Document Management

When considering the many costs that an organization has to expend, one of the most misunderstood is that of printing costs.

The Gartner Group estimates that as much as 30% of organizations' print costs can be eliminated with simple technology solutions.

The Business World is a rapidly changing entity, and technology helps adapt to these changes quickly and will help a company keep its competitive advantage. Paper has always been an inefficient medium for conducting business processes, and recently has become a key focus for Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives. So what are the main reasons for a company or organization to move towards the paperless environment?

Below are the two main categories:

1. Operation Efficiency and Business Process Improvement

Using a digital repository can improve productivity. This is an obvious benefit. Any time you can reduce the time required to perform a required task, that time can be applied elsewhere. A basic online search for a customer file requires about 5 seconds. To accomplish the same information lookup with a physical file cabinet can take 10 – 25 minutes, or perhaps even days if the file is held in offsite storage. This is just for basic lookups, and not complex searches, which could take weeks if performed through the physical file system. continue reading...

The dropping costs of hard drive space and the growing number of scan-enabled multifunction systems are prompting many businesses to implement Electronic Document Management Systems. 

These systems provide searchable access to scanned information enabling better business decisions and smoother customer service interactions.  They also create a much-needed disaster recovery plan and help ensure regulatory compliance.
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Recent research by InfoTrends revealed that the majority of surveyed organizations believed that they were spending 3% of their annual revenue on document-related expenses. The study found that actual overall expenditures on documents were 6% of annual revenues.

Document costs included everything from printing and copying to the infrastructure needed to store and retrieve critical information.
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Each year ITEX brings in the big guns, unleashing an arsenal of new information and product to help the office channel. The ITEX strike force is again in motion with its tenth show to address the current state of the “office economy.” Each year they find and deliver red hot information to industry providers that’s aimed at ramping up their arsenal of business tools. The annual tradition of arming the evolving Dealer, VAR, ISV, CTO and other providers in the channel has ITEX delivering key information to help organizations widen their knowledge on new innovations for product and supplies, service and IT, on document solutions or emerging programs such as MPS. Bottom line?  ITEX assists providers in repositioning their business models to magnify profits.

Professionals in office technology have found that the environment has shifted due to the “new economy” and are looking for answers; to address the changes along with their customers’ demands for cost-efficient and conveniently acquired product and services. Within this transformation, providers see the need to integrate & merge offerings of hardware, software and services to become better, single-source providers to their customers in order capture and retain market share

As providers evolve into “hybrids,” ITEX breaks it down and provides an actionable tool kit. continue reading...

When a company wants to go paperless and begins to scan the contents of their filing cabinets into a document management system many are surprised to find many files previously thought to be lost.

When it comes to document storage, filing cabinets are simple things with no brain. We’re provided a drawer and a key and the rest of the work is left up to us. There’s no advice on where to put documents, we’re not told exactly where certain documents can be found, documents aren’t automatically routed to the right people in workflow, and our key certainly can’t be taken away to stop our access to the files.

Filing cabinets have gained the reputation as the office “Bermuda Triangle” of lost documents. Over the years multiple people in the office file, misplace and not return documents to the filing cabinets. As people organize to their own standards and methods, documents are inevitably filed in the wrong places and the next time a file is needed, it can’t be found. continue reading...

ARMA—the national association of Records Managers and the independent authority on Records Information Management (RIM) has made public their Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP). As ARMA says in their preamble, “As a key resource in the operation of any organization, records must be created, organized, secured, maintained, and used in a way that effectively supports the activity of that organization.”

Are you interested in going paperless? Do you want to see how document efficiency can help your office go green? If your business is interested in the concepts behind records management, or is looking to implement document management software, this website is a great way to start obtaining information. continue reading...

Are You Asking Yourself…

• How much am I really spending on desktop, workgroup, internal production print, and outside print services?
• How do our total document expenses compare to those of our key competitors?
• What factors contribute to these costs?
• How much money can we save and how?
• How much of an investment in time and money is needed to assess my document costs?
• Does this require a detailed on-site audit?

Challenges

• Getting to the true cost of documents across your organization
• Cost reductions
• Determining peer performance & benchmarking
• Developing an enterprise document strategy
• Increasing efficiency & optimization

Introduction & Objectives
The proliferation of output devices such as printers, copiers, fax machines, and scanners has significantly contributed to the dramatic increase in document output volume and cost over the years. While the majority of today’s organizations acknowledge the potential savings from better document management, many still lack the understanding and expertise to address the problem. Third-party providers including office equipment manufacturers, document outsourcing firms, and independent service providers are offering assessment services that focus on identifying costs and inefficiencies around document output. continue reading...

Document and content management involves the transformation of paper files into a digital format. A document management system can cover areas such as security, disaster recovery, collaboration, and printer management.

If an organization develops and maintains its content and documents effectively, the information that is in your system can save your company time and money. If not handled properly, however, content and documents can decrease your company’s productivity.

The migration from paper to pixels has changed more than a few companies. The task can involve major changes to workflow and transform your company into the best it can be. Digging through old documents and records can be a long and exhausting process. With a document management system, all of these troubles can be taken care of and your business can become much more organized. continue reading...

Today there are millions of MFPs populating workplaces in every industry. Organizations find MFP scanning appealing because they can combine scanning, copying and printing all on one device. These all-in-one devices allow companies to save money by getting rid of unnecessary technology, increase productivity because of higher page per minute output, and provide a way to add hardcopy documents into their electronic workflows.

With the growth of MFP scanning come questions about how best to utilize and how to take advantage of all the qualities a MFP can provide. Here are a few pointers to take the stress out of implementing an MFP into your document workflow.

· MFPs are not restricted to small-size documents! The MFP document feeder may restrict you to 50 or so pages, but by hitting the “scan more” button you can continue scanning for any number of pages.

· Scanned images from MFPs will not be larger file sizes than images from scanners. MFP scanning software includes image compression so even color pages can be reduced to as little as 200 KB per pages while retaining sharp text and good image quality.

· You can create searchable PDFs with MFP scanning. MFP scanning software allows you to create and save PDFs that are then available for text searches within documents and network folders. continue reading...

Recent IDC research suggests that “a large site with 1,000 plus employees is paying $200 plus per employee in direct hardcopy costs alone.”* So, not surprisingly Gartner research reveals a new trend in the way organizations think about managing their printing and imaging environments. “By YE05, 60 percent of all enterprises will have begun an enterprise wide effort to optimize document output fleet spending through changes to their purchasing and asset management policies.”** The same research suggests that there are significant savings to be had by those who turn their thinking into action, “Through YE08, enterprises that actively manage their document output fleets will be able to save between 10 percent and 30 percent of their recurrent spending.” continue reading...