Document Management

Each year ITEX brings in the big guns, unleashing an arsenal of new information and product to help the office channel. The ITEX strike force is again in motion with its tenth show to address the current state of the “office economy.” Each year they find and deliver red hot information to industry providers that’s aimed at ramping up their arsenal of business tools. The annual tradition of arming the evolving Dealer, VAR, ISV, CTO and other providers in the channel has ITEX delivering key information to help organizations widen their knowledge on new innovations for product and supplies, service and IT, on document solutions or emerging programs such as MPS. Bottom line?  ITEX assists providers in repositioning their business models to magnify profits.

Professionals in office technology have found that the environment has shifted due to the “new economy” and are looking for answers; to address the changes along with their customers’ demands for cost-efficient and conveniently acquired product and services. Within this transformation, providers see the need to integrate & merge offerings of hardware, software and services to become better, single-source providers to their customers in order capture and retain market share

As providers evolve into “hybrids,” ITEX breaks it down and provides an actionable tool kit.

By utilizing DocuWare, Bozeman Deaconess Hospital has saved $20,000 a month! Patient care has improved significantly and wait times have been reduced because information is readily available to both patients and staff. DocuWare is being used to manage outpatient lab records across a multi-site environment, collect payments from insurance companies faster, as well as store radiology scripts, insurance cards and signed release forms.

Bozeman Deaconess Hospital’s primary objective is providing quality healthcare to individuals and their families. The hospital is an 86-bed, full service, not-for-profit hospital located in Bozeman, Montana, serving 85,000 people in a 90 mile radius and drawing additional patients from surrounding counties.

As the medical needs of the community grew, the hospital expanded its services to allow patients to have lab work done in any one of three locations. The pressing need for a better way to manage patient records and laboratory results across a multi-site system caused the hospital to investigate implementing an electronic document management system not only for the laboratory, but for other areas of the hospital as well.

Are You Asking Yourself…

• How much am I really spending on desktop, workgroup, internal production print, and outside print services?
• How do our total document expenses compare to those of our key competitors?
• What factors contribute to these costs?
• How much money can we save and how?
• How much of an investment in time and money is needed to assess my document costs?
• Does this require a detailed on-site audit?

Challenges

• Getting to the true cost of documents across your organization
• Cost reductions
• Determining peer performance & benchmarking
• Developing an enterprise document strategy
• Increasing efficiency & optimization

Introduction & Objectives
The proliferation of output devices such as printers, copiers, fax machines, and scanners has significantly contributed to the dramatic increase in document output volume and cost over the years. While the majority of today’s organizations acknowledge the potential savings from better document management, many still lack the understanding and expertise to address the problem. Third-party providers including office equipment manufacturers, document outsourcing firms, and independent service providers are offering assessment services that focus on identifying costs and inefficiencies around document output.

The average office worker spends up to half of their workday searching for simple information! No wonder it’s hard to increase production. A digital document storage system will not only increase worker productivity, but also reduce company costs.

Lost documents create ripples of inefficiency throughout any organization. Although small and medium sized organizations are often hit harder than large corporations, the effect is devastating across the board. In paper-based environments, digital document storage is a great alternative. These systems provide an easy-to-use, secure document storage alternative to ultimately boost productivity and reduce operating expenses.

Any business whether it’s healthcare facilities, legal firms, financial services or educational institutions, has to deal with an inordinate amount of documents.  When digging through a dusty file cabinet for a case study or client information, at the back of any file clerk or assistant’s mind is the question “Isn’t there a better way?”

Anyone who deals with paper on a regular basis has dreamed of having their paper information on their computer.  Now that the price of hardware space has decreased, the possibility of integrating an electronic document management system is more appealing than ever. 

I was recently browsing the internet when I came across a website claiming it could tell me exactly how much my life was worth as a human being.  Intrigued, I filled out a survey that asked questions about my physical, mental, lifestyle and personality factors.  Once completed it broke down every aspect of my answers and gave me an exact number of my life’s worth—$2,327,896 to be exact. 

