Drivers and Barriers for Going Paperless in Tertiary Educational Institute

Abstract

Tertiary educational institutes especially universities have become one of the major consumers of paper. Since paper uses natural resources and energy, universities are being encouraged to turn processes paperless. However, there are certain barriers along with drivers which lead to turning processes paperless. Although some work has been done on similar work, most of these works are not from Bangladesh’s perspective and do not show as-is or to-be models of processes. This paper presents the current scenario of paperless initiatives, the impact of going paperless, and the driving forces and barriers to making processes paperless. Due to limitations in time and resources, only personnel working at East West University were interviewed for this qualitative study. To analyze the data from the interviews, the ‘Gap Analysis’ method. The interview data was then used to build as-is and to-be models for two processes at East West University which are not yet paperless. The drivers and barriers to these processes turning paperless were also explored. Going paperless not only reduces paper usage, but also reduces manpower, physical storage space, and time needed to maintain the processes. However, barriers specific to different processes still remain which include but are not limited to fear of data center failure and transparency maintenance.