The Datamax Thinking Blog

from ScanGuru

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:

Operation Efficiency and Business Process Improvement

Through the use of a DM/ECM system, operational costs can be reduced. A primary example of this is floor space. A 4 drawer file cabinet takes up about 8 square feet of floor space. Multiply this by the number of cabinets and what you pay per square foot on a lease, and this can be a significant waste of dollars. Along this same vein we can examine the costs of handling and process paper documents. It is estimated that a single file folder can cost $25-50 to create, and that a lost file has a cost of $125 – 300 (depending on the cost of the employee time and recreation costs). This is a small sampling of how Operational costs can be reduced.
 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.
 A DM/ECM system can provide improved customer service. Take for example a large HMO Claims Department. Members call with questions about claims, and with the old paper system, they were put on hold until the physical claim could be retrieved. Now, it is viewed instantly, and information passed within minutes.
-Managing customer documents efficiently can lead to improved customer retention and acquisition. The ability to manage contracts, expiration dates, equipment lists, etc. quickly and easily, along with improved customer service, will ultimately result in enhanced retention and acquisition if managed correctly.
All of the above will result in improved operating margins, and ultimately, increased profits.

Risk Reduction

DM/ECM systems are imperative to those organizations subject that are subject to compliance laws and regulations. The ability to produce records, provide documentation during audits, track access to documents, and track transactions is now required in certain business verticals. Financial Firms, Non-profits, Healthcare, Government and others are now required by law to fully manage and track many operations within their business. ECM/DM system vendors have focused on these requirements and the law to ensure compliance when it comes to retaining and tracking documentation and access to records.
 A document repository can reduce litigation exposure for an organization. The ability to retain and recall documentation and records at a moments notice can be imperative in any legal situation.
 Document Security is often an overlooked area within an organization’s security plan. An online system gives the ability to track access, changes, additions, deletions, etc.
 An ECM/DM system allows for the backup of critical files. What would happen to an organization if their file room was destroyed by a fire or flood? Business Continuity Planning is a critical theme today, allowing an organization to insure that a disaster of any kind will not bring business to a halt. Scanning paper files provides the ability to backup and restore key business documentation.
 

This article is reposted from ScanGuru.

By Corey Smith

Every six months or so, comes a concern via the media that the MFP, or multifunction printer, is not secure and causes security holes on your network. When considering security on your network, there are some common sense approaches to ensuring you are protected from harm.

At eWeek, Rosen Sharma wrote a very simple article on securing your MFP. The article opens with the following:

Think you’ve plugged all of the vulnerabilities in your enterprise network? How about that multifunction printer over there in the sales department? As Dr. Rosen Sharma, president and CTO of Solidcore Systems explains, these devices frequently contain operating systems that are just as vulnerable to malware as your desktop computers.


While I think that this statement is a little sensational, I think that there are some underlying issues that need to be addressed. Fortunately, there are a few simple things that can be done. He lists three ways to ensure security of your mfp. Here are the two that I think that you can do right now that are simple and any network admin can do this.

Lock down and control access to the system Apply patches on a schedule

They aren't revolutionary as they are the same types of things that you should do with your desktops and servers, but knowing the risk gets you closer to gaining security.

If you are interested in the full article, go to eWeek.

Corey Smith is editor-in-chief for OfficeProductNews.net and provides a common sense approach to business and technology in his blog.

Are you looking for ways to improve your business? An excellent place to start is by looking at your business processes.

Regardless of what industry you are in, paper and digital documents are the vehicles by which information flows through your business. The efficiency of this process can greatly affect the productivity of your office and ultimately, your success.

The good news is that new technology can help improve your business by streamlining the flow of information. This process enhancement can make a tremendous impact including the following:

Increasing Profits Enhancing Competitive Advantage Improving Customer Service Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

The first step when considering how to better organize a process is to ask, “What is the final goal of this process?” For example, the final goal of a delivery process is to get the invoice paid.

The second step is to plan out the process step by step, looking for inefficiencies and the use of manual labor. Mapping out all the steps reveals bottlenecks that can be eradicated and manual steps that can easily be automated. This makes it easy to create a faster and more predictable process.

Document management technology can easily be integrated into your processes to eliminate inefficiencies and enable you to do more with less.

In a tight economy, it is hard to justify spending a bunch of money on high-end advertising that may or may not bring profitable results. However, you need to continue to increase your business, so what are you options?

Your most valuable resource is your list of current clients. Clients who have already purchased a service or product from you are much more likely to  purchase again. It is important to ensure your current clients are aware of all the products and services you offer.

A cost-effective way to keep your clients informed of upcoming promotions is through color statement stuffers. If you are already mailing a statement to a client, you might as well include additional information about new products or promotions.

With easy color output in many multifunction devices, you can create color inserts that double as marketing materials for mere pennies.

Inserts can be conveniently created on your computer from templates with popular software like Microsoft™ Publisher. The inserts can be printed on your color output device and included with statements, invoices, or even newsletters.

Instead of creating a simple insert, you can also create an entire color invoice complete with marketing material. Existing invoices can easily be reformatted using Electronic forms software to print in color. A marketing message or upcoming promotion can be added anywhere on the new invoice layout.

