Report: The 'Paperless Office' Remains Out Of Reach

The often-promised but never quite delivered "paperless office" is likely to remain in permanent status of often-promised and never quite delivered, according to a survey of 700 IT professionals.

Released Monday, the survey, conducted by the IDG Research Service Group for OKI Printing Solutions, found that 78% of the respondents expect they will print the same or more in the future as they do now. The same percentage said they want to review printed documents, either alone or in combination with on-screen viewing, and 90% of the respondents consider their business printers to be indispensable.

"People regard printing as a security blanket in that they place more trust in a tangible document versus what they view on a computer screen," said Candice Dobra, vice president of product marketing at Oki Data Americas, in a statement.

The demise of paper in offices has been predicted for years, but the printing industry has noted that printing in IT situations never seems to decline in use.

Oki indicated that the survey results held up across all company sizes and even for home offices.