DOCUMENT Strategy Winter 2021

SPECIAL FEATURE

CCM/CXM SOLUTIONS EXCLUSIVE - PAGE 28

DOCUMENTmedia.com | Winter.21

TAKE A NEW LOOK

AT YOUR CX EXPERIENCE HOW TO USE AI TO IMPROVE YOUR CX

SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR DOCUMENTCENTRIC WAYS 4 TRENDS IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR 2022

O T RE BE E H RI K IC BSC L C SU

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TABLE OF CONTENTS volume 28 issue 4 | Winter.21 | DOCUMENTmedia.com

FEATURES 10

It’s Time to Say Goodbye…

We need to move on from our document-centric ways and embrace a modern approach

By Patrick Kehoe

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10

Finding Zen in Your Venn

What’s your position in the customer experience value chain?

By Scott Draeger

16

Leave a Lasting Impression

14

How to use AI to improve your customer experience

By George Newton

18

Extreme Cloud Makeover

A phased approach is key to successful migration

By Daniel Herndon

20

What’s Next in Information Management?

The four biggest trends executive leaders should look to embrace in 2022

By David Winkler

22

It’s Not as Simple as You Think Don’t overlook the complexity of enterprise software

By Alan Pelz-Sharpe

24

16

Prioritizing Cloud Workloads Where to start with modernizing IT

By Rob Cameron

26

What the Analysts Say

22

DEPARTMENTS 06

Letter from the Advisory Board

08 30

What’s New Think About It

SPONSORED CONTENT

4

09

Create Docs, Design Processes, Automate Data Capture Without IT

13

Proven Industry Experience Gets Insurance Provider to the Finish Line Faster

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The Search For CCM/CXM

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LETTER FROM THE ADVISORY BOARD

CCM and CX to Enhance the Insurance Experience In the Winter 2021 issue of DOCUMENT Strategy, we focus on the role Customer Communications Management (CCM) and the Customer Experience (CX) play in the many industries in which we work.

When you consider that CX is a strategic focus on the customer journey and experience, and CCM is the more tactical approach and tools used to interact with the customer, it becomes easier to understand how the two provide greater benefit to business owners.

Throughout this issue, our contributors share their insights and experiences of bringing CCM together with CX strategies that are intended to bring about greater benefit to your organization and increase customer retention and growth as a result.

When addressing CCM, consider the CX aspect of your initiatives in relation to the customer journey. Take time to become a customer

yourself and use the tools you have in place to understand the benefits and frustrations your customers experience, firsthand.

On behalf of the Advisory Board, we thank you for your interest and support in DOCUMENT Strategy and encourage you to engage with us further by participating in our online and in-person events.

Most of all, we hope you enjoy this issue and welcome your feedback to help us better serve your needs.

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.

president Chad Griepentrog publisher Ken Waddell managing editor Erin Eagan [ erin@rbpub.com ] contributing editor Amanda Armendariz contributors Scott Draeger Ron Cameron Daniel Herndon Patrick Kehoe George Newton Alan Pelz-Sharpe David Winkler 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 ©2021 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.

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MEET THE DOCUMENT STRATEGY ADVISORY BOARD Paul Abdool is the CRO of WayPath Consulting, a Customer Experience Support Platform implementation organization. He uses his 20+ years of regulatory communications industry experience to help customers develop and optimize their customer communication strategies with process automation, workflow solutions and professional services.

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.

Will Morgan is an experienced industry analyst with expertise in the Customer Communications Services market. As Aspire’s Senior Research Analyst, he works alongside the wider team to provide advice, insight and vital intelligence to the company’s expanding customer base on both sides of the Atlantic. Before joining Aspire, Will worked with Keypoint Intelligence-InfoTrends’ Customer Communications and Business Development Advisory Services.

Pat McGrew helps companies perform better in the print hardware, software and printing services industries. Her experience spans all customer communication channelsand segments including transaction print, data-driven and static marketing, packaging and label print, textiles, and production commercial print using offset, inkjet, and toner. She is certified as a Master Electronic Document Professional by Xplor International, with lifetime status, and as a Color Management Professional by IDEAlliance.

