Digitization and changes in paper culture

The culture of paper is on its way to a radical change in the companies of the region: for centuries the authorization or permission to act in society has been rooted in the printed ecosystem: to exchange goods and services we use money, for our number in society we have an ID card, to be able to drive we have a license, paper forms for creating a company, passports for traveling. 

However, the new reality has put the culture of paper in a challenging position. Is it logical that we need all these documents for our day to day?

The answer is no. But we propose that this change needs to increasingly reinforce the security of digital. Isn’t it obvious? Paper has seals, stamps, QR codes and verification numbers. So, how can we give these characteristics to the digital world?

The logic of evolving to digital is correct, but we must advance on the same elements that we applied to paper; how do we validate digital’s authenticity?

Today there is a technology that allows us to make this validation quickly, simply, and very safely. It’s called Blockchain. Nowadays its use is real and global. Nations are converging to transform the paper that suffers most from counterfeiting: money. Different productive sectors have evolved and these changes, such as digital validation, which were accelerated by the restrictions of the pandemic, have a good opportunity to become more robust.

Digitalization will make it possible to leave behind traditional paper trades, memos, letters and resolutions, generating savings that could exceed $500M annually. In addition, the private sector has taken steps to digitize for cost reduction, sustainability, and other reasons.

Talking about digital, but not knowing these security elements, exposes us in the same way that paper without a stamp does. That is why several companies in the region are using this technology today, to evolve from the culture of paper.

At a global level we are already late, there are several developed countries that are using it. The question is whether we will also be late at the regional level to make the old paper evolve into a secure, global digital document that will not be lost in the dust.

Martín Jofré is the co-founder of Cryptomarket and Uppercap.