DOCUMENT Spring 2014

PREVIEW

DOCUMENT STRATEGY FORUM THE SECRET TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMS

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THE BUSINESS CASE FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT P.14

fitting the document management puzzle together

THREE PREDICTIONS

FOR 2014

A LOOK AT WHAT’S IN STORE FOR BUSINESS DOCUMENT AUTOMATION, DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS AND MANAGED PRINT SERVICES

BY RON GLAZ

OVERCOMING MULTI-CHANNEL INHIBITORS IS THIS THE BEST WAY TO DELIVER CONTENT IN A CROSS-MEDIA WORLD? PAPERLESS TECHNOLOGY ABILITIES, RISKS AND BENEFITS

AVOID THE PRINTING AND MANUAL PROCESSING OF YOUR E-SIGNATURES

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APPLICATION ARTICLE

Document Management for Output from ECM systems Once searched, selected, and assembled, document collections need to get to the next workflow step as collated, uniform and annotated assemblies. However, ECM systems generally do not provide tools to automate this part of the case management task. CrawfordTech’s Riptide extends IBM ECM solutions to automate the ECM output management function. In that light, sometimes an example is the best way to illustrate the benefits. Consider this application example below: The Scenario An insured party fell down a flight of stairs nine months ago and, at this point in time, his ability to return to work is in dispute. When he fell he was treated at a walk-in emergency clinic.

He filed a disability claim with his insurer and they have been tracking its progress using their case management software.

The Insurance company’s review process indicated the insured might be ready to go back to work at the six month point; however the insured did not feel ready and sought out second opinions.

Subsequently the claimant has been seen by two orthopedists, two orthopedic surgeons, a neurologist, a physical therapist and a chiropractor.

They can be at one or more designated output locations, each of which can have an individual watermark. The delivery modes can be selected from among print, fax, email, PDFs on CD/DVD, or file folder locations. It would be inappropriate for this example but mobile and ePresentment distribution are also possible.

Riptide has the automated capability to assure completeness without errors of omission, and adds value-added features.

Because all the contents are converted at one server location, security can be more tightly controlled without tying up end-user licenses for the applications.

Value Added Functionality It is important to note that Riptide is easy to use. Its shopping cart motif provides a ‘no learning curve’ user interface as items dropped into the ‘cart’ are submitted to the output device.

The case file is in an IBM Filenet P8 repository and has dozens of documents in disparate formats: TIFFs, PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets and XML transmissions. As the case has progressed, the case manager has maintained a case worksheet documenting the claims processing actions and interactions with the insured.

When needed, Riptide provides additional value. Of particular value in case management applications are the added functionalities that Riptide delivers. Give us a call or contact us today to find out more about the 2014 Xplor Technology of the Year — Riptide.

The case manager’s supervisor has determined that the review process has reached its limits and that the case needs to go to litigation.

By Jay Baumgarten, Director ECM Solutions, Crawford Technologies

To resolve the situation, the litigation team needs all the case information transferred to it. Riptide is the automated solution that in a single step assembles one transportable packet with: • A cover sheet • A Table of Contents • All the P8 case contents sorted in chronological order per the litigators’ needs for review • All the case manager worksheets associated with the case • Original policy information, primary care physician information, etc.

• All other artifacts associated with the case Riptide distributes this packet to the litigation team.

sales@crawfordtech.com www.crawfordtech.com

volume 21 issue 1

Spring.14

DOCUMENTmedia.com

Features

24 Overcoming Multi-Channel Inhibitors

By Tom Roberts

Predictions for 2014 20 3A look at what’s in store for business document automation, document solutions and managed print services

By Ron Glaz

Departments

Columns

05 What’s New 06 Masthead 06 Most Social 08 Editor’s View 10 Contributors

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SPECIAL PREVIEW ISSUE

Look inside for an exclusive sneak peek at all the great content hosted at our annual event, the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum, May 13-15 in Greenwich, CT. documentstrategyforum.com

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The Secret to Digital Transformation Programs: Change, Even if It’s Not That Exciting

This the Best Way to 28 IsDeliver Content in a Cross-Media World?

By Steven Schnoll

By Seth Earley

CXOs the 14 Show Money: The Business Case for Information Management

By Joe Shepley

You Should Ask if 16 Why You Really Need that Signature: Avoid the Printing and Manual Processing of Your E-Signatures

By Ray Killam

Technology 32 Paperless Abilities, Risks and Benefits: What You Should Know

By George Dunn

Spring 2014

Features

What’s New Cloud-Based Document Management System: What Should You Look For?

There’s a War in Consumer 3D Printing: Who’s Winning?

By Scott Dunham www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ Theres-a-War-in-Consumer-3D-PrintingWhos-Winning-1376.aspx

By Jonathan Lincoln www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ CloudBased-Document-Management-SystemWhat-Should-1371.aspx

5 Areas of Business That Need Document Transparency and Corporate Change

By Charlene Haykel www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/5Areas-of-Business-That-Need-DocumentTransparenc-1391.aspx

Hold It: Why Uniform Policy Enforcement Is Crucial to a Litigation Hold

By Bob Larrivee www.documentmedia.com/Main/ articles/Hold-It-Why-Uniform-PolicyEnforcement-Is-Crucial-1380.aspx

Consumers Demand Higher Levels of Service and Simplicity: What Customer Communications Providers Should Do

Compliance and Mobility: What You Should Ask in Your Mobile ECM Evaluation Phase

By Mika Javanainen www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ Compliance-and-Mobility-What-You-Should-Askin-You-1396.aspx

By Barry McCarthy www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ConsumersDemand-Higher-Levels-of-Service-and-Simp-1403.aspx

You Can’t Find a Document if You Don’t Have It: How to Migrate Document Content into a Cloud Application

By Bud Porter-Roth www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/You-Cant-Finda-Document-if-You-Dont-Have-It-How-t-1397.aspx

You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Know: Knowledge Management’s Place in the Reputation Imperative of the 2010s

By John Patterson www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ You-Cant-Manage-What-You-Dont-KnowKnowledge-Manag-1388.aspx

Why Moving to the Cloud Isn’t So Easy After All

By Jim Minihan www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ Why-Moving-to-the-Cloud-Isnt-So-Easy-AfterAll--1389.aspx

The Insanity of eBilling Today: Why Your Customers Don’t Seem to Care

By Richard Rosen www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/The-Insanityof-eBilling-Today-Why-Your-Customers-1393.aspx DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2014

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president

Chad Griepentrog

publisher

Ken Waddell

editor

Allison Lloyd

contributors

advertising

circulation director

[ allison.l@rbpub.com ]

George Dunn Seth Earley Ron Glaz Ray Killam Tom Roberts Steven Schnoll Joe Shepley Ken Waddell

[ ken.w@rbpub.com ] [ 608.442.5064 ]

Rachel Chapman

DOCUMENT (ISSN 1081-4078) is published on a weekly basis via its online portal and produces special print editions by RB Publishing Inc., 2901 International Lane, Madison, WI 53704-3128. All material in this magazine is copyrighted © 2014 by RB Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Any correspondence sent to DOCUMENT magazine, RB Publishing Inc. or its staff becomes the property of RB Publishing Inc. The articles in this magazine represent the views of the authors and not those of RB Publishing Inc. or DOCUMENT. RB Publishing Inc. and/or DOCUMENT expressly disclaim any liability for the products or services sold or otherwise endorsed by advertisers or authors included in this magazine.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: DOCUMENT is the essential publication for executives, directors and managers involved with the management, strategy, creation and delivery of communications in B2C environments. Free to qualified recipients; subscribe at www.documentmedia.com/subscribe.