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

When Communications Fail

How Ignoring Compliance Can Damage Your Brand Reputation In today’s fast-paced world, compliance is often thought of as a necessary evil that only hinders business. It is seen as a burden and a cost; however, it is crucial for your business’s success. While it can initially seem too costly, with the right approach, it can be both cost-saving and reputation-saving in the long run. Without a good compliance policy, you can suffer tremendous reputational damage and financial loss. https://documentmedia.com/article3161-How-Ignoring-Compliance-CanDamage-Your-Brand-Reputation.html

Consider This: Your New CCM System Will Likely Outlast the Requirements of Your Executive Team

When you think about updating your systems, you need to understand that your new system will likely outlast your executive team, their successors and their successors’ successors. You don’t need to remind them, but you need to think of your colleagues 10-15 years in the future before giving in to the fads, whims and fancies of people who aren’t going to be there to support you when their requirements no longer help you communicate with your clients. https://documentmedia.com/ article-3167-Consider-This-YourNew-CCM-System-Will-Likely-Outlast-the-Requirements-of-Your-Executive-Team.html

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Modernization of Document Capture Technology

Plenty has been written and will continue to be written about the modernization of document capture technology. After all, it’s not every day that tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon suddenly jump in and launch new products in seemingly mature legacy markets.

But they did, and their cloud-based capture services are proving to be very popular. However, it’s a little too easy, and in my opinion, misleading to see modern OCR & NLP tools as an upgrade on the old ones. https://documentmedia.com/article-3157Modernization-of-Document-Capture-Technology.html

A Remote Workforce

After more than a year of adapting business models due to COVID-19, 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. https://documentmedia.com/article-3153A-Remote-Workforce.html

Escaping the Pain of Migration

In the midst of shifting workforces, rapidly evolving customer expectations and newly emerging channels, upgrading to cloud-based B2C communications solutions has never been more attractive. Modern customer communication management solutions (CCMs) not only improve retention and satisfaction through effective communications, but also streamline workflows with easyto-use, browser-based tools. https://documentmedia. com/article-3148-Escapingthe-Pain-of-Migration.html

The communications we create and produce convert prospects to customers, deliver information, handle customer issues and trigger payments. 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. https://documentmedia. com/article-3147-WhenCommunications-Fail.html

Two Revolutions in Intelligent Process Automation

Until recently, intelligent process automation was a joke: most of the tools weren’t very intelligent, they addressed tasks, not processes, and they automated little because they had limited application and required human assistance. That’s changed and today intelligent process automation is truly possible: RPA automates tasks; intelligent capture digitizes content to feed RPA; AI makes both RPA and intelligent capture smarter; and next-gen process automation orchestrates and manages all the pieces in the process. https://documentmedia.com/article-3146-Two-Revolutions-inIntelligent-Process-Automation.html

APPLICATION ARTICLE Create docs, design processes, automate data capture without IT Providing non-technical users with the ability to design documents and create adaptive process solutions is a value most enterprise companies cannot afford to overlook. The added benefit of empowering your workforce no doubt leads to higher efficiency and overall better business orchestration, not to mention avoiding a heavy reliance on your IT department.

In the realm of customer communications, giving workforce users the power to create business documents and design customer correspondence without programming is essential. These business users want a simple design tool, not a complicated coding interface, to quickly create documents and manage templates.

When a company can provide this level of power to a typical business user, the gains are clear: achieve faster time-tomarket, quickly handle change requests and delivery customer messages across all print and digital channels.

No matter the enterprise or the industry — insurance, banks, health care, logistics — communicating with customers, processing incoming invoices and distributing outbound correspondence are keys to a fine-tuned business orchestration.

Papyrus Software’s signature tool allowing companies to make technology work in their favor is the Papyrus Business Designer.

This tool enables enterprises to empower its business users and work effectively in four key roles: 1. Designing business documents and customer communications using building blocks and assembling templates for batch, digital and on-demand production 2. Supporting data capture by training the machine with pattern recognition to achieve high automation of unstructured documents and emails 3. Enable enterprise teams to define adaptive process solutions, creating value streams with automation 4. Allow operators to design end-to-end mail production processes and automated outbound distribution Mastering business document design Giving business users a design tool to create documents and customer correspondence will ensure the enterprise operates quickly and effectively with all customer communications.

