4 Factors Determine the Return on Investment of Document Imaging
Building a business case for document imaging involves assessing your organization for the biggest opportunities where paper remains a core part of the process. To design, implement and extend document imaging investments, knowledge management workers should understand not only costs and benefits, but also risks and flexibility. California organizations should consider the following four factors to determine the return on investment of document imaging:
Benefits. How will your organization or government agency benefit from document imaging? - Costs. How will your organization pay, both in hard costs and resources, for document imaging?
- Risks. How do uncertainties change the total impact of document imaging on your business?
- Flexibility. How does this investment in document imaging create future options for you organization?
Organizations implementing California document imaging solutions can expect several benefits that improve efficiency and reduce paper management for both internal staff and customers. Organizations can estimate the duration, scale and timing of these document imaging benefits by considering one or more key topics. Process Management and Less Paper Improves ProductivityThe productivity benefits of document imaging result from reducing or eliminating time spent handling, storing, retrieving, distributing, and destroying paper. Metrics are employee-based and measure actual time spent on a given task. Physical file retrieval can take minutes, versus the seconds it can take to retrieve an electronic file. More significant are the efficiencies that come from document management, workflow and business process outsourcing.
Better Security and Content Compliance California document imaging aids compliance and security initiatives because the risk of damange or misplaced files common with hard copy information is eliminated. Document management systems apply user permissions to maintain tighter controls on confidential information.
Business Continuity Capability is Enhanced with Document Imaging Most organizations have various office or branch locations that may contain unique records for their local clients. A solution based on document imaging can digitize these records so they can be more widely accessible and protected with the organizations disaster recovery processes. For example, hard copy files at a branch could be lost forever if a flood, fire or other disaster hits the office. Document imaging solutions can enable headquarters and other branches to have access to all records so that in the event of a catastrophe, any of the branches can step in and continue business as usual because they have access to the other location’s documents.
Document Imaging Enhances Employee Productivity as well as Customer Satisfaction Information workers can retrieve and access digital documents faster and more easily than paper records. Customer response time can increase 50 to 75% because document imaging enables digital documents to be sent to customers directly from an application that makes responding to customers instantaneous. Workflow for decision-making can provide automatic routing. Lost documents, forgotten steps and lack of ownership is eliminated with document imaging and workflow technologies.
Flexibility Options Extend Investments via Self-Service and Automation Organizations can leverage the California document imaging infrastructure for future projects that provide business value. Document imaging creates flexible options in the following areas: - Self-service. Until documents are digitized, they cannot be made accessible via the Internet and customers today have come to expect information to be made readily available online. If your organization continues to rely on paper processes, you risk frustrating your customers if they have to wait for documents to be faxed or mailed.
- Document imaging and workflow automates manual processes. Organizations that introduce document imaging initially for digital conversion also lay the foundation to apply process automation to other areas. Once documents are digitally scanned, business rules can be applied to trigger notifications and move information through a regimented workflow at pre-set periods of time. Process automation can offer expanding opportunities to automate what were once paper processes as more departments are brought into the solution and more workflows are implemented.
Contact Peelle Tech, a California document imaging company, at (800) 233-5006 or sales@peelletech.com for more information.
| 