REPRINTS: For high-quality reprints, please contact our exclusive reprint provider, ReprintPros, 949-702-5390, www.ReprintPros.com.

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marketing creative director

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2901 International Drive Madison WI 53704-3128 p: 608-241-8777 f: 608-241-8666 email: rbpub@rbpub.com

MOST SOCIAL ARTICLES

MOST TWEETED Design Thinking Puts the Customer Back in the Driver’s Seat: Hold On to Your BPM http://documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Design-Thinking-Putsthe-Customer-Back-in-the-Driv-1356.aspx

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MOST READ ON FACEBOOK Compliance and Mobility: What You Should Ask in Your Mobile ECM Evaluation Phase http://www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/ Compliance-and-Mobility-What-You-Should-Ask-inYou-1396.aspx

MOST READ ON LINKEDIN Customer Experience Is Top Business Benefit Sought by Executives

MOST READ ON DOCUMENTMEDIA.COM Women of Distinction Pinpoint Document, Printing Trends for 2014

http://www.documentmedia.com/Main/ articles/Customer-Experience-Is-TopBusiness-Benefit-Sought-1377.aspx

http://www.documentmedia.com/main/articles/ Women-of-Distinction-Pinpoint-DocumentPrinting-Tr-1372.aspx

spring.2014 DOCUMENTmedia.com

APPLICATION ARTICLE

Policy Servicing and Claims Documents — Weakest Link in Your Chain?

The past two decades have seen a flurry of technological development in the policy production and document composition industry. The problem is, very few carriers have extended this technology to the ‘front office’: customer servicing.

These communications have a larger impact on call center volumes, perception of your brand and propensity to buy additional products — and have been left to fend for themselves.

The result is often a hodgepodge of ‘reusable’ Microsoft Word documents that fall victim to obsolescence, mismanagement and, on the rare occasion, malicious misconduct.

Every organization has a story of a customer communication gone bad. The worst ones earn a mention in the press or generate thousands of comments when shared by the affected via social media channels. Errors run from the mundane — incorrect call center #’s, outdated web addresses or broken links — to serious resulting in increased inbound calls or increased risk and liability.

Today, carriers can implement enterprise customer communication management (CCM) with support for all customer documents and both business and technical users. If you find yourself trying to reign in these documents, here are a few tips to consider when starting down the path.

It is important to meet with the various departments sending out correspondence today. Each area will tell a story of their unique needs that make conversion to acentralized document management untenable. The right solution will address all of those needs, but the successful project will document them to develop a consensus around the upcoming business case.

It is also important to consider the user ‘s process to ensure adoption of the selected technology. If you’re dealing with a dispersed user base, you’ll want to focus on web content management. Most organizations will have technical oriented resources creating and maintaining the document templates. These users require a bit more power. Pure business users need to access the templates through a secure web portal and provide the information required to publish them for delivery.

Aside from the obvious security and quality improvements, serious cost reduction is also possible through elimination of desktop printing/mailing. This is accomplished by integrating to corporate workflow, conforming to Automated Document Factory (ADF) requirements and using your mainline print and eDelivery for document fulfillment.

Your CCM solution should also integrate to your archive and forms warehouse, where PDF forms and inbound document images are appended to this litany of correspondence. Enabling the author to insert directly into the document stream will pass on huge ROI savings by eliminating manual and post-print insertions in your operations.

The biggest hurdle to a project green light is often the cost and perceived risk of a migration. The ‘devil you know’ will often win out over the ‘fear of the unknown’. Combat this by selecting a solution with a proven track record, support for import of existing correspondence templates and associated forms, legacy text, data and business conditions and a testing suite capable of generating an audit file of a successful conversion.

The drive to corral these communications into a centralized process is coming. The only question is; do you start now or wait for an issue so visible that the C-suite demands it?

For more information, please contact Brian Paulson, FIS Vice President of Output Solutions, directly at 414.815.4507 or at brian.paulson@fisglobal.com.

414.815.4507 brian.paulson@fisglobal.com www.fisglobal.com/productsdocumentoutput

EDITOR’S VIEW

MORE THAN A BUZZWORD: WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT DOCUMENT STRATEGY @DOCUMENTmedia

by Allison Lloyd

ast year, we started to see the term omni-channel bandied around quite a bit, and the increasing “buzziness” of this word is only gaining steam. I’ll admit this catchy moniker made me roll my eyes at first, as so many only pick up these buzzwords or catch phrases but rarely the definition or true meaning behind such marketing-friendly phrases. Whether you throw out other words, like e-commerce, customer experience management, multi-channel or the 360 degree view of the customer, all of the above, including the aforementioned buzzword of 2014, tries to address a common problem for many consumer companies out there: how they engage and serve their customers’ experiences with the company brand as a whole.

Recently, I purchased a new GM vehicle that came with a free trial of OnStar. Honestly, I never used their turn-by-turn navigation or used any minutes for their hands-free calling. Isn’t that what my smartphone is for? But I did get hooked on their vehicle diagnostics emailed to me every month, their weather alerts and the subsequent drop in my insurance rate due to the service. So, their free trial worked. I renewed. Unfortunately, I was soon hounded by phone calls, emails and random announcements in my vehicle (which was kind of creepy). Finally, I called into their number provided by the million of customer loyalty campaigns in my in box. I felt aggravated that I had to call in the first place, but I would do anything to make their renewal notices stop. The result: I was told since I renewed via their online channel, their customer loyalty program (a separate service) did not get the notice of my renewed subscription from the online division. They quickly hung up to move onto the next inquiry, and I was left dumbfounded. I was so aggravated that I was left feeling doubtful that a company that doesn’t even know when someone even renews could really, in fact, come save my life.

