DOCUMENT STRATEGY Spring 2021 by MadMen3

7 Companies Share Their Emerging CX Solutions PAGE 28

DOCUMENTmedia.com | Spring.21

HITTING THE GAS ON DIGITAL

TRANSFORMATION

FROM STAGNATION TO EXPLOSIVE CHANGE IN DOCUMENT CAPTURE By Alan Pelz-Sharpe

COMMUNCATION FAILURES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED By Scott Draeger

CONDUCTING BUSINESS POST COVID-19 By Bob Larrivee

TABLE OF CONTENTS volume 28 issue 1 | Spring.21 | DOCUMENTmedia.com

FEATURES 10

Conducting Business Post COVID-19 Now is the time to begin developing your strategy By Bob Larrivee

Why Worry? How Hard Can CCPA Be?

Passing privacy legislation is a trend that is going to become a landslide across the U.S. over the next two years

By Linda C. Fried

16 Hitting the Gas on Digital Transformation Transform your organization from the ground up based

on your specific needs

By Nick Inglis

What the Analysts Say

A sample of recent industry reports

From Stagnation to Explosive Change

By Alan Pelz-Sharpe

Recent advances have breathed new life into the document capture market

22 Taking Control of Change

Learn how to effectively manage change, transform communications and deliver an enhanced customer experience

By Ashley McIntosh

When Communications Fail

Many of these situations, like the Texas Energy Crisis, could have been avoided

By Scott Draeger

A Remote Workforce

Moving away from traditional models

By Bob Larrivee

DEPARTMENTS 06

Letter from the Advisory Board

08 27

What’s New Think About It

SPONSORED CONTENT 05

Why CCM Must Now Become CXM

Financial Services Provider Improves Customer Experience with Scanners from Kodak Alaris

28 7 Companies Share Their Developing, Innovative and Emerging CX Solutions 4

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

APPLICATION ARTICLE

Why CCM must now become CXM Customer and business expectations demand better intelligent omnichannel interactions. It’s clear that the pandemic has spurred organizations’ digital transformations. Organizations have juggled significant changes in consumer behavior with the need for staff to work remotely. “When a crisis hits, we are forced to confront the truth about how our systems work (or don’t). The places where things could be done better or more efficiently become glaringly obvious. All of a sudden, opportunities for innovation are staring us in the face.” – Larry Clark, Harvard Business Publishing, ‘Innovation in a time of crisis’ Most organizations have substantially increased digital interactions with their customers. So, it is vital now to move from Customer Communication Management (CCM) systems to Customer Experience Management (CXM) systems. CXM systems operate efficiently, provide scalable functionality and improve both the customer and employee experience. The value of CXM cannot be understated. In a recent survey, 86% of consumers said they were willing to pay more for a great customer experience. And, in highly regulated industries where price and product are largely fixed, exceptional customer experience is even more crucial as it may be the only differentiator. Opportunities for stepping up are outlined in a recent CoTé insight that looks at how operations can improve customer experience. The pandemic alone would have been enough to force many organizations into accelerating their digital offering, but it’s far from the only pressure compelling this transformation. Customers compare organisations’ digital experience as they know that great technology exists to simplify processes — and they expect it. This is true of communications, where 60% of customers prefer to contact companies through digital means rather than by voice. There is an expectation that interactions will be thorough, two-way conversations. In fact, 40% of people expect organizations to respond within an hour of reaching out on social media. Millennials are four times more likely to switch brands because of poor communication. And a full 50% of Millennials and Gen Z will ignore communications that are not personalized to them. This all means organisations must have an automated omnichannel process that responds swiftly in all the ways that customers want. While full transformation to digital can be challenging for many organizations, technology is moving

quickly as well. Advances in AI, machine learning, business process automation, customer data management and cloud hosted managed services mean that offering customers an amazing two-way experience is easily achievable. As an example, AI used to assist human-supported online chat, quality ratings and scheduled follow ups all go to improving the customer’s experience. As CCM evolves into CXM more stakeholders will become involved in customer experience design each bring with them unique perspective, goals, and challenges. Stakeholders are looking for outsource providers with a multi discipline approach who can provide CCM, BPM, CRM, CS, CDP, DAM to take a more end-to-end strategy. Kaspar Roos, CEO of Aspire and recognized thought-leader, published a CoTé-sponsored whitepaper outlining the trends seen in CXM transformation. Call or email us for your free copy of ‘Elevating your CCM: The Benefits of a NextGeneration Omni-Channel Processing Platform’

https://cote.com.au/contact-cote/ info@cote.com.au +61 1800 847 724 CoTé is headquartered in Australia with offices in Los Angeles, CA and Dover, DE.

LETTER FROM THE ADVISORY BOARD

Definition and Context Buzzword after buzzword are used by many people. Top squares on the buzzword bingo cards are digital transformation (DX), customer experience (CX), omni-channel and enterprise. These are all great and important, but they mean so many things to so many people. What do they mean to you? Can you put borders around where they start and stop? If you cannot, your internal & external customers and partners are confused. More importantly, how do they actually relate to your business? Customer experience, without a doubt, touches every business. In some way, we’re all in the CX arena. If we do not take care of our customers, someone else will. According to Forrester, until recently, only 1 in 5 companies was delivering good or great CX. Some industry pundits go so far as to state, that only those companies that practice high-quality customer experience and make it the core of their business strategy will flourish. A Walker Report states that by the end of 2020, CX will overtake product and price as the main brand differentiator. Of all the buzzwords, CX probably has the widest reach and the broadest array of definitions. From how your company meets customer expectations with each interaction or the perception by customers of how your business manages these interactions to how a company fulfills its brand’s promises. Most agree that it’s a set of feelings and sensations that arise from a low friction interaction. The CXPA (yes, there is a

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

CX Association and a certification) believes a “CX professional is a catalyst who enhances an organization’s results by understanding, designing, and improving experiences across the entire customer relationship.” More importantly, they have created and documented a process to execute. After surveying thousands of customers, Salesforce defined digital transformation as “the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements.” Their CEO Marc Benioff went on to state, “Every digital transformation is going to begin and end with the customer, and I can see that in the minds of every CEO I talk to.” Here we go again, blurring the lines between CX and DX. Can we be great at CX without DX? Can we digitally transform without taking into consideration CX? No. Herein lies the challenge! It is like a science experiment with moving variables and then you add in humans and their unique perspectives. As you read the articles in this issue about emerging technologies, think about what you need to do to in your organization before “Hitting the Gas on Digital Transformation.” Do not overthink it, though; start, iterate, and make it happen.

Until next time.

