Electronic content management (ECM) and related technologies lie at the heart of everything we do. We are experts in this industry and that allows us to help you find the best-fit solution for your needs in terms of ECM systems and related technologies such as document capture and electronic workflow. Our 4 Step consultative process ensures that your results meet with your expectations and budget. We understand that there is no “one size fits all” product or solution. For that reason all of our ECM platforms are designed for ease of implementation, integration and use by your employees.
While many organizations use document scanning technology to some degree, statistics show that between 60% and 75% of all businesses utilize paper dominant processes. And many of those businesses that employ document management systems are not taking advantage of electronic workflow technology to further reduce costs and improve operational productivity and efficiencies. Here is the typical, hierarchy of document management technology adoption:
Ad Hoc Scanning
At the most basic level, where most organizations live we find documents being scanned or saved as PDF files to local drives on an ad hoc basis. The result of this, is as our industry advisory group AIIM puts it, “content chaos”. It also explains the persistent statistics provided by AIIM, Gartner and Coopers & Lybrand for example, as follows:
◊ Knowledge workers spend as much as 30% to 40% of their time looking for information found in emails, shared drives and filing cabinets
◊ 3% to 5% of all documents are misfiled; each misfile costs on average $125 to recover
◊ Lost documents can cost between $350 and $700 to replace
◊ The average document is copied 9 to 11 times
◊ The average office worker makes 61 trips per week to the FAX machine, copier and printer
◊ 67% of data loss is the result of human error
◊ When an eployee leaves the company as much as 70% of his or her knowledge leaves with them
◊ It costs $25,000 to fill a standatd 4 drawer filing cabinet and over $2,500 per year to maintain it
◊ Paper for the average business grows at a rate of 22% per year; doubling every 3.3 years
ECM Platform
At the next level in our hierarchy is the ECM platform. This is much more than a “document management system”. It allows organizations to secure all corporate informational content be it scanned images, electronic files, email content and more. Beyond simple document archiving, our ECM platforms enable standardization of work processes and compliance with regulatory and auditing requirements, internal and external. Dependent upon the size of your organization you may have 2-3 of these systems deployed at departmental or branch levels. Many of these older systems are difficult to use and do not lend themselves to ongoing process improvements. If that is the case in your organization, let us know. Our ECM systems are easily configurable and “change-your-mind” enabled.
System Integration
All of our ECM systems are designed with integration in mind. In the early days of our industry, integration with other line of business applications was problematic, costly and could slow down your line of business applications, such as ERP systems. At ADocs we have the tools to make integration a snap. Many of our users live in their ERP systems or even products such as Microsoft Outlook and are able to import and retrieve documents without awareness that our ECM system exists. Integrations with Microsoft Dynamics, Lawson, Sage MAS 90, Epicor, SAP, Oracle and others are common.
Business Process Improvement (BPM)
With our ECM platform in place, your organization will be positioned to substantially reduce your current business process costs via business process management(BPM) using our standard electronic workflow and other tools. If your current processes involve lots of paper and people, we can help. Using our graphical workflow tools, we can help your organization eliminate 30% to 50% of your existing costs, making your organization more competitive and putting more dollars on the bottom line. BPM exists at the top of the productivity pyramid becuse it involves business process — the heart and soul of productivity imprevement. As a result, BPM allows users to increase productivity, enhance compliance and improve your competitive posture.
With the advent of cloud based ECM systems, these capabilities are no longer the domain of large businesses. Our systems can be found in organizations large and small. And they are designed to be easy to use, implement and maintain.