The fact is that OnStar is OnStar to me, no matter what division I engaged with at any point in my relationship with the company. This is a feeling shared by so many consumers. They only see you as a company,

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not your siloed processes or data. The recent First Data Global Universal Commerce Consumer Tracker study points out that “evolving consumer expectations are essentially a demand for higher levels of service combined with an increased desire for simplicity.” We know this, but why is it so hard to meet this demand from our customers? In a recent article in DOCUMENT, Tom Roberts addresses the elephant in the room, saying, “Often, firms jump into their multi-channel communications efforts or programs without fully understanding what it is they are trying to achieve. In other words, they haven’t got a strategy.”

The idea of a document strategy—or whatever you choose to call it—is a complex initiative that many abandon. In the face of severe inhibitors, such as process inefficiencies, technology disruptors, disparate teams and lack of leadership buy-in, many projects fail. We built our event, the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum and the Connect-IT Conference, to uniquely address this critical failing in the enterprise. Yes, there’s a glutton of events in our industry, but we focus on the strategy because we believe and know it’s the backbone of any initiative. How can you put the customer first if you don’t know how to get there or why you are trying in the first place? I urge you to not only invest in yourself, your team and company but your strategy as well. Join me in Greenwich, CT on May 13-15 to see how customer strategies can change how people view you and your company.

Until next time,

APPLICATION ARTICLE

Getting your story straight: Creating a Communication Portfolio to Deliver a Better Customer Experience Once searched, selected, and assembled, document collections need to get to the next workflow step as collated, uniform and annotated assemblies. However, ECM systems generally do not provide tools to automate this part of the case management task. CrawfordTech’s Riptide extends IBM ECM solutions to automate the ECM output management function. In that light, sometimes an example is the best way to illustrate the benefits.

Consider this application example below: The Scenario What you say to your customers, when you say it, why you say it—and most recently where you say it—creates communications that represent some of the most valuable intellectual property within your business. Your company’s communications establish your image in the marketplace, set the tone for important business transactions, influence renewal and referral decisions and differentiate a business in a competitive market.

With the increase in customer expectations, why are so many companies still managing communications as isolated projects?

This typically happens because new projects are added one at a time, approved and implemented as special projects. As time goes by, the enterprise is crushed under the weight of expensive application maintenance while the customers are exposed to an increasingly confusing mix of communications.

With mobile Internet access eclipsing desktop access in 2013, it’s time to re-evaluate how you are communicating in 2014 and beyond. However, to communicate more effectively, it is important to take on the customer’s perspective.

Start by mapping the customer experience The first step toward effective communication is to create a cross-functional team that takes inventory of all communications and look at how each communication project pre-empts, interacts with or follows-on to other communications in the enterprise. This includes any stage in the customer lifecycle, such as marketing, sales, contracts, servicing, correspondence, billing, policies, card fulfillment, upselling, compliance communications, social media posts and account renewals. Often helpful in evaluating your current customer communication situation is “customer journey mapping,” which documents the customer experience from your customer’s eyes, helping you understand not only how customers interact with you today, but also identifies improvement opportunities.

Once you understand the complexity of your communications, it is important to get a sense of how they are being budgeted and expensed. Communications from different departments are

often treated differently because they are designed to meet departmental goals, not customer-facing goals.

For example, communications that are housed in operations will have a goal of being inexpensive yet efficient. This will impact the design and the time between updates. Communications in sales and marketing are frequently updated as the departments often have more to invest in external design resources. Understanding the budget attributed to each communication gives a more balanced picture of needs and budget requirements.

Identify ownership and areas to improve efficiency The next step is to look at who owns the data, content, approval processes and schedules that drive each communication. Redundant work happens in this stage as data is manipulated many times to fit into the narrow requirements of legacy systems. Often line of business experts have to submit content changes to several departments in order to make simple changes that need to be implemented across all of the channels—an avoidable step if the right customer communications management software is in place.

Once you realize the management requirements, the team should seek to eliminate redundant work. This includes evaluating ways to have business users directly control their content, applying their expertise to all of the communication channels supported. The goal is to be able to create, edit and deploy content without wasting time and resources in long approval steps.

Embracing multichannel capabilities As you move to the delivery platform, many companies discover that they are investing more than they expect in separate delivery systems, maintaining systems for print, email, web and mobile communications. Consolidating to a smaller number of support systems can deliver a wide variety of communications from current data and content and can bring ideas to the marketplace faster.

Creating a communications portfolio by using customer journey mapping helps coordinate today’s chaotic mix of uncoordinated efforts and delivers a unified customer experience that spans the customer lifecycle, as well as delivery channels. In 2014, current customers are demanding it—and future customers will require it.

By Scott Draeger, Customer Communication Strategist for GMC Software Technology, a provider of multichannel and highly personalized document outputs for customer communication management.

www.gmc.net

CONTRIBUTORS

George Dunn Mr. Dunn is the founder and president of CRE8 Independent Consultants and has over 25 years of experience in the advanced technology and process improvement industry. He will be speaking at the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum in Greenwich, CT on May 13 at 2:00 p.m. His special Power Session will focus on how to harness the best process improvement tools for successful implementation.

Ron Glaz Mr. Glaz is a research director for IDC’s Hardcopy Peripherals: Software and Services research. He will be speaking at Analyst Day, hosted at the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum, in Greenwich, CT on May 15 at 9:00 a.m. His exclusive address will present the recent results from IDC’s business document workflow automation and optimization study.

Tom Roberts Mr. Roberts has more than 20 years of experience in business technology and serves as a principal consultant at Doculabs. He will be speaking at the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum in Greenwich, CT on May 13 at 2:00 p.m.

His special Power Session will focus on how to finally implement a 360 profile of your customer, break down your information silos and build a seamless communications approach.

Steven Schnoll Mr. Schnoll is the managing director in the consulting firm of SCHNOLL MEDIA CONSULTING. He will be speaking at the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum in Greenwich, CT on May 13 at 11:00 a.m. His special Power Session will introduce a roundtable discussion on smart cross-channel technology vehicles, how you can leverage traditional forms of print with some new twists and how to demystify the “The Four Rights” of content delivery.

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APPLICATION ARTICLE

One Company ~ One Voice As companies strive to keep pace with customer demands, they demand more from DOM/CCM solutions and technologies that can grow and expand with their unique needs.

Harness the benefits of a single CCM platform Since most enterprise organizations have some kind of DOM and/or CCM solution already in place, the most important question is how well the business (user) can get the right communication (document, data and message) to the right customer at the right time via the right channel with the right quality — without overreliance on IT to deliver on this promise.

