It’s been this way as long as Jeff Flory can remember: Efficiency is everything in his life. If you can remove unnecessary steps to get to where you need to be, DO IT.

It’s essentially the same message he spreads to prospects and clients who might be stuck in arduous, manual workflow processes and not even know their plight. It’s Jeff who helps them rebuild. He is the workflow architect. He’s part of the team charged with designing and structuring systems and processes to efficiently manage an organization's documents, much like an architect designs physical buildings to meet functional, aesthetic, and regulatory needs. Both roles focus on creating frameworks that align with specific requirements while ensuring adaptability, scalability, and… you guessed it… efficiency.

Making the Complex Simple.

Albert Einstein once said “The mark of a true genius is the ability to make the complex simple and the simple meaningful.” There’s nothing simple about Document/Content Management – let’s be clear. 
Document management is an intricate and multifaceted process that touches nearly every aspect of an organization’s operations, making it a significant undertaking for any client. It involves not only the organization and storage of a multitude of physical and digital documents but also ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, maintaining data security, enabling seamless access and retrieval, and integrating with existing workflows and systems.

Even so, Jeff walks prospects and colleagues through these intricate steps as if riding a bicycle. It’s seemingly something he’s been doing his whole life, effortless and simple. He’s spent such an enormous amount of time studying the systems, getting his hands dirty in implementations, and working through processes in his head over and over again, he explains them to folks in a way that makes real tangible sense.

“I think what stuck with me about Document/Content Management was that I could tangibly show people how I could help them decrease their workload,” Jeff said. “There was automation in the beginning, but it just continues to go further and further. I don’t know what to say other than I was smitten by it.”

Learning through Trial by Fire.  

It was November 1987 when Jeff took a job with the Gordon Flesch Company as a facsimile account manager. He’d previously served in the National Guard and a former LT of his had led him to gigs that led him there.  It was in this role that he got his first “taste” of what document management would alter become – helping a law firm change names on a contract by utilizing OCR and Word’s Find and Replace.
It wasn’t too long after that he joined forces with VP of Strategic Technology Justin Huffaker to adopt a strategic plan about early Document Management utilization.

“At one point, we were up to about three or four dedicated sales people, and Justin told us, ‘You’re going to sell, but you’re also going to implement. All the sudden, I had to learn how to install and implement all these workflows,” Jeff recalls.

It was trial by fire, no doubt about it.

“I had two options: fail because I got moved into this new position, or pick it up and accept it and move on down the line,” Jeff said. “As I moved into implementation/installation, I could actually see when someone was telling me ‘This is what I need this thing to do.’ Before I would say, ‘Yeah, it’ll do that’ because it says it will.' Getting involved in the entire document management engagement really engrained in me the thing that I love, and still love it today.”

Navigating Like an Expert.

What makes Jeff an expert?

Passion for the process, sure. Immersiveness in the space? That certainly builds holistic knowledge. But the source of all the tangible and intangible qualities that drive Jeff to be the best of the best points back to his father.

“I had a great example who was my father. He barely passed high school, worked a couple of factory jobs, and had two kids pretty quickly on. He determined that factory jobs weren’t going to work, so he went to work for a company called Associates Financial. At 24 years old, he got wooed by a bank and worked his way up to Senior VP of that bank in Ohio,” Jeff said.

That example served as a navigational guide for Jeff to pursue and push forward in his own career.

“My dad used to say to me what do you want to be when you grow up? I’d mention a couple of things I’d like. I’ll never forget he told me one time, ‘I don’t care if you’re a ditch digger or the President of the United States. Be the best damn ditch digger that’s ever been made,” Jeff said.

That’s exactly what he does today, working with organizations to navigate cleaner, better workflows for faster, smarter processes. If there is an opportunity to eliminate unnecessary steps and work at the highest possible efficiency, Jeff can help you find your way.