I began wondering, if there is a method to determine something as intangible as the price of a human life, certainly any other object could be also be weighed and measured.  Businesses everywhere know the value of a document, but how much is it really worth?  While the question remains of why researchers would find interest in determining the life worth of a piece of paper, I did find an answer.  Research has shown that over a document’s lifetime the cost of handling, storing and shipping a single paper document can easily reach up to $30.

First, there is the cost of the paper itself, just a few cents to begin with, but we’re only getting started.  Then there is the cost of storage.  This can include anything from file folders, file cabinets and storage boxes to the extra office storage space you have to rent.

Interactions with your clients generate a lot of paper work including consultations, office visits, contracts and invoices. In order to manage the vast amount of documents and information that inundates your office, it is imperative to have an innovative and efficient system that allows for easy storage and quick retrieval. With a document management system, you will be able to access all of your documents from the convenience of your computer’s desktop without sacrificing information security. Whether you are in the medical industry, education, or other professional services, a document management system can fit your business.

With a document management system, you can easily create custom folders to manage all your company’s information. The integration of a document management system allows for a more efficient and cost effective way to grow your business and improve customer service. The system endows you with an accessible and user-friendly access point for all client records. The system takes you one step closer to a paperless environment by making it easier to replace your bulky filing cabinets with streamlined hard drives.

Document management systems capture and store the scanned documents using a simple multifunction system. You can easily convert paper documents to a digital format. Once you have a digital document, you can easily pass them from department to department and even to your clients. Retrieving documents has never been easier. Instead of sifting through hundreds of paper files, you can call up documents by keyword or date.

Keying in data off of business forms is often a very monotonous and time-consuming process. Plus, the more the processes are rushed, the more errors are made.

Fortunately, you can utilize your multifunction systems to automatically enter routine data. Data Capture software has the ability to read data from scanned documents and translate it into your business applications. It can also index the scanned documents for easy retrieval later on.

Data Capture software uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to translate scanned text into editable text. When the document is scanned using a multifunction system, it is routed to a folder where it is processed.

The intellectual property of your business is vital to its continuing success. Therefore, it is important to ensure confidential documents are not susceptible to security breaches. Whether it is a computer virus or a disgruntled former employee, you need to ensure your information is safe from unauthorized viewers. Luckily, with document management systems, it is easy to integrate advanced security features into your current workflows. Electronic Document Management can help protect your documents and increase productivity. If you are unsure if a document management system is right for your business, here are ten things you should know about document security:

1. Document management seeks to prevent data loss from the various kinds of threats to data. Unless a systematic approach is adopted for document security your business could be shut down by a breach of security.

2. Very few businesses can survive a complete loss of business data. Even partial losses can prove extremely serious, especially to smaller businesses. Consider what would happen if you lost all your customer data and invoice records from a computer virus. It can render you unable to recover your fees from credit customers that can equal a few months of sales. Or consider the secret product formula that gives you an edge in the market being stolen.

3. Document security starts with an intricate look at all the risks documents face and the impact of each. A clear view can make upper management aware of the real dangers that can easily occur, and as a result they are more likely to support security-enhancement measures.

4. One of the primary security measures is preventing unauthorized access to documents. Only authorized persons should be able to access each type of data. Access restrictions should be placed both on classes of data and levels of employees and can be integrated easily with the access controls on your multifunction device.

Are you looking for ways to improve your business? An excellent place to start is by looking at your business processes.

Regardless of what industry you are in, paper and digital documents are the vehicles by which information flows through your business. The efficiency of this process can greatly affect the productivity of your office and ultimately, your success.

The good news is that new technology can help improve your business by streamlining the flow of information. This process enhancement can make a tremendous impact including the following:

• Increasing Profits
• Enhancing Competitive Advantage
• Improving Customer Service
• Ensuring Regulatory Compliance