Depending on the level of DOM/CCM in place, the main issues encountered with these solutions stem from the existing organization and systems, including: • Consolidation/sharing across departments/functional areas • Enabling multichannel delivery and new channels (social/mobile) • Regulatory compliance / corporate consistency • Reducing dependence on IT • Legacy modernization • Maximizing resources (doing more with less) • Improving results and controlling costs With a common platform that seamlessly supports high-volume batch, on-demand and interactive document applications, enterprise business teams can centrally design and manage, administer and deploy document resources, data and definitions for all types of business documents and users ~ ensuring that all outgoing communications achieve consistent results and corporate identity.

By unifying inbound and outbound communications and processes linked to enterprise systems, your organization interacts with customers as one company with one voice.

Securing these key capabilities ensures you can flexibly meet current needs and address future requirements: Consolidation of ECM, BPM, CRM: Closing the loop between inbound and outbound communications is mission-critical for customer-focused operations, including the document-centric business applications required to maintain two-way communications that are consistent, relevant and effective. Create and manage content, templates and documents for batch and online document production for interactive in-document editing and ad-hoc reporting. Any type of message can be delivered anywhere in any format and stored, regenerated or reformatted as needed.

Cross-channel eDelivery with Print: Secure, fast, confidential, traceable and legally binding eDelivery with PDF and dynamic

HTML business documents must be available to customers via e-mail, browser and mobile — with printing always an option.

Targeted Messaging: Selecting content in e-documents enables focused delivery, relevancy and integrated feedback loop, including Intelligent Document Capture with integrated human workflow to link incoming events, documents or messages to a customer and trigger a response.

Mobile, Handheld & Social Support: Cross-platform support defines business applications once and deploys to many via fully integrated social channels.

Simplified Integration: Because most DOM/CCM solutions require integration with data systems and business applications, updates and integration must occur without “breaking” the solution — after all, facilitating change is essential in a customer environment. Loose coupling via SOA-based compiler and platform-independent Adapters drastically reduces the time and effort to integrate with applications and back-end systems.

When a DOM/CCM system is implemented or changed, the right system that enables business users to efficiently respond to customer needs with relevant, accurate communications will almost immediately deliver benefits in productivity, effectiveness, quality, speed and customer satisfaction, with emphasis wherever the company desires it most.

817.416.2345 info@isis-papyrus.com www.isis-papyrus.com

By Seth Earley

THE SECRET TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMS: Change, Even if It’s Not That Exciting

O

rganizations have been dealing with digital technologies for decades, but the last five years have seen some remarkable leaps in capabilities that led directly to cost reductions and vast increases in processing power, speed and storage. With constantly connected mobile devices that place the power of prior era supercomputers into our hands, our lives have been transformed by digital technology.

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As great as the transformation has been in the enterprise technology landscape, many large organizations are still burdened by siloed departments, functions and applications.

These limitations hamper effective customer engagement to a striking degree.

Customers no longer accept being transferred from department to department. They demand instantaneous access to their information—account and order histories, profiles and preferences, networks, etc.

Siloed structures are a result of business evolution. Specialization and differentiation allow people and departments to do things really well and gain efficiencies over time.

Developing efficiencies and getting really good at doing things comes from repetition, ingrained habit and consistent processes. But then, processes change due to fluctuations in the marketplace. Business conditions continually change—typically much faster than either people or technical

infrastructures are able to keep up.

There lies the rub.

I recently spent some time speaking with the CIO of a large manufacturer about transformation of processes and supporting technology and asked how his organization dealt with this. He responded by saying that organizations need to manage change proactively and on a continuous basis. The problem is that’s not the interesting part of the job.

It’s more interesting to buy and deploy new technology. The longer, more difficult part of the change process is getting people to do things differently and to help people recognize progress even if it is slow and difficult.

“Change management is not the sexy part of the job,” he said, “but you still need to do it. You need to show people that you are progressing and succeeding. When people feel that they are making progress and their efforts are turning into something, the momentum keeps them focused. Show how the pieces are working together, and communicate like crazy. As a leader, you have to be an evangelist. Make sure the senior team and stakeholders communicate so that people feel your passion

and drive and they feed off of it. In two or three years, they will understand how important this change really is.”

I had another conversation with a CIO of an insurance company who said, “Most organizations don’t have the patience to do things correctly from the perspective of foundational capabilities—like enterprise architectures that save time and money down the road.

They do things to satisfy the immediate needs of their projects and budget without considering the larger picture across multiple business units and processes.”

Or as a colleague says, “There’s no budget for the common good.”

This excuse begs the question of how to focus organizational time, attention and resources at the correct level. At this level, meaningful progress is made so that people don’t lose interest, but it is not focused on the short-term objectives to such a degree that the longer-term vision for the enterprise is lost.

This balance is not easy to achieve.

However, some organizations are succeeding, and they are creating significant competitive advantage. There are approaches that allow for long-term roadmaps that align with future capabilities

while achieving short-term wins along the way. Better yet, there are places where these practices can be learned.

The upcoming Connect-IT Conference is one venue in which a number of successful organizations will be sharing their approaches for developing world-class digital experiences. They will explain how they are developing sustainable, cost-effective processes for ensuring long-term evolution of digital capabilities.

If you can attend only one event this year, make time for Connect-IT. It will be the most practical and valuable event around for senior leaders on both the IT and business sides of the organization. O

SETH EARLEY has been in the technology field for 25-plus years. He has developed search, content and knowledge strategies for global organizations and has developed underlying taxonomies for a diverse roster of Fortune 1000 companies. He also serves as a co-conference chair for the Connect-IT Conference, an event for business and IT leaders focused on content and document management systems and strategy.

The upcoming Connect-IT Conference is one venue in which a number of successful organizations will be sharing their approaches for developing world-class digital experiences.

They will explain how they are developing sustainable, cost-effective processes for ensuring long-term evolution of digital capabilities.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/The-Secret-to-Digital-Transformation-Programs-Chan-1399.aspx

DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2014

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By Joe Shepley

SHOW CXO s THE MONEY: The Business Case for Information Management ther than not really understanding what information management is, the single biggest obstacle to information management at most organizations is the lack of a viable business case: If you can’t show your CXOs the money, they’re not going to support your efforts. They have a whole portfolio of projects to choose from that generate revenue, reduce costs or increase margins. If you can’t articulate how information management does one or more of these, you stand little chance of success.

Unlike a product that’s never been seen before or a cutting-edge marketing strategy, managing information more

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effectively is guaranteed to improve how a business operates. After all, organizations only do four things: manage financial assets, manage physical assets, manage human assets and manage information assets. Generating improvements to any of these things will have a significant, tangible impact on an organization.

The challenge, then, is in determining the exact nature of the impact information management will have and articulating its benefits in terms that make sense to executive leadership and will compel them to act, i.e., provide funding and support.

