Prepress

Oce Business Services Provides Cost-Effective Electronic Document Management Strategies in an Economic Downturn

Thursday 16. July 2009 - Recent survey indicates that document imaging (paper to digital conversion) has the strongest impact across a broad range of business goals

As leading economic indicators continue to signal a global economic slowdown, companies are looking for effective steps to weather the storm and achieve a competitive edge in the eventual recovery. Outsourcing is one such strategy, according to experts, which is likely to increase during the next 12 months. Oce Business Services is highlighting specific document management processes – whether outsourced or managed internally – that can help organizations lower costs and streamline operations during a downturn.

Oce recently issued a comprehensive survey report, “Meeting the Challenge: How Organizations are Implementing Document Management Strategies to Help Drive Business in a Tough Economy.” (Oce Survey) The survey report links five document management practices with high value business benefits according to senior executives experienced in document management. In one of the findings, survey respondents report that document imaging (paper to digital conversion) has the strongest effect across a broad range of business goals. These goals include lowering costs, improving operational performance, and providing better regulatory compliance.

Document imaging is a key element of the broader practice of electronic document management, which also includes storing, organizing, indexing, and retrieving image files. Oce highlights the following examples and business benefits connected with electronic document management in order to help organizations implement or take better advantage of this advanced document management practice.

Improved Document Control

When distributing hardcopy documents between locations, organizations often maintain multiple copies and filing systems, incur transportation costs, and create monitoring systems to insure that information has been appropriately exchanged. An electronic document management solution offers superior document control by eliminating the number of possible “failure points” within these activities that can cause documents to be lost or misplaced. An Oce client has offices across the country that received and approved invoices prior to sending them to headquarters. The invoices often arrived late, causing the organization to forfeit early pay discounts. After redesigning the workflow process, all invoices are now received initially at corporate headquarters where they are immediately scanned. The electronic image files of the invoices are then routed for approval, and reminders are sent to insure the invoices are paid as soon as possible.

Superior Document Availability

There are many times during the course of business when multiple departments and individuals require simultaneous access to an original hardcopy document. By digitizing hardcopy documents at the point of origination, the electronic image file will be available for retrieval immediately, without disruption to staff productivity. A leading university engaged Oce to digitize its student records. The university couldn’t always fulfill student transcript requests on a timely basis due to its manual hardcopy retention process. After digitizing millions of pages of student transcripts, the university is now able to quickly fulfill requests while at the same time insuring that the files are complete and accurate.

Enhanced Document Compliance

While an organization can adhere to regulatory compliance requirements by maintaining hardcopy documents, statutory, legal and contractual obligations may require that viable back-ups exist. Electronic document management systems make it easier for an organization to comply with these and other requirements. A financial services company engaged Oce to take over document imaging for its back-end credit and loan application process. Because the storage and retention of these documents must meet strict compliance and regulatory requirements, Oce and the client redesigned the document imaging procedure to include the front-end credit and loan process, starting when the documents are received. This insures that electronic document files are complete, accurate, and unaltered when fulfilling audit and legal requests. With only the back-end imaging process, there were no assurances that documents were unaltered from the time they were received.

Reduced Document Risk

Electronic document management solutions enable businesses to reduce risk by promoting better security and disaster recovery systems. By digitizing documents and maintaining them within its network firewalls, an enterprise can significantly reduce the possibility of outside access to its records. If a disaster strikes and impacts the company’s hardcopy records depositories, it could lose all of its critical documents. An electronic document management system helps prevent this by enabling the business to maintain copies of its records in secure and recoverable repositories.