Leveraging Document Management in Today's Economy |
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Océ Business Services third annual document management industry survey uncovered some interesting trends. The goal of the survey, "At the Crossroads: Leveraging Document Management Strategies on the Path to Economic Recovery," was to investigate how survey respondents and their organizations are deploying five document management processes to contain costs and realize other business benefits as the US charts a path to economic recovery. The report also investigates specific document management activities that offer apparent — and hidden — opportunities. The five document management activities include:
Focus on
Document Imaging Digital
Mail and Records A majority of executives (56%) indicate that their organization will maintain spending for mail management activities in 2010; a small number (15%) assert that spending will increase. Also, more organizations are outsourcing mail management compared to Océ's 2009 survey report in order to gain such benefits as reducing costs and increasing efficiency. With this kind of focus on mail management, this year's survey explored the extent to which executives are aware that mail management is evolving from a traditional, paper-based process to a digitized process. (Digital mail is a hybrid mail and scanning process that converts incoming paper mail into digital and delivers the mail to the addressee electronically.) The survey results indicate some companies (12%) are scanning mail in the mailroom and tapping the digital mail process for the benefits it offers. However, a majority of enterprises (75%) are not scanning mail in the mailroom and not attaining the advantages the process offers. With regard to records management, a strong majority of companies recognize its importance — 83% of survey respondents indicate that their company has a records management program in place. This and other survey findings — such as the number of companies increasing spending or planning to create a program — make a strong case for the importance of records management during 2010 and beyond. However, a relatively low number of respondents (10%) said that their company's program includes an electronic records repository. This area might represent an opportunity for some companies to reap the benefits of integrating digital processes and technology into their records programs. Untapped
Opportunities KEN NEAL [kenneth.neal@oce.com] is a Certified Enterprise Content Management Practitioner and director of Corporate Communications for Océ Business Services, a provider of document process management services and technology. The full survey report, "At the Crossroads: Leveraging Document Management Strategies on the Path to Economic Recovery," is available at www.obs-innovation.com. |