the biggest obstacle to implementation, as you indicate, is cultural resistance. And that is a formidable obstacle. Try making a business office paperless and watch the panic set in.
Obsolete doesn't mean disappearing.
It simply means there is something more advanced and efficient.
I d/l books from the Gutenberg site to my PDA. I still prefer books, though. A lot more comfortable in bed or on the couch.
At Bell South we tried to go paperless years ago. The slow down was such that folks just stacked more and more paper throughout the office as reference points. The computers were too slow! The paperless office became a joke. I've been retired about four years, so perhaps the situation has changed.