PAUL ABDOOL

president Chad Griepentrog publisher Ken Waddell managing editor Erin Eagan [ erin@rbpub.com ] contributing editor Amanda Armendariz contributors Scott Draeger Linda C. Fried Nick Inglis Bob Larrivee Ashley McIntosh Alan Pelz-Sharpe advertising Ken Waddell [ ken.w@rbpub.com ] 608.235.2212 audience development manager Rachel Chapman [ rachel@rbpub.com ] creative director Kelli Cooke

PO BOX 259098 Madison WI 53725-9098 p: 608-241-8777 f: 608-241-8666 email: customerservice@rbpub.com DOCUMENT Strategy Media (ISSN 1081-4078) is published on a daily basis via its online portal and produces special print editions by Madmen3, PO BOX 259098, Madison, WI 53725-9098. All material in this magazine is copyrighted ©2020 by Madmen3 All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Any correspondence sent to DOCUMENT Strategy Media, Madmen3, or its staff becomes the property of Madmen3. The articles in this magazine represent the views of the authors and not those of Madmen3 or DOCUMENT Strategy Media. Madmen3 and/or DOCUMENT Strategy Media expressly disclaim any liability for the products or services sold or otherwise endorsed by advertisers or authors included in this magazine. SUBSCRIPTIONS: DOCUMENT Strategy Media is the essential publication for executives, directors, and managers involved in the core areas of Communications, Enterprise Content Management, and Information Management strategies. Free to qualified recipients; subscribe at documentmedia.com/subscribe. REPRINTS: For high-quality reprints, please contact our exclusive reprint provider, ReprintPros, 949-702-5390, www.ReprintPros.com.

What’s New Catch up on all the news, opinions, and featured articles that caught our eye on documentmedia.com.

Empowering Those Closest to Customers Pays Dividends

Thriving in a New Era of Customer Conversations

To say 2020 was a year full of disruption is an understatement. From dealing with a global pandemic and navigating related lockdowns to embracing a contactless, digital-first world, companies had to quickly adapt. As frenetic as 2020 was, 2021 is presenting the business world with a new set of circumstances and nuances to navigate — particularly when it comes to their customer conversation strategies. https://documentmedia.com/ article-3095-Thriving-in-a-New-Eraof-Customer-Conversations.html

Five Ways to Secure Documents & Protect Private Information in the Workplace Are you doing your utmost to keep your company’s private data safe and secure? The modern workplace handles an extraordinary amount of sensitive information. From personnel records to customer information and even trade secrets, there is a considerable volume of data to protect. In our web-connected world, security must mean more than locking the doors at the end of the day. Your business must know how to safeguard these critical assets adequately. The best solutions involve both changes in daily behaviors and the adoption of better software tools, including PDF editors. https://documentmedia.com/ article-3089-Five-Ways-to-SecureDocuments-and-Protect-PrivateInformation-in-the-Workplace.html

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

4 Reasons an On-Demand eDiscovery Can Work Better

Quick Wins or Big Wins…

We were given the opportunity to learn many lessons in 2020, probably more than we wanted to learn. Banks, insurers, healthcare providers, universities, retail, government and other industries had to make major adaptations using whatever tools they had available to accommodate the shift to remote working environments. Digital requirements accelerated. The need to produce customer communications with warp speed became the new norm. https://documentmedia. com/article-3081-Quick-Winsor-Big-Winshellip.html

Today’s customers expect relevant, personalized and timely communications when interacting with businesses. As we have seen over the past year (often painfully), the challenge in this is having the processes in place that provide the speed to market necessary for communicating efficiently with customers. Even given that most customer communications, such as letters, proposals, quotations, and other ad hoc documents, are initiated from various departments, it is the IT department that historically has controlled the content integration of these communications with mainstream fulfillment processes. https://documentmedia. com/article-3080-EmpoweringThose-Closest-to-CustomersPays-Dividends.html

Many mid- and small-sized organizations cannot entertain the cost of moving eDiscovery in-house. For those organizations that can, many have settled on a bifurcated approach: Manage matters that scale to owned resources internally. Outsource those that do not. This dichotomy can be resolved. And in doing so dramatically decrease the resource burden of in-house while more effectively and efficiently integrating outsourcing when required. https://documentmedia.com/article-3093-4-Reasons-an-On-Demand-eDiscovery-Can-Work-Better.html

The Winding Road to 2030

The road to the future looks like a winding road through the front windshield, but it seems to appear as a straight path from the rearview mirror. As we consider the future of omnichannel customer communications, we can expect the future to have twists and turns navigated with a combination of good planning, unfortunate detours and some random luck. https://documentmedia.com/article-3092-TheWinding-Road-to-2030.html

Fusion Teams Yield Surprisingly Positive Results Although “fusion” is becoming a catchy word and used across the board from sushi to sportswear, it should not be discarded just as a new thing to attract our attention. Fusion, for corporations, is a very interesting concept of using already proven and established ideas or people, and mixing them, so to speak, to obtain a surprisingly positive result that no one has thought possible before. https://documentmedia.com/article-3098-Fusion-Teams-YieldSurprisingly-Positive-Results.html

APPLICATION ARTICLE

Financial Services Provider Improves Customer Experience with Scanners from Kodak Alaris A scanner fleet refresh project across several thousand locations resulted in a leading financial services provider choosing scanners from Kodak Alaris to boost its information capture capabilities. The investment in 8,000 Kodak ScanMate i1150 Scanners has paid major dividends. Following a competitive recertification process in 2020, the company has now rolled out an additional 250 units of the Kodak E1035 Scanner for its US operations. Challenge The firm is a global provider of financial services and small business solutions. The company is a disruptor within the financial services industry and believes the best solutions blend digital capabilities with human expertise and care. They were looking for a document scanning solution that was easy to use and easy to implement remotely. Solution The firm evaluated several vendors’ solutions, and after an on-site demo, they decided to switch to Kodak scanners. In the initial investment phase, the firm purchased 8,000 Kodak ScanMate i1150 Scanners. Quickly realizing the benefits of these compact yet powerful scanners, which combine a userfriendly interface, simple operation and reliable performance, phase two saw the company boost its capture capabilities with the purchase of the newer Kodak E1035 Scanners. Benefits Kodak Alaris scanners are designed to optimize workflows that involve paper. Small, quiet, quick, and intelligently designed, its desktop scanners deliver outstanding image quality — critical for the firm’s customer service reps, who use the scanners to process driver’s licenses, passports, W-2 forms and other financial documents. Moreover, fast processing speeds have improved turnaround times, which positively impacts customer service.

collaborated with the firm, providing supporting information and assistance as required. The end-result of this process led to the firm rolling out Kodak Alaris technology across additional locations. Historically, one of the departments used its fleet of networked multifunctional printers (MFPs) to digitise documents. The results of the scanner certification process, combined with the productivity and efficiency gains, gave them the confidence to switch to dedicated scanners, and invest in hundreds of new Kodak S2050 Scanners for this department. In addition to superior image quality, fast speeds and advanced paper handling capabilities, the S2000 Series is designed to ‘dock’ on top of the Kodak Passport Flatbed Accessory, offering a quick and easy solution for scanning passports, ID cards and other small, fragile documents.

