Some Like it Hot: Using the Power of the Pepper to Manage Your Content

Peppers are a powerful fruit (yes, I mean fruit). Their glossy, smooth surface attracts the eye with an assortment of vivid colors, from familiar reds, yellows, and greens through less common whites, purples, browns and blues. Yet the strong, simple and shiny surface conceals a remarkable ecosystem. High in vitamins A and C, peppers can heal multiple ailments, from coughs and colds to skin, muscle, nerve, and digestive disorders, as well as snake bites, internal bleeding, and even heart attacks. Looking at a pepper, you would never guess its value or the complexity within it. The ‘power of the pepper’ is intricacy disguised by apparent simplicity.

A robust enterprise content management (ECM) system fits well with this imagery. Each valuable part is created to address a specific business challenge; ideally it is concealed by a package that appeals to both managers and end users. ECM is most valuable when each component is designed with a particular purpose, yet envisioned as part of a cohesive whole. When the components communicate seamlessly, they contribute richly to the overall efficiency and health of the businesses they serve.

Project managers and vendors must thoroughly understand a business, its documents, processes, and weaknesses before the best ‘pepper’ (solution) can be chosen to heal a company’s maladies. As a vendor or dealer compiles the optimum solution, ideally he draws it from a holistically designed system—rather than a patchwork of disparate technologies that were not designed to work together—presenting a package that appeals to the diverse end users within the company. This article describes the core, savory, hot, and sweet components to consider as you choose the ECM solution that will serve your present and future needs.

The core components: your foundation to success

In order to guarantee efficient digital automation—just as when you prepare a culinary delight—the first imperative is to put everything you need in one easily accessible location. Some applications, such as Microsoft SharePoint, provide excellent, low-cost tools for creating content and solutions for basic, temporary storage. True content management, however, only becomes possible with a centralized storage system that can gather, categorically organize, and manage mission-critical data effectively—now, and as a business continues to grow.

Effective storage is the core to successful automation. Just as a pepper’s core provides the essential nutrients a plant needs for growth, digitally searchable document storage supplies secure, desktop access to critical data businesses need to make informed decisions. Similar to fibers delivering nourishment wherever it is required, a document management system delivers data on demand to enable smart decisions. Intelligent, encyclopedic indexing is vital so that information can be found by people who search for it in a variety of ways.

Strong and savory: making your content capture more robust

Peppers add diverse flavors to foods, and content management systems deliver this same multiplicity by allowing businesses to capture, manipulate, and manage vital data. Four tools add value to a business’s information repository:

• Online forms—offering convenient, 24/7 collection of information your business needs, and ensuring complete and consistent data via your portal or website;
• Barcode recognition—allowing you to embed data securely on outgoing mail that requires a response or form completion, eliminating redundant data entry and errors upon return receipt;
• Desktop scanning—providing staff and customers an easy way to scan documents into the central document management system; and
• Enterprise reports management (COLD-ERM)—enabling managers to capture print streams of data electronically for easy analysis and subsequent report storage, ending unnecessary printing and manual scrutiny.

Like a dish with varied ingredients that make consumption a true delight, capture of diverse documents with the right tools puts all of your data in one place. It makes search and retrieval a far more satisfying experience for knowledge workers and staff.

Some like it hot: burning to the heart of business challenges

People who become accustomed to peppers over time tend to gravitate toward spicier varieties, availing themselves of more of the pepper’s medicinal properties. Likewise, businesses that begin with digital storage, adapt to change, and discover the fire of process automation in making business better and work easier, often move readily to embrace process automation. The ability to push tasks electronically to the right people at precisely the right time means workers can do more work, faster; ensure tasks are prioritized properly and deadlines are met; and guarantee fair, consistent customer treatment. The ability to demonstrate compliance with policies and regulations during audits has significant allure. Simply stated, process automation adds a lot of pizzazz to a content management solution, significantly improving productivity and efficiency.

After a business has automated its core business procedures, three tools further accelerate processing: digital signatures, email management, and data archiving. Integrating electronic signatures with process automation means documents requiring multiple signatures can be sent to all parties simultaneously for that vital John Hancock. After they are signed and returned electronically, documents can be pushed forward for the next required action. The second tool that adds significant efficiency is email management software. This helps organizations manage content in email messages that is relevant to specific business processes, and to filter out messages that are unwanted or irrelevant. After all signatures are collected, all process-related email communications have ceased, and the files are no longer part of the active business cycle, documents that are no longer needed can be archived in accordance with company or industry-wide regulations.

Together, process automation, digital signatures, email management, and archival with hierarchical storage management software solve a variety of business ailments. They accelerate processing times; provide quicker, more accurate information for better decision making; and eliminate the risk inherent with inactive files by removing them in a timely fashion. These systems improve communication and productivity, providing a flavorful zest that adds to the overall health of a business.

Sweet extras that help you examine the health of your business

After a company has fully embraced process automation, several other tools provide analytical data that facilitates continual improvement. As with any business enhancement, resting on one’s laurels lessens the chance of ongoing success. A fully integrated and robust ECM system provides reporting tools to examine departmental and employee productivity, making it easy to adjust assignments and maximize individual strengths. Dashboards that monitor system activity enable managers to spot potential bottlenecks at specific times of the day, week, or month as well as monitor demands on database operations, network functions, and more. They encourage proactive decision-making, alerting appropriate staff when critical errors are spotted. Detailed reports based on real-time information enable managers to make necessary adjustments, maximize performance, and help the business to continue savoring the sweet taste of success.

Pulling it all together: making sure people get what they order

Regardless of what kind of pepper you prefer, when others are supplying the dish, you expect to get exactly what you order. An ECM system with strong, built-in security guarantees each worker gets exactly the documents and data needed for the job: no more, no less. Centralized configuration of an integrated system makes it easy: regardless of which application an employee is using, sensitive data is locked down, visible only to those who are permitted to see it, and information deemed irrelevant for various departments or individuals can be set aside to eliminate distractions. Whatever the business executive wants, he will find. Whatever the staff person needs, he can view and act upon, as permitted by those who administer the system. A solid, integrated, and secure document management system leaves absolutely nothing to chance.

Wrapping it up

As you evaluate implementing an ECM system, make sure the software you choose has not only the look you want, but also the power you need. Products may look exotic, smooth, and snazzy, but make sure the features are rich, diverse, meet all of your business challenges individually, and work together to meet your enterprise needs as a unified system. Fancy wrappers sometimes belie little content. Don’t just look at the surface—look beneath it. Consider the business challenges you face today and those you might face tomorrow. Make sure your system can supply the full ‘power of the pepper’—from the core nutrients of solid storage through tools that add real value your business will savor; spices that add fire and speed to your processing; analytical tools that help you to continually improve your business; and a sweet ending with digital archival at the end of the document lifecycle.

Just like a pepper, a well-planned enterprise content management system’s power lies in a rich and diverse internal network concealed by a well-designed interface that is attractive and appealing to the end user. If you plan carefully, sew strong seeds of communication, and choose a strong vendor with a holistic approach to cultivating not only its products, but also your business and your mutual achievement, you are sure to succeed.

For more information or to schedule a demonstration, please Contact DocFinity now.