While 90 percent of the senior executives surveyed agree that managing documents throughout their lifecycle helps improve business performance, only 12 percent of the executives say their organization is highly effective at it.

Business documents are strategic, financial and information assets that are essential to the successful operation of a business. They constitute the lifeblood of an organization. Yet many organizations rate their document management practices as less than effective. This is why elevating document process performance is becoming critical, both as an internal and as an outsourcing strategy, in helping organizations reduce costs, increase productivity, lower risk and enhance business performance.

Findings highlighted in a comprehensive survey report issued by Océ Business Services link six advanced document management processes with specific, high-value business benefits to senior executives involved in document management.

Opportunities to Improve Business
In addition to linking document processes and business benefits, the survey also reveals opportunities for enterprises to improve business by better managing documents through their lifecycle (creation through disposal), and by measuring the performance of their document processes. Many organizations surveyed recognize the business value of these document management practices. Some already are capitalizing on them; others see potential benefits but haven’t yet begun. Your organization could be paying a high price if it’s in the latter category.

What’s behind that potential high price? If your company is like many others, it spends an estimated 1 percent to 3 percent of its revenue on activities related to printing, copying, scanning and faxing. Because these document processes are a central element of your company’s success, not managing them correctly can be costly. This cost can take a variety of forms, such as an increased risk of being unprepared to meet compliance requirements, below par customer service, or diminished productivity because employees can’t find the information they need in a timely fashion, or at all.

Document Lifecycle Management
Companies that avoid these problems are more likely to implement advanced document management practices, which contribute substantial business value and significantly improve document process performance. Managing documents through their lifecycle is one of these practices. The lifecycle of a document begins at its creation, evolves through storage and access, distribution, printing and review, and ends with archiving or disposal. An advanced document lifecycle management approach focuses on managing the interlinked processes that comprise this complete cycle of events in electronic or paper form.

Yet while 90 percent of the senior executives surveyed agree that managing documents throughout their lifecycle helps improve business performance, only 12 percent of the executives say their organization is highly effective at it.

This finding indicates that many organizations are not realizing the potential benefits of document lifecycle management. This performance gap often appears in companies that don’t manage document processes in an integrated fashion. For example, they manage their documents in silos – e-mail is separated from paper documents.

In contrast, performance improvement frequently occurs in companies that integrate the management of document imaging, print, mail and records.

Performance Management
Because many organizations choose to outsource their document management processes to achieve these benefits, performance management is growing in importance. If a service provider lacks the ability to deploy a relevant measurement system that tracks service level agreements and key performance indicators, long-term business benefits are unlikely. Chances are that resources will be deployed inefficiently and daily operations will be managed ineffectively.

On the other hand, when a service provider provides a comprehensive measurement system, clients are able to track service levels over time and analyze service level trends, thus preventing problems before they can negatively impact the organization.

The document management survey revealed that a slim majority of survey participants indicate that their organization is measuring document process performance. Respondents specified that the key benefits of measurement include enhanced efficiency, reduced cost and higher return on investment of document process activities.   

Despite these potential benefits, a significant number of executives disclosed either their company was not measuring its document process performance or they didn’t know if their company had a measurement process in place. The most common reason cited for why companies are not measuring document process performance is that they don’t know how. This finding indicates a substantial opportunity to learn about and leverage this practice for improvement.
 
The Link to Benefits
As highlighted earlier, the survey report links six other advanced document practices with specific, high-value business benefits. Of the six document processes, executives agreed that these had high impact across the broadest range of top business goals:

•  Document imaging (paper to digital conversion) was seen to have a high impact across the broadest range of business benefits that include increasing competitive advantage, enhancing regulatory compliance, reducing costs and improving customer service, along with automated print/mail workflow and records management.
  A finance company offers one example of the business benefits of document imaging. Departments within the company concerned with loan origination and underwriting were not comfortable with the loan-approval cycle time. It took one day from the moment a new contract arrived in the mail until the underwriters could begin to work on the loan. In a competitive market where borrowers apply to multiple funders simultaneously, the finance company that approves the loan first usually gets the business. By implementing a document imaging process that makes the contract file available to funding by 1 p.m. each day, the company greatly reduced its loan-approval cycle time. 
  
• Automated print/mail workflow (creating, printing and mailing personalized communication) was seen by surveyed executives to have the highest impact on driving faster time to market as well as improving customer service, along with document imaging and records management.  
  
• Records management was specified to have the highest impact on enhancing operational efficiency and improving customer service, along with document imaging and automated print/mail workflow.
  

In today’s competitive environment, every organization looks for a competitive edge. Many executives agree that advanced document process management is one way to gain that edge. By taking a document lifecycle management approach combined with performance management and a range of advanced solutions, an organization can significantly enhance its ability to fill critical performance gaps and improve its chances to succeed.

Ken Neal is director of corporate communications for Océ Business Services
(www.obs-innovation.com), a provider of document process management services and technology to law firms, corporations and the public sector. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it