The conversation is flowing, and you're close to landing a huge deal that will boost your monthly sales when it happens; you need a pen. No problem, there is one somewhere on the mess that is your desk, right? Oh! Got one, but no, that pen is out of ink. You get flustered, begin nervously pushing things around to find a pen or a nearly obsolete pencil. When you finally locate your writing instrument, there is no paper to be found! What!? Where has all of the paper gone? There are fewer post-its than there were when you got hired, and the laser jet printers have taken the prominent spot that the Xerox machine used to covet. If only you could leave yourself a note, on your company paper, but alas, the company has become eco-friendly, and paper is on it's way out the door. Your mama never said there'd be days like this.

Many companies across the globe are realizing the positive attributes that a paperless office will hold. Money will be saved, time will be utilized far more efficiently, and fewer mistakes will be made. There will be less file cabinets to wipe the dust from, and you can obtain any bit of information that you need with the click of a mouse. In some cases, you can even tap into your employer information while using your own personal computer at home, or even while abroad. It seems like the perfect situation; use a monitor and a computer for everything. Like all else, even with all of the improvements this will give us, there can be drawbacks.

~Cost.
The main objective with going paperless is to save money. While this does happen, it also costs money to get the idea off of the ground. Think about it; you are going to be using state of the art electronics. These are not cheap, from laptops, to Blackberry's, to computer monitors, it will cost a great deal of money to supply this equipment. If the company is serious about making it work, the electronics that they will purchase will be top notch. Computers are expensive, as are large, mass servers. Add to this a complete computerized system in each office, cubicle, or department. The initial set-up to eventually go paperless will be costly. Though in the long run it will be very cost efficient, keep in mind that every few years or so, even this high tech equipment will need to be upgraded.

~Training.
Along with having to shell out millions of dollars for high tech equipment, you will need to train your current employee's how to use it. This will entail hours and weeks of in depth training.

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