If I may put my two cents in, our government should play the role in setting up healthy business surroundings for electronic trade. They themselves have much to gain from promoting paperless trade if we could see how many tress are cut down and processed to make one ream of paper which used by the government on a daily basis. In a fast-moving global economy, by adopting electronic technologies and implementing paperless trade, we could save billions of Ringgit every year.
Despite the rapid developments in ICT which is claimed to be easier to process and speeding up the information exchange makes business more competitive and efficient, government persist to use billions of documents in paper format every year. Major burden that occurs for the government itself is the cost that involved.
Government suppose, elimination of paper in the chain is possible, but the transition needs to be managed and will takes time. The dual system is likely to be the established for several decades, but the successful implementation of electronic trade documents will require a government-wide approach to champion and mandate its use by creating awareness with agencies involved by all businesses.
In my humble opinion, by using a very standard PC and access to the internet, everyone can work with electronic documents and participate in paperless trading, thus increasing their capability to globalize their operations faster at lower costs and secure.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
p/s I thought of putting a picture of my office desk here, but internet just acting bitch to me. :(
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
