Ten reasons businesses should buy e-readers

E-readers are no longer just for e-bookworms — they offer considerable advantages in the business environment, says Jack Wallen.

E-readers are making an impact. They have been available for some time, but only now — thanks, in part, to Amazon's Kindle — are they being taken seriously.

The biggest advocates of e-readers may still be avid readers, but that situation need not — and probably will not — continue for long. Enterprises should start deploying e-readers to certain staff for many reasons, several of which relate directly to the bottom line.

So why, exactly, should your company adopt e-readers? Here are 10 good reasons for the switch.

1. Cost savings
The average e-reader — one that would make sense in the business environment — costs less than $300 (£180). If you bought five for senior staff, it would cost a total of $1,500 (£900).

The average cost of a box of multi-purpose paper is $35 (£21), so you would have to go through about 42 boxes of paper to recoup your e-reader investment. That is 210,000 sheets of paper, or 575 sheets of paper a day for one year.

You must also include other costs in this equation. For example: delivery; toner; printer wear, tear and repair; the electricity used by printer; and the downtime when printers are not functioning.

Although it sounds as if it would take a long time to recoup the cost of the e-readers, just remember how senior managers devour reports.

Besides, by the time your company is ready to take the plunge and purchase e-readers, the average cost of the device will have dropped. Not only that, but many e-book editions of books are cheaper than the standard editions. O'Reilly books are always cheaper in e-book format.

2. Greener business
No matter where you stand on environmental issues, you know businesses waste tons of paper every year. The paper is either recycled or thrown away.

Although recycling may be good, even the act of doing so contributes to the problem. Someone has to pick up or drop off that paper to recycle. And recycling plants use up energy and give off pollution in the process. You can avoid a good deal of this by employing e-readers.

Distributing all your company paperwork, documentation and meeting materials in the form of files that can only be used on an e-reader makes sense.

3. Space savings
Cluttered desks are not only a sign of a cluttered mind, they are also a sign of a less-than-efficient worker.

If you were to measure the space taken up by printers and printer paper, you might be surprised at how much space you would regain by eliminating them.

But it is not just about space. Removing clutter around the office improves efficiency and morale. Think about how often you hear staff complaining about the condition of the work environment — something that is directly affected by the clutter created by printers, printer tools and accessories, and paper.

4. More efficient workers
How many of your employees are paper jugglers? And how much of that juggling makes them less efficient at work?

Imagine your employees having all their paperwork, memos, meeting notes and handbooks in one portable location. This approach would mean less lost work, less mess and less time wasted sifting through papers. More-efficient workers directly affect the bottom line.

Meetings could be more efficient, as well. Imagine employees coming to meetings and being handed an e-reader containing every piece of relevant paperwork, instead of distributing stacks of paper. Some e-readers also allow for annotation, which would enable employees to take notes.

5. Increased professionalism
If your company depends on its image to help stay ahead of the competition, how better to impress clients than by having all your information on an e-reader instead of a folder with the traditional paperwork?

E-readers will also allow you to protect intellectual property. No client will be able to walk off with your information...