Idea Rebel is a Vancouver-based digital agency founded in 2008, …show more content…
Throughout the article there is an assumption made that less paper means more efficiency. However, as we have discussed in class, investments in information technology may not be associated with increased productivity. Although paperless business may reduce waste and make collaborative work easier, there are significant disadvantages as well. Idea Rebel’s policy may not be compatible with other businesses. Furthermore, before recent advancements, they were spending five minutes for simple signatures. The drawbacks of paperless business extend past external resistance and lack of technological advancement. Implementing new hardware and software to compensate for the lack of paper imposes installation and maintenance that otherwise could have been avoided. New technology means employee training and transition time. These factors reduce productivity and could be detrimental to the business. This article is a perfect example of how investment in information technology may not increase productivity if the proper people and procedures are not in place. However, it could be argued that the motivation behind paperless business isn’t strictly about productivity since the elimination of paper significantly reduces Idea Rebel’s environmental footprint. Thus, to truly determine the whether or not the paperless business is beneficial the company needs to determine the value it is creating,