The E1035 Scanners are helping the firm further boost its document capture capability for time-critical tasks. This model takes less than ten seconds to power up and start scanning, it offers speeds up to 35 pages per minute and is easy to set up. Innovative Smart Touch Software enables users to scan right out of the box and integrate with existing business processes and applications, from network to cloud.

Dedicated scanners provide the ability to extract critical data from documents and seamlessly feed it into existing business processes, helping make workflows more efficient and workers more productive. With the scanners from Kodak Alaris, employees are no longer restricted by the MFPs’ basic capture and imaging options — with the S2050 Scanner, it’s easy to run complex jobs with the push of a button, while enhancing data integrity and reducing the time and cost spent on document management.

The US arm of the business conducted a re-certification process in 2020, benchmarking and evaluating scanners from Kodak Alaris alongside other vendors’ offering. This process focused on both of the models already in use, as well as the Kodak S2050 Scanner. Kodak Alaris technical specialists closely

800.944.6171 jonathan.ghent@kodakalaris.com AlarisWorld.com

CONDUCTING BUSINESS POST COVID-19

Now is the time to begin developing your strategy

s the COVID-19 pandemic slowly begins to subside, many businesses and their workforces are faced with a new question and challenge: how will they conduct business in a post COVID-19 world? When presented with the chance to pen this article, I took the opportunity to present my followers on social media with a simple statement to which they could reply Yes or No. The statement

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

By Bob Larrivee

was: “I am planning to return to an office environment once all COVID19 restrictions are lifted.” I found the result confirming and not surprising based on conversations I’ve had along these lines — 70% say they do not plan to go back into an office environment while only 30% indicate they will go back. The mere fact that the majority intends to continue a remote work life indicates businesses will be faced with a personnel challenge and must begin

assessing how they will manage their response. Some may say that a mandate back to the office would be the best approach, but then again, this risks the loss of talented individuals and a need to replace them. Hopefully, the replacements will not require a long period to bring operations back up to speed. Another approach may be to embrace the changes demanded by the COVID19 pandemic, in the ways businesses operate, and enhance the new ways of

working to build upon the foundation put in place. As a result, these businesses could then downsize their physical footprints, recover facilities costs and retain those skilled individuals who are already fully functioning. Then there is a hybrid approach that would combine both the in-office and remote worker. This approach would make it optional to return to the office. In this case, businesses can accommodate both parties, those who wish to return to the office and those who wish to remain a remote worker. Being a remote worker is not for everyone, and in some cases, in-office is considered, as shared with me on several occasions, more conducive to innovation, design, and new product development. In My View Businesses should begin developing their post COVID-19 strategies now, without delay. Many have found, through the need to react, that it is

possible for them to be fully functioning with a remote workforce in place. They have also found in many cases, that productivity in some areas has in fact increased. The reasons for this could be many, including less office socializing, workers putting in additional hours — afterhours, and more. The questions to ask are focused on the actual need for in-person work activity, and the human factor in relation to trusting your workforce to perform and meet deadlines. When assessing post COVID-19 business operations, evaluate whether that role is indeed required to be in an office, and how well the function of that role has been carried out remotely. Identify how individuals have been delivering on their goals, and whether direct supervision in-person is truly required. You may find that like the in-office scenario, the ability to deliver on goals is not as much dependent upon location as it is the individual. Finally, as

you go through this exercise, don’t forget to look at where and how savings can be gained through the downsizing of physical office space, and in some cases, compensation if the employee has relocated to a less expensive geography. Now is the time to begin developing your strategy for conducting your business post COVID-19.O

Inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows in 2019, BOB LARRIVEE is a recognized expert in the application of advanced technologies and process improvement to solve business problems and enhance business operations. In his career, Bob has led many projects and authored hundreds of eBooks, Industry Reports, Blogs, Articles, and Infographics. In addition, he has served as host and guest Subject Matter Expert on a wide variety of webinars, Podcasts, Virtual Events, and lectured at in-person seminars and conferences around the globe.

DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

By Linda C. Fried

WHY WORRY? HOW HARD CAN CCPA BE?

Passing privacy legislation is a trend that is going to become a landslide across the U.S. over the next two years as state legislatures get back to action

o, you think that you don’t have to worry about the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA)? Maybe you don’t do business in California, or your company has a gross revenue of less than $25 million. You think that you’re excluded because most of your revenue does not come from consumers’ personal information or you have fewer than 50,000 consumers? Not so fast! Forget about the fact that New York has just introduced a bill that is a

cut-and-paste of the California law, and similar laws are being debated in Florida, Virginia, Washington, New Hampshire, Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Nebraska. Nevada and Maine have already passed similar laws, which are arguably even more restrictive, as will the laws in many of these other states if passed as currently presented. COVID-19 only slowed down legislative actions regarding privacy laws. Passing privacy legislation is a trend that is going to become a landslide across the U.S. over the next two years as state legislatures get back to action. And, the proposed versions are even more restrictive and demanding than GDPR. If you think you are exempted you should consult with your attorney. Although it appears the HIPAA and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) might exempt certain institutions and information, GLB does not even fully exempt financial institutions, nor does it protect related industries that do not specifically keep medical or financial records. Consider these questions:  Do you co-brand?  Do you employ internet cookies or IP addresses to gather information?  Are your services available in California (or one of these other states named above), even if you do not have any customers in that state?  Do you have strategic alliances with businesses that do business in California? If so, the laws apply to your company, even if you have few or no customers with a California address. Do you collect information for other companies or deal with IT providers that have access to consumer information? You may have performance obligations under the Act(s).

Marketing and CCPA Marketing is a major issue for companies bound by the CCPA regulation. How does it affect direct mail, email marketing and digital marketing solutions used by an organization? It appears that CCPA allows collection and retention of information between companies if one is a service provider with a written contract, but it severely limits what can be done with the collected material. There is a complicated process where the downstream companies in the supply chain would have to operate as service providers that isolate the personal information received. This approach is fraught with problems. The service provider designation means that the information cannot be used for any other purposes than what it is specifically collected for. They are also required to allow the consumer to opt out of collection, a potentially lengthy and expensive process. These rules reduce access to thirdparty data, forcing marketing companies to closely monitor partners they work with or share information with to protect against possible violations. CCPA appears to apply to almost all marketing firms because of the global nature of marketing and the fact that many marketing firms use collective information. This can pose problems since use of legacy data or improperly collected data may not be permitted based upon CCPA requirements. Even more important is recognizing that it is not only the service provider that is responsible for compliance, but the organization using the provided information, giving potential litigants multiple groups to target for recoveries. Pay attention to your state data breach notification laws, and stay up-to-date on additional statutes involving how data must be safeguarded, disposed of, and managed by vendors.

DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

Security Requirements and the Law Several federal statutes are advancing through Congress, as well as in a number of other countries, that could negatively impact your organization. Remember that we live in a litigious society; most people have easy access to attorneys. Juries are quick to find against organizations, and judges are willing to adjudicate large amounts as settlements for lawsuits and class action suits. That makes adherence to laws like CCPA and a robust data security protocol a requirement for everyone in the supply chain. Although we can argue that there are no industry standards for best practices, the Barnes v. Hanna Andersson and Salesforce case shows that even the mere allegation of having substandard security practices and storage of personal information in “unsafe ways” is enough to successfully raise questions that will allow a win in the courts for both state and private (often class action) suits. Judgments may include large fines from the state as well as payments resulting from thousands of consumer damage claims. Making it even worse, California, which appears to be the testing grounds, is allowing suits to move forward without claims of specific losses by affected consumers. It is not just a matter of having a policy that protects the consumer, but of what the policy is, as noted in the current case of In re: Zoom Video Communications Inc. Privacy Litigation, Rahman v. Marriott International, and Fuentes v. Sunshine Behavioral Health Group, LLC, among others. There are over a dozen cases currently filed alleging violations of CCPA. Additionally, the importance of Fuentes cannot be understated,

because Mr. Fuentes is not a California resident, nor was he at the time the breach occurred, nor has any California resident joined his class action. Yet the California courts have allowed these cases to move forward under the CCPA claims. California courts are the most progressive in the U.S., and are not afraid to pass rulings that, in effect, create and extend the law. Other states often sit back and let California “do the hard work,” later citing the decisions adjudicated there.

idea of what is considered to be sensitive information, again testing the boundaries. Because there have been few rulings so far, the definition is still interpretive. Remember that there is also the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) passed in November 2020. It extends privacy rights requirements to not only organizations that sell consumer information, but also to those who share it. CCPA contains a bar on class action waivers and forced arbitration, which the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld. They have chosen not to enter the fray relative to CCPA by refusing to hear cases that could be used to change the California Supreme Court’s ruling in McGill v. California, the case that established the bar. McGill states that any contract waiving a party’s right to seek injunctive relief is unenforceable under California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, a similar response to what it ruled in Iskanian v. CLA Transportation Los Angeles, LLC. So does this mean that everything is going to be horrible? Not necessarily. CCPA doesn’t actually provide a mechanism for the consumer to challenge arbitration clauses and class action waivers, unlike other acts passed by the California legislature. What this means is that any cases challenging these clauses are in for a protracted ride through the court system. So what should you do? First, ensure your company complies with California privacy protection laws. If your organization is in compliance with GDPR, it will have added the necessary notices, but there is more. Under the CCPA, consumers have the right to not only understand what is collected, but

Your organization should consider what third-party risks are involved in the data it collects, both internally, through the business chain, and externally, and immediately correct all problems.

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

Some Guidance Where does this leave organizations? What is the liability? What, if any, precautions should be taken in light of the lack of industry standards? Organizations do not just have to worry about actual security incidents, but also violations of the notification requirements and even claims of violation of privacy rights. There is also at least one suit involving violation of CCPA in B2B situations involving data brokers. Still one more problem emerging from CCPA litigation is that the more recent cases seem to be stretching the

where it is collected, why it is collected, and with whom it is shared. CCPA requires that consumers have the right to access that data, that they can request not only the correction of, but the deletion of all materials collected, and the right to stop the sale or disclosure of any of the information by opting out. Organizations have 45 days to respond to all requests under CCPA, so time is of the essence. Unlike GDPR, the CCPA does not require data protection through privacy by design. Your organization should consider what third-party risks are involved in the data it collects, both internally, through the business

chain, and externally, and immediately correct all problems. Consider how you train your employees relative to these new laws. Consider this: Californians represent 12% of the U.S. population and about 14% of the U.S. economy. With the new proposed regulations being considered, and with so many other states looking at introducing similar legislation, consider doing a cost effectiveness analysis for ensuring CCPA rights to your entire customer base. Consider privacy by design built into all data collection methods and even consider two-tiered authentication processes for additional protection.

Even more important, there are whispers of introducing bills into Congress that would mimic CCPA, CPRA, and even GDPR on a national level. With the current legislative and executive branches being aligned, it is probably better to think ahead about what legislation will undoubtedly be coming sooner rather than later. O

LINDA C FRIED has multiple graduate law and business degrees and is licensed to practice law in several states and countries. She is a professor at The University of Colorado Denver, where she teaches, amongst other things, business law and emerging technologies.

DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

HITTING THE GAS ON DIGITAL

TRANSFORMATION Transform your organization from the ground up based on your specific needs | By Nick Inglis

here’s no doubt that the pandemic accelerated many organizations’ digital transformation journeys. There was even a joke that the pandemic had been more effective than most CIOs in enabling digital transformation. Let’s be clear, just because your employees can now work from home doesn’t mean that your digital transformation journey is complete; in reality, it has just begun… and may have started on the wrong path. The first thing we need to realize about digital transformation is that most companies fail to transform their organizations digitally. According to a research article from McKinsey & Co. (from

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

October 2018, before the pandemic, but still relevant), only 16% of organizations that had attempted digital transformation said their organizations’ digital transformations have successfully improved performance and equipped them to sustain changes in the long-term. Therefore, 84% of digital transformation projects fall somewhere on the failure spectrum. So while many are talking about digital transformation, only a small group of organizations have successfully transformed their organizations. Whenever something is failing so abysmally, it’s a useful exercise to go back to the start and re-evaluate what it is that we were trying to achieve in the first place. So, what exactly were we

trying to achieve through digital transformation? It is right there that we can see the beginnings of why most digital transformations fail. Most digital transformation definitions are so overly broad that they’re not helpful to understanding what is to be digitally transformed. We’ll keep this definition exploration brief, but there are some commonalities between definitions that can help decipher: 1. What is meant by digital transformation as a term, and 2. What organizations are doing when they fail at digitally transforming Many digital transformation definitions discuss using “digital technologies” (a bit of a misnomer if you ask me) to transform or create new business processes, customer experiences or employee experiences. In distilling these definitions, many have realized that what most mean when saying digital transformation is using technology to make improvements. Therefore, digital transformation has sometimes been a placeholder used for all manner of organizational progress. Some have further noted that digital transformation is, in some cases, in practice, indistinguishable from managing technology projects (and I think there is some merit here).

