Digital Landfill

A new research report by AIIM states that companies can reap tremendous financial benefits by incorporating paper-free projects into their business improvement initiatives, yet adoption of these processes has been very slow. The report, “Winning the Paper Wars”, indicates that 74 percent of survey respondents have business improvement campaigns underway that would benefit from paper-free processes, but surprisingly only 24 percent have a specific policy designed to eliminate paper from their business. According to the research, many companies are going paper-free as a result of the increased use of mobile technologies by employees, as well as the fact that having only electronic documents helps with compliance and audit regulations.

The report examines the benefits of pursuing a paper-free work environment, reasons why adoption has been slow, and which processes are the most effective for digitization. Even though companies can improve response time to customer requests and increase productivity, most organizations have moved at a slow pace when it comes to adopting electronic workflow technologies. In fact, among the 562 survey respondents, 47 percent of organizations have made only five percent progress towards updating processes that could be paper-free. Worse, 19 percent said they have actually increased the use of paper. Legal requirements for paper copies and physical signatures is given as one of the main justifications, despite the fact that this is generally not the case.

While demands for reduced operating costs and increased worker productivity are obvious motivators for paper-free initiatives, the research also reveals that the growth in teleworking and use of mobile devices by workers in the field has dramatically increased the need for electronic access to all business content. Using capture on mobile devices can also trigger back-office processes immediately, and cut out the paper-chain between field workers, branch offices and head office. 

Our research confirms that companies that adopt paper-free business processes benefit by reducing costs, improving customer service, and raising worker productivity.  But we’ve also learned that executives are still not comfortable using electronic signatures and electronic documents, even though they are 100 percent admissible in a court of law, when it comes to legal issues and audit trails. On the flip side, we’re seeing that many companies are adopting mobile technologies for their dispersed workforce which is helping to advance the idea of the paper-free office.

As with any business process or technology, return-on-investment is a key adoption driver. Per the results of the survey, two-thirds of those adopting paper-free processes report a payback within 18 months and 50 percent see payback in a 12-month period. Respondents felt that corporate spending on paperless technologies will increase over the next 12 months particularly in the area of data capture for mobile devices. 

Other key findings in the AIIM report include:

• On average, respondents feel that driving paper out of business processes would improve the productivity of process staff by over 29 percent
• Physical signatures and legal admissibility are given as the biggest paper-free concerns amongst staff, with legal counsel and finance being the most resistant
• Spending plans for the next 12 months look to be very positive particularly for OCR, workflow/BPM and mobile capture, with scanner sales and outsourcing being mostly flat.

For a more detailed analysis, the full report, “Winning the Paper Wars,” can be downloaded from the AIIM website at www.aiim.org/paper-wars-2013. The research was underwritten in part by ABBYY, Alfresco, Avoka, Bottomline Technologies, IBM, ibml, Iron Mountain, Kofax, Opex Corporation, Perceptive Software, and ZIA Consulting.

 

I was recently speaking to Jon Eilers, SVP of Business Development at FileBound Software about the AIIM Conference next year, and thought I would also fire a couple of questions at him about the recent acquisition of FileBound by Upland Software (formerly PowerSteering Software) and its implications for the channel.  (Here's a to .)  

Here's what he told me...

----

JM — What do you see as the key synergies in the Upland acquisition?   

JE -- The Upland family of products brings together best-of-breed cloud solutions in the project, portfolio, and work management space. Upland is the only cloud software provider that can address a comprehensive range of needs from strategic planning to work execution. Upland solutions enable organizations to align their goals, projects, programs; optimize resource utilization and workflows; and empower teams to collaborate and work more effectively.  FileBound represents a key component of the work management idea. Information and documents drive project management, portfolio management and of course strategic planning. The addition of FileBound to the Upland family is an important piece for the execution of the overall strategy.

JM -- How will the acquisition improve Filebound's ability to add value to customers?

JE -- While we understand the end-user derives the ultimate value from FileBound, our primary customers are our channel partners. Upland’s strategy of investing in each product to maintain key areas of strength and looking for new ways to innovate and major focus on Customer Success is what drove FileBound to the partnership. We passionately believe this acquisition will provide significant benefit to our channel of partners. Upland is committed to providing every additional resource required to achieve success.

With the additional resources, we will be able to invest in the development of enhanced sales and marketing tools, product training, documentation, and services packages that inevitably help drive greater value to our partners. Additionally, the other project, portfolio and work management software products in the Upland family create the opportunity for FileBound partners to sell a broader range of products and services. With the backing of Upland's scale and financial resources, we are of course better positioned for long term viability and market leadership.

