Key Recommendations -- Winning the Paper Wars
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Offices have always been magnets for paper. Even if internal records are scanned and archived electronically, external forces throw more paper at us, particularly the forms and documents that kick off our core processes. To fight the paper wars, managers need to take the up-front decision that paper-free is the way to go, and mold that policy into key business initiatives and process re-designs.
Here are recommendations from AIIM's Analyst, Doug Miles, on getting started with a paper reduction war:
- Question long-held assumptions that paper is essential in your business for legal compliance. Research others in your industry. Consult your auditors.
- Highlight the role that paper-free processes can play in your key business improvement initiatives.
- Audit those existing processes that utilize scanning and electronic workflows. Ensure that they are taking full advantage of the possibilities of OCR, data capture and integration with core enterprise processes.
- Look at the range of capture systems in use with a view to rationalizing around a single, highly capable system, able to service multiple applications.
- Position that central system right at the door as a digital mailroom, defending offices from paper and ensuring the quickest possible conversion to electronic.
- If you are unsure of your expertise, or need some external influence to kick-start paper-free processes, consult a document process outsourcer and tap into their experience in your industry.
- Extend the paper-free concept further to the point of origination, whether that is a branch office, a shop or the mobile devices of your employees and customers.
- Above all, question how your organization is going to remain competitive in a mobile, always on, dispersed-workforce world if it clings to its paper-laden processes. Most businesses have hundreds of processes. It will be a long journey, but the benefits are clear, and the sooner you get started the faster you will realize the returns.
Get the full report HERE. (Free for now; will soon be member-restricted content.)
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