The best way to articulate the value of information management in terms a business leader would respond to is to adopt

THE CONNECT-IT CONFERENCE

WILL SHOWCASE HOW ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

IS POSSIBLE BY SOME OF THE LEADING BUSINESS USERS AND COMPANIES, ALIKE. THEY WILL EXPLAIN HOW PUTTING AN EFFECTIVE

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN PLACE IS CRITICAL TO NOT ONLY GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR

TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS BUT TO ACHIEVING TANGIBLE,

MEANINGFUL BUSINESS BENEFITS. a relentless skepticism, to keep asking, “So what?”, until you reach a compelling answer.

The first so what question any executive with a checkbook will ask is, “How certain am I of getting a check in return for the money I’m going to spend?” In fact, the way these efficiency gains are articulated, there is no check coming, no matter how much you spend on information management. All the executive gets in return for funding information management is a workforce that spends less time searching for documents, but what they do with that 12.5% of time we’ve given back to them is unclear. They may spend it taking lunch away from their desks, looking at Facebook or leaving earlier to be with their family—none of which gives that executive any hard dollar returns.

Step one in improving this business case is to spend time thinking about how to quantify what happens when we give workers 12.5% of their time back. One of the best things that can happen (from the executive’s perspective, of course) is to reduce head count because this is a direct and tangible impact to operating expenses. A close second is reallocation, i.e., moving resources from one area to another, which either saves the organization from having to spend money on new hires or shifts resources to higher value work (or both).

Unfortunately, in the case of our efficiency example, neither one of these is going to be a likely outcome of giving folks 12.5% of their time back, so we need to look further.

After reducing/reallocating head count, your next best option is to find examples of specific business processes that are being negatively impacted by the time employees spend looking for the information they need, such as accounts receivable, sales and customer service. For these kinds of business case justifications, you need to also calculate the amount of the improvement achieved. For example, determine what the rate of receivables aged over 45 days was and then gain agreement from your accounts receivable team as to the reduction they felt comfortable with based on better information management—the same would go for the sales and customer service examples.

Although we’ve only scratched the surface of making your information management business case more effective, hopefully you can see already how much improved it is over that initial save of everyone’s 12.5% of their time justification. If you’re looking for real-life examples for such business cases, join me at Connect-IT in Greenwich, CT, where we will dig deeper into finding real business value that your leaders care about. O

JOE SHEPLEY brings more than 11 years of operational and technology experience to his consulting engagements at Doculabs, where he helps organizations get strategic around how they manage their information assets. He also serves as the co-chair of Connect-IT Conference, an event for business and IT leaders focused on content and document management systems and strategy.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Show-CXOs-the-Money-The-Business-Case-for-Informat-1398.aspx

By Ray Killam

WHY YOU SHOULD ASK IF YOU REALLY NEED THAT SIGNATURE:

Avoid the Printing and Manual Processing of Your E-Signatures

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any forms require signatures. At the same time, many forms are signed when they don’t really need to be. Signatures are a workflow conundrum, slowing down business processes and preventing many forms from being converted to enterprise-enabled forms.

In many ways, signature requirements are vestiges of old, out-of-date workflows. Managers require signatures on forms when it really doesn’t add anything

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significant to the result. I think, sometimes, signature requirements merely feed the egos of the managers involved.

Now, this is not to suggest that all signatures are not important or not needed. In many cases, they add an important element to the transaction and are legally required. There is a large body of knowledge surrounding signatures. However, I am suggesting that many signature requirements should be reviewed and revised because they do not substantially contribute to the

transaction. We see ample evidence in many credit card transactions today, where signatures have been eliminated.

Paper forms have supported signatures for centuries. It is easy to design a form for a wet signature and for the subsequent form to be signed without delay. Use of proper zoning techniques provides an area for affixing signatures such that it is known what the signer is attesting to; enough space is provided for a signature; and a proper printed name, date signed and affirmation

statement can be provided, if necessary. Validation of the signer is assumed and confirmed via handwriting analysis or notarization.

Electronic signatures present a different problem. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-Sign) Act, enacted June 30, 2000, made electronic signatures legal, but there is an obvious difference between being “legal” and being accepted as evidence in court.

Because the argument for conversion of paper forms to truly electronic transactions is compelling, the requirement to print and sign just isn’t acceptable anymore. Many solutions have been developed to solve the signature problem. Yet, 30 years into electronic forms, many, if not most, forms are printed if they must be signed, and, therefore, the form enters a manual workflow. Avoiding this requirement to print and sign has become the focus for many organizations.

As a standard part of the forms development workflow, we always challenge the need for a signature first. The question is, “What does the signature add to the solution, and what happens if it is excluded?” Generally, the answer to this question is a matter of risk—risk

that someone would actually want to counterfeit this transaction and the amount of loss if they actually did. For many internal transactions, we find this risk is minimal and standard technology, such as password signing (a standard signature field) or system login to the device used to complete the form, should be sufficient to authenticate the signer and establish intent to sign. Generally, for these low-risk transactions, there is no need for further signature requirements. However, old policies and procedures die slowly, and even these low-risk transactions frequently must be signed, therefore, minimizing the opportunity to automate the transaction. This leads to electronic signature opportunity one: change the policies and procedures and eliminate the signature altogether, or at least, use a simple signing process. Both avoid unnecessary printing and manual processing.

Many transactions represent higher risk. User authentication is critical, as is validation of intent to agree to the conditions attested to in the form. In these instances, level one signatures (login and password systems) simply won’t suffice.

This is generally true of transactions of a high dollar value or that have a higher risk of ending up in court at some point

in the future. It is also generally true for anonymous transactions on the web.

There are many technologies available to sign a form. Virtually all of them are proprietary. This fact makes them hard to implement because focusing on only one solution excludes many users from participating. For internal solutions, this is solvable because the organization controls the technologies used internally and one selected solution can be implemented.

However, “outside the firewall,” such control over user technology does not exist and a single solution doesn’t work.

In these instances, the specific transaction workflow can drive the solution. The forms analysts and forms designers need to be familiar with the signing options and advantages and disadvantages of each. O

RAY KILLAM is the president of Essociates Group, a firm that provides forms training and consulting services and is responsible for all aspects of this unique business venture. He also currently serves on the Business Forms Management Association’s Board of Directors. He will be speaking at the BFMA Annual Conference in Greenwich, CT on May 15. Mr. Killam has more than 30 years experience in the forms industry, including forms management, workflow analysis and electronic forms development and has dual industry certifications.

