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This is an inconveniently focused question. The prospect of ROI on a single part of a whole system is not a very useful portrait of financial reasoning. Take a look at the entire system, assuming from the point of view of a business and you can easily forget that given a single common standard format (even if it's nasty PDF) you already have numerous devices that can read these files perfectly fine, there is no need for additional hardware, just *FREE* software installed.
So a minor IT cost for the vast majority of recipients. In reality, this software is already there.
The policies about retention are a bigger concern. You need to consider the costs of somehow magically preventing people from taking printed documents, of already existing digital ones btw, out of the office. The costs of shredding services, etc. You can try to stop sending files out of the system with filters on the mail server. This is pretty effective for the average worker but won't actually stop anyone intent on violating the rules. Of course, neither would real paper.
It's important to note at this point that the files of interest, the actual documents, are already in digital form in the modern office. It's a trivial issue to make them into PDF if that's necessary but with the right reader device, it's not necessary.
So asking about the ROI on a reader, well, I think this is the same prospect for someone deciding they might need an ultraportable laptop for business purposes. Sure, they can get by with their 8 pound monster laptop but it's often not desirable. So you can lug around and read on a laptop or you can consider the pros of reading on a much lighter device which is better for your eyes. Did you consider the health costs of slumping over a desk vs. sitting comfortably with a light device in hand? Did you consider the eye strain issues? I think those concerns might actually outweigh all others over time for any employees that must spend a lot of time reading documents.
But ultimately a reader device is only a very small part of an overall strategy for digital documents replacing paper documents. In my company, we have a very strong push against printing. It's essentially a significant error of judgement, and warrants discipline, to print things when it's not necessary. It's a policy implemented for "green" initiatives, more than money saving. I imagine not having to replace toner, paper, or pay for costly printer repairs on a regular basis is nice though.
Now personally, since I have to read many documents as part of my job, and even printing 2 pages per side double sided isn't acceptable for a 300 page manual, I am on the prowl for a suitable e-reader. I have enjoyed my personal reader for novels but 6" is too small for tolerable long form technical reading. I don't think of this reader as a business expense, so the ecosystem at work won't see it as part of their overall ROI, but personally I will see the health benefits mentioned before because reading on a laptop is a fresh hell I wouldn't wish upon anyone, and my favorite places to hang out in the office and out are often sun-drenched, so that e-Ink is really quite pretty and easy on the eyes.
Anyway, that meandering message was mainly meant to say that it's not important to see the ROI on a reader specifically but on the entire process of business as it's affected by a total conversion to digital-only document policies.
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