Workflow

Everyone knows how bad the economy was this past year and this downturn caused many companies to put their IT strategies on hold. Others however, saw this as an opportunity to be proactive and begin implementing automation and moving forward with new ways of getting the job done. As we head into the New Year, look at these strategies to think about re-organizing and working smarter. continue reading...

1. Be proactive! While companies need to react quickly to industry trends and changing economic and world environments, they also need to formulate strategies for the future. Think about creating a team who will think ahead and make sure the company will get where it wants to go in the next few years.
2. Follow a business strategy roadmap. Don’t just jump blindly expecting the technology to magically work for you. Build a business strategy that will clarify and outline the issues you’re trying to solve. Be sure that your company is starting with a good foundation for their infrastructure that can be further built upon.
3. You don’t have to implement everything at once. In fact, it is much more practical automate your business according to a strategic plan—focus on what needs attention first. Look at your industry specific government regulations to see how they expect a company to handle information management.
4. Don’t wait to “play it safe” and have other companies experiment with new technology. If you stand back and wait for another company to make the first step and prove automation as a valuable investment, the next generation of technology will already have hit the business world. Your company will remain one step behind other innovating companies and will lose competitive edge.
5. Think about your return on investment (ROI). If you’re worried about staffing and hiring issues, realize that once automation is implemented, people used to working manually with documents can be re-deployed to other valuable tasks. While automation still needs staff to run it, the amount of personnel can be greatly reduced. This feeds right into the ROI. Create a flowchart and see how much faster your product can hit the market with new technology. That’s savings.

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...

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...

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has made great progress in the fight for paperless offices. It’s become a staple component in just about any document management software.

So what is OCR? Wikipedia offers this definition: “…the mechanical or electronic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine-editable text.” (2008)

Fundamentally, a computer reads the document and creates a library of searchable information. This type of application allows an EDM solution the opportunity to build a database of text, making the search for usable information within and across documents much easier.

While many argue the accuracy levels for OCR engines can reach 98 or 99 percent, small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) may find this hard to achieve with most commercially-available software. Many variables can affect the accuracy levels of output, ranging from document condition to readability.

Where problems can begin to occur is when OCR is not applied to the text contained within the scanned document, but used to lift index values themselves (e.g. customer name, number, etc.). This becomes dangerous if there are no quality assurances or stop-loss measures in place. If that is the case, it becomes likely a document will be misplaced due to a character being off here or there. continue reading...

The average office worker spends up to half of their workday searching for simple information! No wonder it’s hard to increase production. A digital document storage system will not only increase worker productivity, but also reduce company costs.

Lost documents create ripples of inefficiency throughout any organization. Although small and medium sized organizations are often hit harder than large corporations, the effect is devastating across the board. In paper-based environments, digital document storage is a great alternative. These systems provide an easy-to-use, secure document storage alternative to ultimately boost productivity and reduce operating expenses. continue reading...

In 1975 a Business Week article discussed how the personal computer revolution would ultimately lead to a paperless office.  In 2009, thirty-four years later, the information contained in paper form has changed, but businesses are increasingly inundated with paper records.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports:

· The average office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year.

· Each employee in a typical business office generates 1.5 lbs of waste paper per day.

· Reducing paper production by a ton saves the equivalent of 4,100 kWh of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.

Every aspect of the paper storage process adversely impacts a business’ budget and the environment as a whole.  These financial drawbacks of paper storage include the purchase of paper, personnel resources spent filing and finding documents, increase of square footage for physical file storage and recovery from flood or fire damage. continue reading...

When you have one or more groups in an enterprise, utilizing a document management system will provide storage, easy access and control of large information caches.

As workgroups grow larger, the data in the system continues to grow with it. In document management systems, different sets of data are stored in different styles and fonts. Document management solution companies work on systems so anyone within a workgroup can access information.

Good document management software is judged by the accuracy, simplicity and availability of the information access methods. Most systems have a login that will not allow people without proper authentication to view the data. If the data is stolen, the system should be able to restore the lost document without losing format or information. continue reading...

Any business whether it’s healthcare facilities, legal firms, financial services or educational institutions, has to deal with an inordinate amount of documents.  When digging through a dusty file cabinet for a case study or client information, at the back of any file clerk or assistant’s mind is the question “Isn’t there a better way?”

Anyone who deals with paper on a regular basis has dreamed of having their paper information on their computer.  Now that the price of hardware space has decreased, the possibility of integrating an electronic document management system is more appealing than ever.  continue reading...

With the emphasis on the environment and utilizing what you already have, many organizations are exploring new ways to reclaim wasted office space.  If you are looking for more space in your office, a great place to start may be with your filing cabinets. 

Where to Start
Average rent for an office space is $24 a square foot.  Using this average, a 20 x 20 filing room will cost $9,600 annually. If this space can be reclaimed for additional offices, the potential savings realized by not having to move or rent additional rooms are substantial.

Say Good-bye to Paper Documents 
Electronic Document Management technology enables paper files to be scanned to a secure network server. The paper files can then be sent to off-site storage or shredded, freeing up valuable office space.  continue reading...

Customer relations are an integral part to any company.  Without customers you don’t have a business.

No matter what industry you are in, you need to access information quickly.  It’s a key factor in determining your quality of customer service interaction.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if hold or call-back time was reduced or even eliminated?

You can answer frequently asked customer questions easily and efficiently and lower costs with the use of Electronic Document Management Systems technology. continue reading...

• Provide Your Customers with Better Service
  With EDMS, you won’t have to put a customer on hold or have them wait for a call-back.  Retrieve and view document instantaneously on your computer while the customer is on the phone or waiting in person.  The customer gets the information they need quickly and your staff is able to move on to the next request.