In addition to creating new business from your current clients, color invoices have been proved to get paid faster, improving your collection process.

Learn more about our color invoicing solutions and color output devices. Contact us today.

Most multifunction systems today come equipped with advanced access controls. Despite having a large breadth in functions, these controls are actually very easy to use. Plus, by monitoring print usage, you can reduce your costs greatly by supervising usage by department, work group, or even individuals.

Access controls work in conjunction with the security features of your multifunction to set up PIN codes or card-access for desired users. By requiring every user to log in to the multifunction, you can get a clear report on how the device is being used. You can also set authorizations based on access groups. For example, you may want your Marketing Department to have access to color printing, but feel it would be unnecessary for the Sales Department. With access controls, you can minimize unnecessary color printing and reduce your costs.

Effective print monitoring also allows you to create defaults for certain access groups. You can set print jobs to automatically duplex (two-sided printing) to help save paper. This is a quick and easy solution that will yield instant results.

Multifunction devices are often used as a gateway to a company’s document management system. Access controls can ensure that unauthorized users do not get into confidential documents. Just as you can dictate print capabilities, you can also select which users can retrieve or view certain files, folders or specific documents. Controlled access limits your company’s liability and encourages employee responsibility.

Print management has been made quite simple with access controls on most multifunction devices. Once the controls are set up, managing your printing expenses and security is a breeze. Plus, with easy to use interfaces, the set up process can take just a matter of minutes.

A study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that the use of graphics increased the persuasiveness of a message by 47%. This is due to the fact that color graphics help people learn faster and then retain what they learned. Therefore, it is a very logical step to send out proposals and marketing materials in color.

When using color, it is crucial to use it effectively. If the graphics are related to your message then it will actually become more of a distraction than a teaching aid.

Here are some ideas to consider when creating a color proposal:

Include the Client’s Logo. By adding the customer’s logo, the proposal will automatically feel more personalized and custom. However, make sure your logo is not sized larger than the client's logo.


Incorporate the Client's Colors. By replicating the client’s colors throughout the proposal, you can easily create a sense of familiarity. As the client looks at the proposal it will feel very comfortable.


Use High Quality Graphics. When adding photos or clipart be careful not to stretch or skew the image. You don’t want the graphics to come out pixelated or blurry.


Charts and Graphs Will Reinforce your Point. People are more likely to look at graphics rather than read lengthy paragraphs. By including charts and graphs, you often get paragraphs of information in one single statistical image.


Develop Professional Templates. You can drastically increase your professionalism through the use of a graphic designer. The designer can create a custom template for office software for a minor fee.

With easy and cost-effective color printing, you can make your proposal materials more profitable.

With a small amount of effort you can make your proposal materials look great and make a profitable impact. Images and graphics make a large impact on prospective clients and can help you to solidify the sale.

By Marlene Orr, Senior Printer Analyst, June 8, 2010

This is the challenge businesses face today—to take fragmented repositories of information and combine them into one, concise system. From copiers and fax machines to Microsoft Office and email, we expect these technologies to make our life simpler. Instead, they can tend to make it more complex.

Enter Document Management Programs

Many small businesses and corporate departments are enjoying the benefits of new document converging technology. Paper, digital and email documents are finally able to be handled by one system.

- Scanners and Multifunction Systems enable the rapid conversion of paper documents into common digital formats like PDF files. These documents can be sent as email attachments our directed to a network folder.

- Optical Character Recognition technologies convert scanned text into editable text. Documents can be scanned directly into applications like Microsoft Word where they can be edited.

- Electronic Document Management Systems provide a central repository for scanned images, electronic documents and emails. This means that you can find everything you need with one search.

Can Your Customer Service Be Improved by Document Management?

Fragmented systems delay customer service interactions and extend billing cycles. Misfiled information hampers audits and regulatory compliance efforts. Inaccessible information is not available to support management decisions.

You can take advantage of our expertise to help streamline the flow of information in your organization- and start being more productive today.

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.

2. Risk Reduction

An ECM/DM system allows for the backup of critical files. What would happen to an organization if their file room was destroyed by a fire or flood? Business Continuity Planning is a critical theme today, allowing an organization to insure that a disaster of any kind will not bring business to a halt. Scanning paper files provides the ability to backup and restore key business documentation.

The core of any business is a group of processes. Predictable processes like invoicing and collections, order fulfillment and customer support are the fundamentals that drive businesses to success. Continual improvement of business processes leads to better results like increased revenue, reduced expenses, faster collection, regulatory compliance, and reduced risk.

The following are a few points to consider that will help improve your business processes:

1. Begin with the end in mind. Define what the real goal of your process is.

2. Map Out the Process. Think of the four Ws: Who, What, When and Where.

3. Determine what inhibits your process. There is always a more efficient way to complete a task.

4. Consider any risks. Are you overlooking any potential regulatory or legal problems? Is your business prepared for a natural disaster?

5. Determine the costs. Consider the hard costs of the process along with the labor costs.

6. Envision a Better Way. Improvement always begins with a vision of a preferred situation.

Processes: Tied to Documents

Since documents are the key vehicles by which information flows through business processes, by devising a well thought out plan you can leverage technology to improve business processes and start being more productive today.