And maybe that’s the point — perhaps that’s why digital transformation has become a term that’s bandied about in the c-suite frequently, but when the ‘rubber hits the road,’ the practitioners are finding failure more often than not. I’d suggest, many CIOs (CTOs/CDOs/ CXOs) are tasked with achieving digital transformation because CEOs are demanding digital transformation happen without genuinely understanding what needs to be accomplished. This plays out in that same Mackenzie study where they’ve identified five categories as keys to digital transformation success: 1. Having the right, digital-savvy leaders in place 2. Building capabilities for the workforce of the future 3. Empowering people to work in new ways 4. Giving day-to-day tools a digital upgrade 5. Communicating frequently via traditional and digital methods Many digital transformation projects are led by seasoned professionals who may not have the digital savviness to accomplish transformation projects, despite their experience, or they’re unaware that they’re taking on more than they can handle by overscoping projects. Experience implementing legacy technology doesn’t seem to correlate with digital transformation success. In either of these cases, failure becomes a certainty. Seasoned professionals need to partner with more technologically savvy professionals to properly scope and execute any digital transformation project to combine experience with technical know-how. Until this happens, success will remain elusive for your organization. Building capabilities for the workplace of the future is the second category identified by Mackenzie. Our crystal balls have become quite murky on what the future workplace even looks like through this pandemic. Today we must engineer digital transformations for a potential myriad of outcomes that could include work from an office, work from home and hybrid workplace futures. I believe that today this is likely to be less of an issue

as the pandemic has forced us to think about our workplaces’ futures more significantly than before. Their third finding is that organizations must empower people to work in new ways through digital transformation. Where this tends to fall apart is a cohesive vision of what those new ways will be. There’s certainly no single definition here, and at the surface, it seems that vendors of software products are primarily the ones that are driving what those new ways of work will be. This vendor leadership is in direct opposition to organizations understanding their business requirements and those requirements leading to digital transformation. People, we are putting the cart before the horse! To empower people to work in new ways, you need to understand what they are before moving into software selection. Unfortunately, with this mad dash to digitally transform, many organizations abandoned their requirements gathering phase and simply selected the software provider that they were most comfortable with previously. Yes, we can largely give the pandemic credit for that situation; however, before we get too far down the road, we must take a step back to look at our business requirements. It is only there, in those business requirements, that we can find our path towards digital transformation success. McKinsey also found that one of the categories of keys to digital transformation success was giving day-to-day tools a digital upgrade. Here is where we introduce massive risk into the digital transformation equation. When pairing everyday tools with an unfettered scope and a lack of requirements gathering, you’re putting your organization’s core business processes and functions at risk. Did everyone forget about project management? The last category of keys to success identified by McKinsey gives us what I believe is the largest clue why digital transformation projects fail so frequently. The category is communicating frequently via traditional and digital methods. Why does communication become such a strong indicator of future success with digital transformation? It’s because digital transformation is about technology enabling people. People must come

first. In any digital transformation project, you need to understand what the people (employees, customers, partners, etc.) need alongside what the organization needs. I have found more frequently in organizations that any implemented technology is called a “digital transformation” to meet a forced requirement that an organization must “do a digital transformation.” Simply providing Office 365 to your employees is not digital transformation (although it could be a part of it). Digital transformation is more than mere technology; it’s about meeting people’s needs through the use of technology. You cannot meet their needs without understanding their needs, and you cannot understand their needs without gathering business requirements. So how do you hit the gas on your digital transformation journey? In most cases, it’s about tapping the brakes before pushing down on the gas pedal. Likely, your organization should not be entirely digitally transforming right now. I tend to think that none should, but instead, all should be looking at specific processes and specific experiences that they want to transform, based on need. To move forward, it is likely a slower process than folks seem to accept today. Digital transformation occurs project by project, and you transform the organization from the ground-up based on your organization’s specific needs. O

NICK INGLIS is both the Host of The Strategy of Information (available on InfoGov.net) and Director of Information Governance at IPRO. Inglis was formerly Executive Director, Content & Programming at ARMA International (through the acquisition of the Information Coalition and Information Governance Conference, where Inglis served as President). Inglis is the author of ‘INFORMATION: The Comprehensive Overview of the Information Profession.’ His writing has been featured in U.S. News & World Report, The Providence Journal, Yahoo! Finance, CMSWire and others. Before his Co-Founding and leading the Information Coalition, Inglis served as the Director of Professional Development at AIIM and was one of the youngest Assistant Vice Presidents in Bank of America’s history. DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

WHAT THE ANALYSTS SAY… 18

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

Whether it’s delivering a better customer experience or utilizing the latest technology to reduce costs, we’re always striving for improvement. To help us achieve our ever-evolving objectives and goals are the industry’s most trusted advisors. For your convenience we’ve compiled a list of recently released research reports on topics pertinent to today’s environment. Simply read the summary and then download and/or purchase the full report for more information.

The Aragon Research Globe for Workflow and Content Automation, 2020 The workflow and content automation (WCA) market continues to grow and is becoming a key plank in digital transformation as more use cases come online. WCA solutions accelerate the rate at which information flows between enterprises, people and important business systems to shorten process cycle times and increase accuracy. These WCA platforms are becoming smarter and are powering several new enterprise applications. This shift away from old manual processes that slow down productivity is key for enterprises looking to digitally transform. This report evaluates 14 key providers who are leading the charge in the WCA market. https://aragonresearch.com/ the-aragon-research-globefor-workflow-and-contentautomation-2020/

Future of Work The future resilient enterprise recognizes that every audience experience matters. The relationship between customers and businesses will be built on cognitive empathy — requiring strategic decisions that emphasize intelligent multitouchpoint interactive journeys founded on data trust. The Future of Customers and Consumers benefits from the shift to a new employee work experience. On the horizon is an intelligent digital workspace that provides personalized access to the specific resources needed to deliver an informative and empathetic customer experience. This site offers advice in digital transformation success and how the Future of Work is rapidly turning technology delivery on its head. https://www.idc.com/ promo/future-of-x/work

The Importance of Omni-channel Processing for Customer Communications Management (CCM) Aspire recently published a FREE whitepaper on the growing importance of omnichannel processing. This report examines the state of omni-channel communications in the wake of COVID-19 and explains how efficient and effective processing can help create better consumer experiences, drive greater satisfaction and create more loyal customers while boosting operational excellence and reducing the risk of non-compliance and security breaches. The full analysis (sponsored by Crawford Technologies and Messagepoint) is FREE to download at https://share.hsforms. com/1-HRAI7ZGTN2Nsk2f3-T1xw1jlsp.