Mr. Killam will speak on e-signatures for forms in Greenwich, CT on May 15 at the BFMA Annual Conference, co-located with the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Why-You-Should-Ask-if-You-Really-Need-that-Signatu-1400.aspx

3 PREDICTIONS FOR 2014 A look at what’s in store for business document automation, document solutions and managed print services

By Ron Glaz

SPEAKING AT

nnually, IDC publishes a study that provides top 10 predictions for the imaging, printing and document solutions (IPDS) market. We’ve included here the three predictions that focus on business document automation, document solutions and managed print services.

Business document automation and optimization will reach a new level in 2014. We expect to see a shift toward electronically based data as the foundation for optimizing a business process. While there will still be opportunities to provide tools to optimize printing and scanning, such approaches do not aid in identifying bottlenecks in the process. True workflow optimization addresses all components of the workflow—paper and digital— but much of the work has focused on eliminating paper and not truly optimizing the work.

In IDC’s recent business document automation and optimization survey, 66% of

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all companies surveyed have some initiative in place to reduce paper usage.

In fact, the targeted annual paper volume reduction is 24% to 31%, depending on mean/median metric used. Current document usage reveals 55% are in paper form and 45% are in electronic form. In two years, the desired ratio is 39% in paper form and 61% in electronic form.

The top document pain points identified in the survey are document life cycle and storage management (paper and electronic); finding relevant documents, including structured and unstructured content; and the use of forms processed partly or wholly in paper. Accounting and HR are the most often mentioned processes that companies have made an effort to automate and optimize in the past 12 months. Online forms, scanning and the use of the cloud were the most often mentioned methods of

optimizing the accounting process. The use of online forms was an overwhelming choice to optimize the HR process.

It also appears that work on the HR and accounting processes is not done yet.

Over the next year, accounting and HR are the most often mentioned processes that companies will make an effort to optimize and automate.

We also expect to witness more business document automation and optimization tools that are oriented toward specific vertical and horizontal opportunities.

Recently, a number of managed print and document services (MPDS) providers have been developing and/or acquiring vertical and/or horizontal expertise and solutions to further differentiate offerings and provide added value. This expertise, combined with existing document technologies, processes and knowledge, is empowering a new level of services and solutions that can drive business transformation and better business outcomes in buyer organizations.

IDC is calling this new category managed workflow services (MWS).

MWS refers to the evolution of MPDS to a set of professional and managed services that automate and optimize vertical and horizontal document-intensive workflows and/or business processes, with service-level agreements (SLAs) that are aligned with specific business outcomes. Examples of business outcomes include shortened time to market, shortened time to revenue, reduced transaction cost, increased customer satisfaction, increased customer retention and decreased cost of customer acquisition.

In 2014, these next-generation MPDS solutions will gain greater visibility and increased buyer adoption. While the requirements for cost control, productivity improvements, increased security, better compliance and improved environmental results that are intrinsic to “traditional” MPDS will remain, we will also see SLAs that are aligned with specific business goals.

In the recent past, IPDS vendors felt it was adequate to highlight a collection

of software solutions in certain categories. The mere presence of a solution in emerging opportunities offered in mobility, cloud, security and others was considered to be “good enough” to demonstrate a level of capability in the market. There were the “haves” (vendors with at least one solution in every document solution category) and the “have-nots” (vendors still working on filling holes in their solutions portfolio).

focal point for integration of additional document solution applications, such as capture, mobile print and device management in 2014. Device and print management software was created to manage cost associated with prints and printers. Key functions of device and print management focus on installation, management and diagnostic of prints and print technologies. Print management on its own focuses on

DON’T MISS IDC’S DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATION ADDRESS DURING ANALYST DAY AT THE DOCUMENT STRATEGY FORUM ON MAY 15 IN GREENWICH, CT. In 2014, we anticipate that it will no longer be enough for vendors to just “have” document solutions in their product portfolio. Instead, the market will have evolved enough to the point where these solutions categories will be represented in each and every IPDS vendor offering. True distinction and differentiation will need to come from specific capabilities in the solution.

While we expect that vendors will continue to offer leading third-party solutions for certain opportunities, it is not a means to differentiate from other competitors. We may see more activity for internally developed or customized third-party solutions as a strategy to distinguish the overall hardware/software/services offerings from what competitors could provide.

Specific to mobility, we believe that the Mopria Alliance needs non-print vendors to see value in getting more involved in the print market. Print needs to be viewed as relevant and necessary in order to gain the attention of those IT vendors outside of this industry.

On a positive note, we expect that print management will evolve as the

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/3-Predictions-for-2014-A-look-at-what’s-in-store-f-1401.aspx

tracking and managing prints, assuring that prints are utilized and passing on cost associated with prints.

IDC’s recently published document solution study shows that worldwide device and print management 2012 revenue generated 11% growth from 2011. IDC forecasts that the worldwide device management and control software market will grow to $908 million by 2017, representing a five-year CAGR of 12.6%.

The benefits obtained from the integration of the additional tools are complete management of the devices from the output and input; simplifying deployment and user interface (UI) remains consistent for users, reducing new product hesitation. O

RON GLAZ is a research director for IDC’s Hardcopy Peripherals: Software and Services research. In this role, he is responsible for writing research in the software and services arena, including document solutions, business document automation and document capture solutions. Prior to his current role, Mr. Glaz managed IDC’s Digital Capture research group.

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OVERCOMING MULTI-CHANNEL INHIBITORS

By Tom Roberts

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t’s undeniable: The market trend toward multi-channel communications and integrated customer experience is accelerating at an increasing pace. The digital world is expanding faster than most of us can keep up with. The trends all show an accelerating growth in the connected world. Gartner estimates that worldwide device shipments (PCs, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) will reach nearly 2.5 billion in 2014. With the combination of these extraordinary growth rates and ever-increasing print and postage costs, it’s no wonder that firms are looking to multi-channel communications to help advance customer engagement and reduce operating expenses. Organizations are rushing to keep up with the demand for change—and to the need to be faster, nimbler and more responsive in a communications environment that’s grown far more complex.

Yet, as these organizations strive to keep up with these demands, they face a number of inhibitors, in the form of

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technology barriers, process inefficiencies and organizational dysfunction.

One of the primary steps a firm can take to help address both the organizational and process dimensions is to centralize the oversight and control over message creation and communications standards.

Many of Doculabs’ clients struggle with the topic of centralization versus federation of key customer communication functions. Business segments have different priorities and timeframes in which they need to transact business, which drives a need for autonomy in responding to market forces and business conditions. Yet, the enterprise as a whole is trying to create a consistent experience across all business segments, an experience which includes multiple channels, devices and media. Resolving this dichotomy requires some level of centralized control over customer experience and communications standards. Most large organizations can’t or won’t centralize all aspects of the

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JOIN TOM ROBERTS IN A CONTINUED DIALOGUE ON MULTI-CHANNEL STRATEGIES AT HIS POWER SESSION AT THE DOCUMENT STRATEGY FORUM ON MAY 13 IN GREENWICH, CT.

communications development life cycle. But in order to drive consistent experience across businesses, channels and devices, there must be a level of control and oversight that can be leveraged across the spectrum. Consider centralizing the following functions and activities: customer experience standards and guidelines, writing standards and brand voice, document layout and design and enterprise control and oversight (governance).