 

JM — What solution areas will Upland focus upon?

JE -- Upland’s project and portfolio management solutions are currently market leaders, and we will continue to integrate the product suite to deliver even more value to our customers. In regards to FileBound we are currently working on solution specific products that we believe will help our partners recognize even more success. Check back often as we will be releasing more information at our upcoming events!

JM -- How do you see the cloud changing content management?

JE -- First, I’m not sure content management will be a relevant term in the future. Yes, all organizations must manage their content effectively to succeed. I think we all recognize that. From our perspective we see organizations interested today in a continual effort to drive costs out of the business and in improving their efficiency across the enterprise. The Upland family of cloud based solutions allows organizations to bring efficiency to everything from strategic planning, product and portfolio management, to work execution. An organizations ability to efficiently collaborate, execute, and manage work ultimately drives success and our family of solutions delivers all of that.

I believe organizations of all sizes will continue to push toward the cloud for a wide variety of reasons. The ability to quickly ramp up a cost-effective, robust, highly secure, and enterprise class solution is a compelling value proposition. The cloud allows organizations to side step a tremendous amount of overhead and costs. For more and more organizations, the cloud has moved beyond just being an option to being the first, or the option. We feel that is hard trend and one we are prepared to take advantage of.

JM -- How are your channel partners responding to the acquisition?  What will change for them?

JE -- We recognize with change there is always uncertainty. The acquisition thus far has been met with optimism amongst our partners. Our industry has seen so much change over the years and much of that change wasn’t very productive for partners. We recognize that and understand that our actions always speak louder than our words. So, we have to work hard and prove to our partners that Upland is a great place to be!  In regards to what will change...the primary changes will be added resources across the board and new products for our partners to sell into the marketplace.

-----

A couple of presentations you may have missed.  (If you like them, please socialize them a bit; thanks.)

 

No matter how it’s discussed, we’re all at fault for creating information overload and, at the same time, we’re all victims of information overload. It’s tough enough to keep track of all the photos, videos, downloads and e-mail on our personal systems. Now imagine trying to keep track of the flood of content being created on an enterprise scale. That, in a nutshell, is what information professionals are up against. 

Check out my article in CMSWire...

Digital Chatter, Information Overload, and How to Get it Under Control

 

 

The days of summer may be lazy, but you don't have to be! Continue your education and sharpen your skills with our online, self-paced training. Get 50% off these AIIM Online Courses ECM, ERM, BPM, and SharePoint for ECM. Offer ends July 31st*  With the kids out of school and frantic schedules relaxed, now is the perfect time to start thinking about YOUR education and YOUR career. As the volume, variety, and velocity of business information accelerates, it's essential to keep pace and stay relevant!  We are pleased to offer our most in-demand courses for your summer education at 50% off their regular price.  Our global "campus" is available to you at any time and from anywhere according to your schedule. Purchase one or all of these courses by July 31st and enjoy up to 6-month's access and assessment: Enterprise Content Management: Enter Promo Code: ECM713 Accelerate interaction and engagement with information capture, access, and collaboration. Electronics Records Management: Enter Promo Code: ERM713 Establish and manage policies for records disposition and retention in a social, mobile and BYOD world. SharePoint for ECM: Enter Promo Code: SPE713  Optimize records/content/document management functionality out-of-the-box with SharePoint.   Business Process Management: Enter Promo Code: BPM713  Identify and eliminate organizational inefficiencies in content-driven activities and transactions. If you have any questions or need assistance with your order, call any of our training advisers at . *Please note: this is a limited time offer that expires at midnight EDT on July 31st. Course purchases up to that date allow unlimited access to materials and assessments for 6 months. This is an exclusive offer on new purchases that cannot be used in conjunction with other offers or discounts.

AIIM Conference 2014 Call for Presentations - Now Open

The AIIM Conference is our industry’s annual gathering. THE meeting place for the global community of information professionals takes place April 1-3, 2014 in Orlando, Florida. Together we learn, swap experiences, recommend solutions, share best practices, and – best of all – reconnect with old friends while making new ones. Nothing can beat a face-to-face conversation.

AIIM is looking for interactive, thought-provoking, and engaging presentations for our 2014 Conference. Share with your peers how you delivered information management excellence to your organization. This is your opportunity to join the impressive lineup of industry visionaries including Guy Kawasaki and Dux Raymond Sy to deliver a 30-minute session.

The Conference theme is "Information to Action: Engage, Process, Control" and our three session tracks will be divided in that way. We need to have your submission by COB of August 12, 2013 to be considered. We look forward to hearing from you! Learn more at .

-----

You might also be interested in...