Innovation in Banking 2021: A Snapshot Through the Lens of Model Bank

How to Records-Enable “All” of Your Information Systems

Innovation remains a hot topic, with innovation in the customer experience (CX) among the hottest. In this FREE resource, Celent looks at the state of technology-led innovation in banking in 2021 through the lens of its Model Bank program. Despite Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the globe throughout 2020, we received a near record number of nominations detailing courageous stories of customer advocacy, organizational pivots at breakneck speed and celebrations of jobs well-done. Innovation in baking didn’t slow during the pandemic, it accelerated! Celent Model Bank awards recognize Financial Institutions for best practices of technology usage in different areas critical to success in banking. Such a number of high-quality initiatives gives us an unparalleled insight into the state of the banking and payments industry — priorities, focus areas for innovation and how they change over the years. This report is available at no charge at: https://www.celent.com/ insights/632996581

The challenge of over-retention is real. Some large organizations have hundreds of information systems and thousands of applications to manage. Where do you even begin to apply records management policies across this vast landscape? Learn how to use the four major phases of records enablement to guide your decision-making process. Like any gigantic task, breaking it down into manageable steps will allow you to stay focused, make steady progress and position your records management efforts for success. Read the complete whitepaper, no forms required at https://blog. doculabs.com/how-to-recordsenable-all-of-your-informationsystems

CCM Hosted Managed Services Market Update “Customer Communications Management Hosted Managed Services (CCM HMS) Market Update, 3rd Edition” from Madison Advisors defines CCM HMS as a delivery model where a single-source, integrated technology platform incorporates the seven critical components for end-to-end CCM: data management and processing, content management, preference and customer profile management, composition, omnichannel delivery, archive and dashboard reporting. This expanded research edition analyzes the offerings of three traditional HMS providers and three print service providers—new entrants to the HMS market. The report examines how each provider leverages its unique standing in the marketplace to strategically reposition itself to become a communications service provider with less focus on print output. https://madison-advisors.com/product/customer-communications-management-hostedmanaged-services-market-update-3rd-edition/ O DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

FROM STAGNATION TO EXPLOSIVE CHANGE Recent advances have breathed new life into the document capture market By Alan Pelz-Sharpe

ocument capture has been around for decades, but recent advances have breathed new life into this market. The ability to liberate documents from their physical form and move them into the digital realm has long yielded benefits in productivity and security while reducing costs. Recently, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) combined with relatively mature optical character recognition (OCR) technology have made it possible to liberate not only the document but also the embedded business information required to drive business operations. We call this cognitive capture, and we believe it opens new possibilities to reimagine traditional workflows.

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

To be clear from the get-go, we are industry analysts who study and advise on the market, not technology vendors with a new product concept to push. Over the last couple of years, we have observed a sudden and radical shift in the capture market, one that will have repercussions for many years to come. It’s not the death of traditional transactional capture (think check processing). Instead, it’s the birth of new technology approaches that open up new opportunities beyond the conventional. To put it another way, we are moving from reading letters and zones on a document digitally to understanding the context and meaning of those letters and zones. That’s a radical shift and one that changes everything.

It started with Google, Amazon, and Azure releasing image and text capture modules in their cloud stacks. Three things rocked the boat here: 1. Once proprietary and expensive capture technology is now freely available 2. Big names jumped into the picture, raising the profile and importance of capture 3. The new offerings are far more advanced, relying on Deep Learning AI This has meant a slew of new developers accessing and playing with these advanced cognitive capture tools and discovering new ways to use them and new market opportunities to explore.

Fortunately, it is not all about industry giants, though leveraging much more powerful and modern technology, these new cloud offerings are not always suitable for traditional capture technologies. It is more about enterprises and startups the world over, seeing new opportunities to leverage modern cognitive capture and understanding text and symbols from previously impossible situations. Capturing real-time text and images in the field on mobile devices and drones. There is even an emerging market developing where capture plays a crucial role in augmented reality and conversational AI. So much has changed from the early days of capture, a time in which there was a reliance on high-quality scanners, and on-premise proprietary software. Today, the devices we hold in our hands already have incredible optical and computing process power. We also have access to vast data sets and multiple AI capabilities, along with easy access to the Cloud. Moreover, we have the ability to not just capture, but to also understand the meaning and context of what we have captured. Enabling that data to then be automatically routed and processed. The possibilities of what can be done in this new cognitive capture world are endless.

If you are a techie, it is worth noting that we are not just talking about Deep Learning, the world of neural networks being used to advance things. There are startups already coming up with even newer, faster, more accurate and more advanced techniques. Progress in the world of capture is, in short, now happening at a rapid pace.

Cognitive capture products are components that enable radical change and intelligent automation. For technology vendors, this period of change is either a curse or a blessing; for some, it means their traditional business model’s slow death. For others, it’s a welcome chance to update and grow, and for yet others, it provides an opportunity to launch new businesses. We know all this for sure, but most importantly, we understand that capture is not only here to stay, but that it will evolve and look radically different in just a few years. O

The possibilities of what can be done in this new cognitive capture world are endless. So what does this all mean? Well, for analysts and advisors like ourselves, it means a hectic time. We expect to see many startups and existing technology vendors acquire and be acquired. We are also discovering new use cases by the week. For us, it’s a fascinating time to study the sector. It provides a fresh opportunity to rethink both existing capture requirements and explore ways to utilize capture in more business activities. Like it or not, most organizations are driven by a need to become more productive, lower costs and remain adaptive to change and growth.

ALAN PELZ-SHARPE is the Founder and Principal Analyst of Deep Analysis, an independent technology research firm focused on next-generation information management. He has over 25 years of experience in the information technology (IT) industry working with a wide variety of end user organizations, like FedEx, The Mayo Clinic, and Allstate, and vendors, from Oracle and IBM to startups around the world. Alan was formerly a Partner at The Real Story Group, Consulting Director at Indian services firm Wipro, Research Director at 451, and Vice President for North America at industry analyst firm Ovum. He is regularly quoted in the press, including the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, and has appeared on the BBC, CNBC, and ABC as an expert guest.

DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

By Ashley McIntosh

TAKING CONTROL OF

CHANGE

lobal industry is in the midst of unprecedented change. Heralded by many as the ‘fourth industrial revolution,’ one of its key drivers is digital transformation, a technological advancement that, in part, has given rise to new competitors, growing customer expectations and a raft of new regulations. To remain competitive in such an environment, organizations need to become more agile and responsive to shifting consumer demands, and this means speed to market has become increasingly important. The principle challenges for companies are how to improve CX, acquire and retain customers and grow their market share by expanding their

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

Learn how to effectively manage change, transform communications and deliver an enhanced customer experience

operations and quickly launching new and enhanced products. At the same time, all this needs to be achieved while maintaining compliance with increasingly stringent and complex regulations. Enhancing CX is pivotal in a market where consumers are increasingly experience-led and where there is a growing expectance of transparency and personal choice. In such an environment, organizations should strive to build richer and stronger relationships with customers by delivering communications that offer more positive and meaningful experiences. The foundations for achieving this lie in the implementation of effective and efficient communications systems. In doing so, omnichannel communications

strategies can be developed that allow organizations to engage with their customers across the spectrum of platforms — especially those that customers prefer. In the current environment, where the numbers of online consumers and the amount of time they spend connected has grown considerably, the need for digital adoption has never been greater. This makes the ability of these communication systems to facilitate digital transformation all the more desirable. The threat of constant new entrants and disruptors to key markets who provide a seamless digital customer experience — particularly in more traditional industries such as financial services, utilities and insurance, amongst others — has forced organizations to

transform and bring themselves into a new digital era. While organization-wide digital transformation programmes are the ultimate goal, using innovative digital conversion techniques and technologies to convert a business’s paper documents to electronic versions that are stored either on a server or in the cloud can deliver great benefits. Not only can this allow organisations to manage documents more efficiently, without losing critical documents, but also deliver a much-improved CX that is more befitting to the digital needs of consumers. Empowerment Through Technology The cutting-edge technologies provided by the latest customer communications management (CCM) solutions can play a critical role in empowering organizations, helping them connect with their customers across the range of channels in deeper, more meaningful ways. This can be successfully achieved by adopting a one-platform approach where communications strategies are run using a single, centralized, customer communications management delivery model. As a result, companies are provided with the delivery infrastructure needed to support truly frictionless customer communications across the range of both traditional and digital channels. Not only does the deployment of such enabling technologies facilitate transformation at pace; it gives organizations the agility to effectively adapt to successive changes in consumer behavior and swiftly capitalize on new opportunities. What’s more, aside from enabling organizations to keep pace with technological advances and be flexible with change, the latest intuitive CCM platforms also present them with new opportunities to swiftly and efficiently deliver enhanced CX. Included in this is an increased ability to be consistent and informed. By centralizing communications, organizations have better control of their messaging and by unifying customer data across all touchpoints, they can

maintain high standards of customer service and deliver better experiences by ensuring that customers communicating with various departments don’t get mixed messages. Central control over changes to critical customer documents dramatically reduces risk, inconsistencies and off-brand messaging, while naturally delivering on efficiency and compliance. Indeed, highly proficient change implementation ensures changes can be rapidly applied across all channels through a single system. In today’s rapidly evolving environment, where regulatory change is constant and customer journeys can be transformed almost instantaneously, the critical advantage of a centralized view is that organizations can effectively keep pace with longer-term transitions in consumer behavior. They can, for example, add new communications channels and simultaneously change messages across all channels. This is particularly beneficial for those organizations whose transformation is hindered by complex legacy service models and IT infrastructures. By adopting an integration layer of this kind, they can achieve the benefits of cohesion without the need to replace existing legacy systems. As a result, transformation can take place cost-effectively, at pace and without disruption. Furthermore, with regards to regulation and compliance, such a centralized approach provides new levels of visibility, helping organizations simplify document audits and ensuring that communications stay compliant with changing industry regulations. The Vulnerable Demographic Of course, the present social landscape and changing customer dynamics means companies must also have the infrastructure and strategies in place to accommodate the needs of consumers in vulnerable circumstances and handle a growing volume of inbound communications. They also require the capacity to engage with customers quickly and efficiently, across

the gamut of channels, to keep them informed about today’s continually changing circumstances. To ensure those communications are relevant and timely, organizations need to be aware of the individual circumstances that their customers find themselves in. This can be achieved through the adoption of innovative technologies which unify data to map customer journeys across all touchpoints. In doing so, companies are better able to provide these customers with user-friendly solutions that meet their specific needs and which are appropriate for their capabilities. In this way, these technologies present organizations with the unique opportunity to deliver enhanced levels of services and CX to different demographics. Using data, these intuitive technologies deliver individual customer profiles, providing companies with critical insights into consumer behaviors and enabling them to use these profiles to identify those most vulnerable across different products and services. From a communications perspective, this helps organizations accommodate these customers’ preferences for communications channels, the types of messages they are sent and when they receive them. Essential for all organizations is the need to comply with regulations. This includes both data protection and industry regulations. With the latter, companies will need to clearly communicate with customers in a timely manner and via the most appropriate channel, any changes to policies, prices, terms and conditions, etc. which affect them. Additionally, if a customer response or action is required, these communications need to be tracked and recorded to ensure individuals, especially those in vulnerable circumstances, do not fall through the net. O

ASHLEY MCINTOSH is Head of Products/ Service Development at Paragon Customer Communications (PCC). To learn more, visit www.paragon-cc.com. DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

WHEN

BY SCOTT DRAEGER

COMMUNICATIONS FAIL Many of these situations like the Texas Energy Crisis, could have been avoided

fter spending two decades in the industry, I am aware that non-document people think what we do is boring. While it hurts my feelings a bit, they are right most of the time. If we plan, design, research, integrate and deploy our projects well, it should be boring and predictable. The communications we create and produce convert prospects to customers, deliver information, handle customer issues and trigger payments.

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

However, when we cut corners or don’t understand the scope of a potential mistake, our normal communications cause serious problems. There are three infamous situations where routine communications made headlines, involving frustrated customers and the teams that were responsible for the communications. The lesson here is that each of these horrible situations could have been avoided with a bit more thinking about the context — and the potential complexity — of the communication problem.

First, we’ll look at how outdated systems allow for fraud in state unemployment systems. In the past year, COVID-19 related unemployment fraud has cost more than $36 billion. Fraudulent unemployment claims take advantage of the convergence of weaknesses in communication systems, including outdated systems, poor integrations, unreliable access from employees working from home and a massive spike in legitimate unemployment claims that creates a distraction. This problem could have been limited so it wouldn’t impact the rapid delivery of genuine unemployment benefits. Investing in much-needed improvements in inter-agency data sharing, intra-agency process design,

technical modernization, omnichannel interaction tracking and increased verification steps could have minimized this problem. Many state systems are now rapidly modernizing as, too often, they are unable to recuperate these fraudulent claims, which is especially painful when tax revenues are low. To avoid this in the future, several states are now pursuing “no wrong door” policies that encourage interoperability of systems and easier inter-agency coordination that includes CCM systems. And then there is Texas and the utility crisis. Utility bills haven’t been in the news much since the days of Enron, but they made national news during the Texas Energy Crisis of 2021 when some customer bills were nearly 100 times larger than normal. Reading and paying utility bills has been straightforward traditionally as energy prices generally fluctuate within a narrow range. When that range fluctuates wildly and rapidly during an unexpected weather emergency, customers could incur thousands of dollars in bills without the ability to learn rates in real time. The utility billing portals, usage tracking and print billing processes may not have reflected the volatility well in the minds of consumers, who quickly engaged the call centers, which initiated a spike in automatic payment cancellations in response to television, internet and social media posts warning about high bills. The fluctuation of utility rate changes does not appear to have been communicated proactively to customers. Even if it was communicated effectively, many customers were unable to receive the message due to service outages that prevented the cellular or Wi-Fi access required to keep up with the rapidly fluctuating information. Ultimately, a normally straightforward process of utility billing suddenly became a complex process that consumed call centers, engaged politicians and introduced unexpected customer service costs for 4.5 million homes. Fortunately, the utility industry is actively working to upgrade its communication infrastructure, shifting from simple reporting tools