Note that this centralization doesn’t mean one and only one team; in fact, the depth and breadth of skills will likely require more than one team. However, the teams need to be closely connected and potentially report up through the same management structure.

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Development and delivery then is left to possibly be federated across the enterprise. This model enables a strong combination of central control to develop the consistent experience, while providing the flexibility of multiple development and delivery teams that can focus on the specific needs of their respective business counterparts.

Another common issue for enterprise multi-channel communications is trying to hit a moving target. Often, firms jump into their multi-channel communications efforts or programs without fully understanding what it is they are trying to achieve. In other words, they haven’t got a strategy.

Before getting too far into your project, consider whether your strategy addresses the below key topics and questions.

What is the primary motivation? When challenged to define a primary driver for the project, many firms are unable to differentiate their priority for enhanced customer experience vs. cost savings vs. speed-to-market improvement. Yes, they are all important and achievable, but a clear prioritization will help you make the right decisions along the way.

Are your desired types and levels of customer experience defined? A customer journey map is frequently used to define expectations. Knowing your key touch points and expected outcomes for each will help define the processes and services you need to support.

Is your brand voice clearly articulated? A consistent approach to how you present yourself to both prospects and customers is essential to building lasting relationships and loyalty. You’ll struggle to meet content delivery timelines if you’re haggling internally over voice, tone and terminology while trying to develop or re-develop customer communications.

How will platform, device or channel impact your communications and service offerings? Not only does each device or medium have a different optimum experience that can be achieved, you must also align with limitations regarding data protection and privacy.

How will you measure results? Every good strategy has a clear definition of success. If you’re not sure what success looks like, keep pushing or asking till you do. Some level of quantifiable result is important, whether in terms of increased sales, customer retention or customer satisfaction rating, cost reduction, ROI, etc.

The more well-defined your strategy is, the more chance you have in succeeding with your multi-channel communications program. You don’t have to wait for the strategy to be fully baked or you may never get started, but having some key questions answered will keep you from wasting precious time and effort on the wrong priorities.

Lastly, a common inhibitor for many firms is the manual process for their publishing review and approvals. A pragmatic approach to process automation can really kick up the speed of delivery while ensuring proper oversight and compliance. There are six steps that can help to set you up for a successful implementation.

First, try to consolidate processes to a manageable few.

Don’t try to force everyone into a single rigid process, as depending on the number of unique business areas you’ve got, there are likely needs for variant processes. A select few processes will help to address enterprise consistency while enabling business area specific needs. Second, it’s important to solidify the process before automating. After you’ve consolidated disparate processes, there will likely be adjustments made to optimize the newly aligned process(es). Consider a three- to six-month break-in period before applying automation. Significant changes to the process may be more expensive to change once the automation has been built.

Third, make sure to create a single entry point.

Regardless of number of workflow applications that feed business requests into the publishing process, leverage the workflows to create a common entry point to the publishing process that is designed to capture the key information and data for each request. Fourth, remember to engage all the right departments. Normally, this will include business areas and document owners, legal/compliance and IT, in addition to the publishing team. While you may not need to automate every step executed within a specific area, avoid the black box approach where all you get is an entry and exit point. For shorter durations, this

may suffice, but if you’d be uncomfortable not knowing if progress is being made over an expected period of time, break it down to lower levels so that your needed level of transparency is achieved.

Fifth, it’s important to address the full life cycle. Visibility throughout the life cycle is critical when managing many projects and changes all flowing through the pipeline simultaneously. Ensure that you include all steps in a process from the creation of the request through to production deployment. Finally, make sure to define the metrics you want to collect. Consider how you intend to measure your ongoing process and what metrics help tell your story of improvement. Define the metrics up front so the appropriate data capture and reporting can be planned into the workflow system. Maintaining momentum within your publishing program depends on selling your story with documented benefits. O

TOM ROBERTS has more than 20 years of experience in business technology. He serves as a principal consultant at Doculabs where he develops strategic plans to help organizations use ECM technologies to achieve their business goals. He consults for organizations in a wide range of industries, with a focus on the insurance and financial services industries and customer communications, particularly for multi-channel delivery.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Overcoming-MultiChannel-Inhibitors-Centralize-Cont-1378.aspx

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IS THIS THE

BEST WAY to Deliver Content in a Cross-Media World?

BY STEVEN SCHNOLL

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As I travel around the globe consulting and talking to business leaders from all different vertical markets, I am drawing one interesting conclusion about content delivery that is a bit disconcerting. It seems too many people are way too opinionated on what is the best way to deliver their marketing message. Many traditionalists feel print is still the way to go; the frugal folks seem to focus on email blasts; some feel that just having a website is enough; and more progressive younger people believe the answer lies in mobile apps. I think they are all wrong and all right. Now how can that be? My response is that all must be used. To be successful today, an organization must look to the cross-media world. To me, one starts with thinking of the Four Rights: The Right Message to the Right Person at the Right Time with the Right Medium.

Before we get deep into the four rights, we must have a very crucial discussion on DATA. Ever hear of the term “patternicity,” the human tendency to find meaning in random

events. Gathering data whether in the Big range or Little range is the cornerstone of the Four Rights and patternicity. This sounds logical, but everything I am about to say hinges on knowing the vital information you have on your marketing targets and then leveraging it successfully.

Good marketers look for buying patterns, event patterns and things that can be a predictive model for future actions. Naturally, the poster child for this type of marketing is Amazon, with their very astute predictive modeling software. That is where Big Data or Little Data comes into play. If you don’t know anything about your customer base, you are wasting any marketing dollars. So, if we know the name of our target, let’s use it, but more importantly, let’s tailor the message to what we know about the person. This information, if used wisely, can trigger very desirable results.

Once we have some data patterns on our intended targets and have done the proper analysis of our audience, an organization can create compelling,

personalized and relevant messages— to trigger a desired result. I recently received a catalog from a travel company my wife and I have used in the past called Off the Beaten Path. The problem is this catalog came a few weeks ago and my wife was getting ready to throw it out, since it didn’t intrigue her.

It caught my eye because it was lying on the top of the recycling pile, and I read how they addressed it: Steven Schnoll or Current Resident.

