Thinking Outside the Box...

Use workflow, integration, and automation to help your staff be more productive.

Yup...we did it...we used one of the most overused clichés in our title this issue.  There's a good reason, of course.  This week's article, Progressing Beyond Electronic Storage and Retrieval: 4 Tips That Show you How, points out, "...if your company is looking at ECM (enterprise content management) solely as a means to reduce paper, you're missing the big picture."  It goes on to state, "It's like using your Blackberry or iPhone just to make phone calls." In essence, a short-sighted view of ECM could be costing you money in terms of inefficiencies, lost productivity, and an inability to compete. 

What's the best way to start automating and integrating the processes in your organization?  The article provides these recommendations:

• Find a vendor who not only has a superior product, but also offers pricing options. Look for ECM software that has an open architecture, flexibility, and scalability to meet your current and growing needs.
• Know the intricacies of your business processes. If your existing paper-based processes are inefficient, don't replicate them in your electronic workflows.
• Enact a change management plan. Automation of processes can seem threatening to staff. Don’t let their resistance sabotage your ECM installation - get them on board and excited from the beginning.
• Enlist members from every department when you develop a document indexing plan. Ensure that everyone is able to find the documents they need.
• Start small. By automating an area of your company that is filled with routine processes first, you'll see the greatest success and can build from there.

Check it all out in the article, Progressing Beyond Electronic Storage and Retrieval: 4 Tips That Show you How.

The bottom line:

With the competitive business landscape these days, your business can't afford not to automate with workflow and business process management (BPM). Scanning and imaging is a great start. But as you continue setting your goals for 2010 and beyond, there are many ways your ECM solution can provide you with an even greater return on your investment.

Talk with us:

We've got the experience to help you think outside the box and make the most of your ECM investment. Contact us today to see how our high-performance ECM software can do so much more for you than just reduce paper.

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