to full CCM systems, delivering omnichannel communications that connect to multiple systems to proactively communicate special events like the Texas Energy Crisis. Lastly, one would think that scheduling an appointment should be a fairly straightforward communication process. It should involve simply collecting names on a digital form or app, retrieving a set of available times from a scheduling system, assigning that name to the time chosen, updating the scheduling systems and sending out communications via text, email, in-app notification or a letter based on client

website integration generated newsworthy confusion because the initial forms didn’t collect the data necessary to support a subsequent policy change. This process was likely trying to adhere to a minimal data collection process, but inadvertently did not collect data that was ultimately necessary. As we DOCUMENT Strategy fans read the news, we can only imagine what those teams went through and likely are still going through today. Let’s learn a lesson from this: All three of these situations had a communication process that “worked until it didn’t.” All three were triggered by unanticipated external complexity that impacted the basic operation of a stable business process. In each case, serious communication mishaps spilled over into call centers, creating tens of thousands of calls that could have been avoided. To prevent this in the future, look inside your business to see where CRM, ERP, marketing automation, BPO, WCM or other technologies are busy delivering simple or straightforward communications. While they may work now, be sure it’s not a case of “working until it doesn’t.” Ultimately, each of these situations were predictable, but none of them was planned for. Think about any isolated communications that may be sitting at the end of non-integrated processes within your business — and you may be able to stay off the front page. O

However, when we cut corners or don’t understand the scope of a potential mistake, our normal communications cause serious problems. preference. However, when the rules change frequently, the degree of difficulty increases drastically, which is what happened at the beginning of the United Center’s eight-week COVID-19 vaccine event in Chicago. This should have been a straightforward scheduling exercise, but location-based eligibility requirements were added after the initial process was launched. This new location requirement was made after thousands of appointments were scheduled without collecting location data in the initial form. This program involved federal, state and local agencies, as well as Zocdoc as an administration partner. With multiple changes based on data that was not initially collected, tens of thousands of appointment holders were unclear if their appointments were valid. What should have been a simple form-to-app/

SCOTT DRAEGER, CCXP, M-EDP, is Vice President of Customer Transformation at Quadient. He joined the digital document industry in 1997, after graduating from UNLV. He started as a document designer using a collection of hardware and software technologies, before moving to the software side of the industry. His broad experience includes helping clients improve customer communications in over 20 countries. He earned his MBA in 2007 from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. DOCUMENTmedia.com spring.2021

By Bob Larrivee

A REMOTE WORKFORCE

Moving away from traditional models

fter more than a year of adapting business models due to COVID19, many businesses have come to realize that supporting a remote workforce is a viable option, and one that in some cases, delivered higher productivity levels. As a result, businesses are looking ahead and developing business operating strategies in the post COVID-19 world. In a recent survey I conducted via social media, I presented this question, “Do you feel that your company will revert back to a more traditional work model post COVID-19, or transition to a different model?” The results for me were not surprising in that seventy percent of respondents say they will develop a hybrid model that combines remote work and traditional work environments. Twenty percent cited they will revert back to their traditional models and only ten percent indicate they will transition to a completely new model. While not all jobs are suited to remote work environments, there are many positions that can be managed remotely. These include customer service and support, sales, analysts, marketing and social media managers, training and more. This is reflected in

spring.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

an article by Emily Courtney on flexjobs titled, “23 Companies Switching to Long-Term Remote Work.” Some of the companies identified in this article include Amazon, American Express, Capital One, Facebook, Salesforce, Siemens, Skillshare and Target. As businesses and employees weigh their options for the future, consider that remote work provides a better work-life balance, less or no stress from commuting, location independence and money savings for the employees. On the business side of this equation there can be downsizing of physical office space, decreased facilities costs, improved productivity, increased employee retention and a positive impact on the environment.

Regardless of the models chosen, infrastructure will need to be strengthened, governance over processes, practices and tools will need to be standardized and optimized and new frameworks developed for the management of business information and corporate assets. In many cases, those I have spoken with are using their experiences in adapting their businesses over the past year, as the foundation upon which they will build their new models. There is no better time than the present to move your business forward and begin the journey of enabling and supporting your remote workforce as you focus on moving away from traditional models. O

In My View Now is the time for business leaders to take action in developing their future business models. As the previous data cited indicates, the majority of businesses will develop a hybrid model that combines remote work models with traditional models. These could range from certain positions are required to use the traditional model with others allowed to work remotely, to models that allow remote work for a specified number of days, say 4, and one day in the office.

Inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows in 2019, BOB LARRIVEE is a recognized expert in the application of advanced technologies and process improvement to solve business problems and enhance business operations. In his career, Bob has led many projects and authored hundreds of eBooks, Industry Reports, Blogs, Articles, and Infographics. In addition, he has served as host and guest subject matter expert on a wide variety of webinars, podcasts, virtual events, and lectured at in-person seminars and conferences around the globe.

Think About It / DAVID A. GREETHAM /

/ JOAO PENHA-LOPES /

“ON-DEMAND EDISCOVERY LEVERAGING THE CLOUD BRINGS SUBSTANTIAL BENEFITS TO LEGAL DEPARTMENTS AND LAW FIRMS OF ALL SIZES. IT IS THE LOGICAL NEXT STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF EDISCOVERY MANAGEMENT, RISK MITIGATION, COST REDUCTION, AND BUSINESS VALUE.”

“LAWS MUST CHANGE, EVENTUALLY EVEN CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS MUST CHANGE IN ORDER TO ALLOWS CITIZENS, AND THEIR ELECTED GOVERNMENTS, TO BENEFIT FROM WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS TO OFFER.”

/ BEN LIU /

/ JAMES BROWN /

“Companies that successfully migrate to cloud-based technologies will be able to offer more coordinated and intuitive conversations with their customers and ultimately improve and streamline the overall experience for both employees and customers.”

“To keep your company’s private data safe and secure, the best solutions involve both changes in daily behaviors and the adoption of better software tools, including PDF editors.”

/ CONNIE MOORE / “The valuations for current RPA market leaders are likely to tumble because it will be hard for three leading vendors — Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism and UiPath — to maintain their incredible market caps. To counteract, expect these companies to go through their own build/buy/partner strategies and make additional acquisitions in AI, process mining and digital process automation.”