According to a survey recently carried out by Oc'e Business Services, managing documents throughout their lifecycle does hold benefits for business performance.
While 90% of senior executives involved in document management agree that managing documents throughout their lifecycle (creation to disposal) does help improve business performance, only 12% of the surveyed executives rate their organisation as highly effective in this practice.
These are a few of the key findings highlighted in the comprehensive report recently issued by Oc'e Business Services: "A premier standard: How organisations can elevate business performance through advanced document management processes - including document imaging, records management, enterprise-wide print/copy, mail and shipping, automated print/mail workflows and legal discovery - with high value business benefits."
The executives agree that, of the six document management processes, document imaging (paper to digital conversion) has a high impact across the greatest range of top business goals that include reducing costs, increasing competitive advantage, enhancing regulatory compliance and improving customer service (along with automated print/mail workflow and records management).
Automated print/mail workflow (creating, printing and mailing personalised communication) was seen to have the highest impact on driving faster time to market. Records management was designated as having the highest impact on improving operational efficiency.
In another key finding, a majority of survey participants indicated that their organisations are measuring document process performance, with the highest number of organisations measuring service level performance followed by user satisfaction, user activity and return on investment.
Survey respondents also specified that the key benefits of measurement include enhanced efficiency and reduced cost of document process activities.
"Executives surveyed indicate that their most urgent business goal is to improve operational efficiency, closely followed by reducing costs," notes Joseph R Marciano, president and CEO of Oc'e Business Services. "The executives see document management processes as having a high impact in meeting these and other goals. This is particularly the case with processes such as digital imaging, as well as methodologies such as document lifecycle management and document performance management."
Marciano adds that in the case of document lifecycle management, most executives realise the potential business benefits but rate their organisations as only moderately or slightly effective in managing documents throughout their lifecycle. "Part of this performance gap is due to the fact that, because they are not specialists in this area, many companies don't integrate the management of their document processes," says Marciano. "In our experience, performance improvement frequently occurs in companies that integrate the management of document imaging, print, mail and records."
The report by Oc'e Business Services was compiled from over 170 online surveys completed by executives involved in document management. These include chief administrative officers, mid- and upper-level operations managers and chief information offices. Among respondents, 46% work at organisations with annual revenue under $100 million; 22% with revenue between $100 million and $1 billion; and 32% with revenue of over $1 billion.
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