%.

That’s why it would be misleading to talk about an entirely paperless world future. People will continue using paper as a cheap and ecological material for many years. For example, 65% of adults still read at least one book per 12 months. 

The paperless world future is about cutting the consumption of paper whenever possible. It’s about avoiding print, paper forms, and documents when appropriate, like in offices. 

The thing is, modern businesses don’t need paper for document management. PDF rendering software allows them to generate and store digital communications without duplicating them in print. As a result, business owners can reduce the expenses related to print document management and optimize their workflows. By the way, the maintenance of one file cabinet may cost you up to $1241 per year.

How do offices go paperless?

They automate document generation and storage. When you manage digital documentation automatically, there is no need to keep documents in filing cabinets—more about PDF rendering software in the next section.

Why automated PDF rendering in your office can bring a paperless world future closer

Most web software creates digital content in HTML format to save storage and simplify viewing documents on the screen. To archive such documents or deliver them to customers, you will have to convert them to PDF. HTML is not printable.

Learn how to convert HTML to PDF for paperless statements

At the same time, PDF is a highly secure and flexible format. It enables companies to store documents in a server- or cloud-based PDF library and easily retrieve them upon request to open the rendered images in a PDF viewer. Such libraries substitute filing cabinets and are much more convenient to use. They allow businesses to reduce paper consumption considerably.

Therefore, without automated PDF rendering, you won’t be able to start the transition to the paperless world future. Given the current volume of emails, digital invoices, notices, and other communications, automated HTML to PDF conversion is essential.

Quality PDF rendering software will automatically convert all the necessary communications and store them. Since you will have the printable format documents, you can use them any time and won’t need to print them out in a paperless future.

Going Paperless Trends: 5 Reasons Why PDF Rendering Will Grow in the Next Years

Now when you are aware of the current PDF rendering role, let’s talk about a paperless future. Here are some facts about going paperless that will boost PDF rendering adoption.

#1. Facts about going paperless. Leap from offline to online 

In 2020, 792 billion dollars or 14% of total retail sales were e-commerce. Compared to the previous years, the increase in online sales was sharp since the start of massive lockdowns. The growth in e-commerce and other online-focused industries translates into more electronic invoices, bills, order confirmation messages, and other communications that require paperless document management.

As a result, businesses invest in digital document rendering more. With the growth of online transactions, they are more likely to drop paper documents entirely. Particularly given that quality PDF tooling like Inkit’s Render provides the necessary security level to generate and store confidential communications and banking details.

#2. Facts about going paperless. Cost-optimization trends

COVID-19 has made 66% of companies implement cost-reduction initiatives to improve the bottom line. That’s a 74% increase compared to the pre-pandemic level. Under these circumstances, transition to PDF rendering and document management automation seems a logical choice. The adoption of paperless trends in an office enables business owners to save paper and optimize their employees’ work. This, in its turn, helps them to spend less.

#3. Facts about going paperless. Less strict regulations

Since the onset of the pandemic, governments have taken steps to make electronic invoicing more convenient. A range of countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and others, expect new e-invoicing systems designed to simplify document management and reporting. The shift from paper forms to PDF documents will contribute to the increasing popularity of PDF rendering and paper-free offices.

Discover regulatory, software, and security challenges of going paperless

#4. Facts about going paperless. Eco footprint matters in marketing

87% of consumers have a more positive attitude towards a company if it supports environmental or social initiatives. That’s one of the critical factors about going paperless your marketers should factor in. When you switch to a paperless document management system, use this to promote your business. People stay loyal to companies that share their values.

As more companies use eco-friendliness as a competitive advantage, the speed of paperless transition will only accelerate.

#5. Facts about going paperless. Increased automation

According to recent Deloitte research, automation is the key transformation caused by COVID. Around two-thirds of companies expect to leverage automation in their Respond-Recover-Thrive post-pandemic strategy. PDF rendering and document management are among the processes such businesses are likely to automate. The conversion of HTML files to PDF is at the core of automated trigger-based messaging, email archiving, record keeping, and other critical business operations.

Inkit for Automated PDF Rendering and Going Paperless

Inkit is a customer reach enablement platform that automates many core business processes, including PDF rendering. To start generating PDFs, you will need to use Inkit’s Render. It’s a custom feature designed to convert HTML to PDF documents automatically.

You can integrate it with your systems through an API. After a quick setup, Render automatically generates and stores PDF files based on HTML data.

Since Inkit smoothly integrates with email solutions, you can also automatically deliver the generated PDFs based on triggers. This ensures a high level of automation and allows you to make your office paper-free.

Have any questions about using Inkit in a paperless world future? Contact our team for a talk or get the demo.