Increasing demand from South African companies and government agencies needing to convert stored paper documents into manageable electronic formats has led document storage specialist Archive-IT to partner with business process management specialist Emerge IOS to provide a comprehensive portfolio of information management solutions.
"In most organisations, vital information gets lost or goes stale because it's sitting on someone's desk, in a fax machine or a mailroom," says Emerge IOS's Jean Moncrieff.
"The only way to make information really work is to make sure it gets to the right people at the right time, which means organisations need strong and reliable back-office document and data processing capabilities, and a foolproof records management strategy that meets complex compliance requirements."
Moncrieff adds that this is an ideal situation for outsourcing: "It's an essential but low-level administrative task that's also subject to fairly complex regulatory requirements," he says.
"There is real value to be gained from bringing in specialist expertise."
The partnership between Emerge IOS, backed by international software provider Global360, and six-year-old Archive-IT will combine the former's global experience and resources with the latter's strong local client base in both the public and the private sectors.
"We're seeing huge demand to convert documents into electronic images and case folders," says Moncrieff. "Clients also want to be able to access their documents securely via the Internet. Together we'll be taking customer documents in every format from paper to microfiche, digitising and validating it and then making it available to their own information systems."
The Emerge IOS / Archive-IT solution is based on the Global Information Outsource Service, from Global360, a leading IOS solution that handles more than 250 million documents a year at some US installations and currently 30 million at South African Installations.
Archive-IT MD Julian Lincow says the company is in the process of introducing Emerge IOS services at its storage facilities across the country, with Johannesburg and Cape Town being the first to come online. "We're now able to offer customers a full electronic mail room, back file conversion, image library and capture/redirect services in addition to our current document archiving services."
Both organisations currently partner with BEE company Bambiri Technologies to offer on-site document conversion bureau services that manage the conversion of 30 million documents per year.
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Emerge Africa is Global 360's master value-added reseller (VAR) in Africa. Its leaders have a long relationship with Global 360 and many years' experience with the company's products.
Global 360 is a leading provider of business process management and optimisation solutions for global 2000 organisations. With over two decades of experience, Global 360 provides organisations with a competitive edge by automating, measuring and improving resource-intensive business processes across different communities, including customers, employees and partners.
Global 360 provides organisations with the insight to make informed business decisions and the flexibility to quickly adapt to changing market needs through real-time metrics that ensure business objectives and customer commitments are managed effectively. Building on its strength in financial services, government and insurance, Global 360 empowers sites for more than 5 000 installations in 134 countries.
Global 360, Inc is headquartered in Texas with operations in North America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific Rim. For more information about Global 360's BPM solutions, visit the company Web site at www.global360.com.'
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