As a content marketer, that offended me. I think if we hadn’t used them in the past, the catalog would have wound up in the recycling bin even faster. This travel company planned a unique trip in Colorado visiting famous and not so famous places, all with fantastic accommodations that suited our requirements. Now, through weak relevant messaging, they have lost my attention. I think if they tailored the catalog to what our past experiences were, they would have gotten my attention. If they took the creative writing team and employed their talents more efficiently through a more personalized, oversized postcard that linked me to their website, they would have gotten my attention and maybe another trip.

The next right in my mind is the most important: the Person—ME. Is there anyone more important? With Big and Little Data, organizations are collecting huge amounts of personal data on people but not using it their advantage. I have done quite a bit of consulting in the non-profit space, and it is amazing how much data they have on donors. The problem is they are so stuck in the old ways to solicit donations that they are losing retention due to an aging donor population and not coming up with creative new ideas to reach the next generation of potential givers. They still think sending a nickel to a young professional, who has the ability to make a good donation, is going to work. If you know me, then show me some respect. Show me you care and be relevant with the message.

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There is one note of caution. One must always be aware of pushing the knowledge you have on an individual too far. While we all like to be treated special, sometimes what we know about others may cross the line and be too intrusive. The mantra of using common sense is how any organization, large or small, must use personal information. A smart use of personal data may reap large rewards or a poor overuse could have a very negative impact.

When you think about the third right, I am sure everyone has heard the expression, “Timing is everything.” Yes, timing is everything but very difficult to achieve in many circumstances. However, there is some low-hanging fruit for marketing timing issues. If you are a retailer, we

all know the holidays are a big time to promote your organization. But if you have some specific information about customers, like birthdays, anniversaries or other significant events, you can definitely leverage that to your advantage. This is a perfect example of good business timing if executed properly.

In the B2B side, a company can do even more. I believe all commercial customers companies have special times of the year when certain things are meaningful, like planning for a trade show or some special product release. If a trusted partner supplier asks the right questions, you can be ready with suggestions on how you could effectively partner with the company at these critical times. Many times, based on past buying practices,

a company may already have some information that can be leveraged without even asking any questions. An astute observation of past practices coupled with good creative ideas and solutions to past challenges can be very rewarding, if timed right.

Finally, the last of the four rights is medium. Delivering the relevant message to the correct person in a timely basis with the content medium they prefer is an awesome marketing portfolio. If you are from my generation, the baby boomer, paper and ink is still king. However, as the tablet and smartphone become more ubiquitous in society, I am very open to receiving timely messages on my digital devices, particularly when I am researching a potential new purchase. The new term that we hear bantered around is the “omni channel.” My interpretation of this term is that there is no one dominate channel delivering our message but a cohesive cross-media mix. While I have a great love of printed books, the convenience of traveling with a tablet that

“Timing is everything but very difficult to achieve in many circumstances.”

Join Steven Schnoll in a continued dialogue on “The Four Rights� at his Power Session at the DOCUMENT Strategy Forum on May 13 in Greenwich, CT.

may have multiple books and magazines on it is certainly preferred.

In the business world, we are all seeing companies that produce transactional documents push their consumers to accept digital delivery of statements and then pay online in order to cut expenses. On the consumer side, those that still write a check and then put an ever-increasing stamp on the envelope also see great savings to go paperless.

Almost by default, we are achieving the omni channel. Now, we overlay the TransPromo ability to send colorful, timely and relevant messaging to people via these online statements, and we have now changed the whole communication experience.

If a content provider can stay away from siloed content delivery and provide a comprehensive cross-media Four Rights campaign to their customer base, no matter what the content is, they may have a sustainable business model going forward. O

STEVEN SCHNOLL is a prominent marketing thought leader, lecturer and writer and is the managing director in the consulting firm of SCHNOLL MEDIA CONSULTING. He has had leadership and ownership interests spanning 40 years in five diverse marketing communication organizations and one software company.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Is-this-the-Best-Way-to-Deliver-Content-in-a-Cross-1375.aspx

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PAPERLESS TECHNOLOGY ABILITIES, RISKS AND BENEFITS: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

BY GEORGE DUNN

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aperless technologies can have a powerful impact on an organization. Abilities include functionality to capture, receive, store, index, version, route, approve, manage, retain and dispose of electronic content. Electronic content include that which are created internally, such as text, word processing, spreadsheet, engineering drawing and presentation, received from external sources, i.e., email, PDF, TIFF, voice and video, or scanned from paper.

Paperless technology modules include: capture, recognition, signature, ECM, workflow, and ERM. Risks regarding paperless technologies include the entire system not functioning as expected, issues with specific modules, rejection by staff, failure to meet ROI expectations or the organization becoming less efficient. In CRE8 Independent Consultant discussions with end users, we find that 25% of paperless systems fail upon first implementation, 45% perform in a mediocre fashion and 30% fully meet all expectations (functionality, expandability, acceptance and return on investment).

When properly planned and implemented, dramatic increases in efficiency, decision making, tracking, tracing, measurements and knowledge documentation is possible. Labor cost decrease, quality increase and service improvement can range from five percent to 25%. While this impact can be positive in terms of efficiency, quality and service; negative through increasing labor costs, processing time or errors; or neutral, which has the CFO asking the question: Why did we spend the money in the first place?

So how does an organization determine if paperless technologies will have a positive impact? The specific answer is not in a case study, vendor demonstration or industry white paper.

The search for the exact answer starts by asking: How does the process actually work today, what are the issues in the current process, what are the requirements for change (internal and

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JOIN GEORGE DUNN IN A CONTINUED DIALOGUE ON

PAPERLESS TECHNOLOGIES AND PROCESS AUTOMATION AT HIS POWER SESSION AT THE DOCUMENT STRATEGY FORUM ON MAY 13 IN GREENWICH, CT.

external) and exactly how will the new re-designed process function if paperless technologies are utilized?

So, where do you start? First, begin by researching the risk, benefits and co-dependencies of paperless technology modules and overall solutions. Second, make sure to gain an understanding of process improvement tools, methods and approaches. Third, you should begin process improvement planning, evaluation and redesign well before the vendor is selected and begins installation. Fourth, make sure to use the redesigned process map as a way to assess the ROI, evaluate vendor capabilities,

provide direct instruction to the vendor and hold the vendor accountable. This approach is important whether selecting a new vendor for the first time or working with an existing vendor to expand an existing installation. O

GEORGE DUNN is the founder and president of CRE8 Independent Consultants and is a worldwide recognized consultant, speaker, instructor, contributing editor and author on business process innovation and improvement, paperless technologies and complex computer system replacement planning. He has over 25 years of experience in the industry.

Full article: www.documentmedia.com/Main/articles/Paperless-Technology-Abilities-Risks-and-Benefits-1381.aspx