The Papyrus Business Designer is a WYSIWYG tool to create business documents from reusable elements in drag-and-drop fashion using intuitive GUIs. With Papyrus Business Designer’s simple design tool, clerks create documents and templates using centralized building

www.isis-papyrus.com 817.416.2345

BUSINESS DOC DESIGN

DATA CAPTURE

Mastering business

Supervised training for

document design across

automated data capture

applications and channels

of documents & emails

PROCESS DESIGNER

AUTOMATED DOC FACTORY

Business users create

Operation Designer delivers

tasks and goals to design

end-to-end automation

while they execute

of print and mail shop

blocks with version control. These building blocks ensure content remains consistent throughout the entire company.

Automate mail capture by training the machine Papyrus Business Designer for Capture allows business users to train the machine with pattern recognition to achieve full automation of unstructured documents and emails. Automating your inbound data collection allows your business to process invoices and requests faster, resulting in higher efficiency and smoother operating.

Freely design business value streams Adaptive Case Management is used to design, enhance and execute value streams that represent a variety of business applications and processes. It offers a unique and comprehensive feature set that covers everything needed in a business on a daily basis. With Papyrus Business Designer for ACM, users design and manage all sorts of value streams using a goal-oriented approach. They enable workflow designs that can also handle unforeseen events. Compliance is guaranteed due to business rule definitions.

Define, deploy multi-channel delivery process The Papyrus Operations Designer enables any user to design end-to-end mail production processes. These users take ownership of the entire lifecycle production. Powered by the Automated Document Factory, the Papyrus Operations Designer provides businesses with intelligent automation of all print and mail shop procedures.

IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE…

BY PATRICK KEHOE

We n e e d t o m ov e o n from our document-centric w ay s a n d e m b r a c e a modern approach

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the traditional printed document. As document professionals, we need to recognize that the world we live in is changing significantly and the model we are used to needs to change along with it. The static, page-based print or PDF document is being replaced by digital presentations and experiences that are much more dynamic in nature.

Think of drill down or progressive discovery in website and mobile applications, chatbots and even intelligent voice assistants like Siri and Alexa.

F

or all the changes we have had to make recently, I am suggesting one more.

It is time to change how we create and manage customer communications. Seriously, it is time.

There is an entire generation of people growing up now who will experience most of their purchasing, contracting and engagements with brands and with the world digitally. They are not confined to the mental constructs of

groundbreaking innovations like business user authoring, cloud-hosted solutions and, more recently, the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), the fundamentals in place for many really haven’t changed much.

Organizations still tend to take a document-centric approach throughout the entire document lifecycle: author, manage, approve, design, proof and edit communications vs. one that is more content-centric.

The impact of the document-centric approach has been the proliferation of document templates (print composition and email) across an enterprise — one for every flavor of a communication. Imagine a simple case of managing a single customer correspondence letter supporting a mortgage offering. While you might start with one letter, you actually have to create four variations of that letter to support your four mortgage product offerings. It doesn’t end there though, with each of those four variations requiring four more variations to address different state regulations that apply to the product offering. Now you have 16 different documents to manage. Of course, you want to make this available via print and PDF (16 templates), email (16 templates) and on your website (4 templates), so now you have 36 different documents and document templates to manage for one customer communication.

Managing these document templates and keeping the template library up to date takes up valuable resources and time. Each type of communication, whether it is print, email, SMS, web, video, etc., requires the message to be inputted and formatted to fit each touchpoint. This usually happens via different individuals for each channel.

Organizations still tend to take a document-centric approach throughout the entire document lifecycle: author, manage, approve, design, proof and edit communications vs. one that is more content-centric.

There is no ignoring the fact that customer communications today must be relevant and targeted to their audience. To achieve this goal, especially across multiple channels of communication, we need to embrace a modern approach.

Document management tools and the document-centric processes that support them have dominated our approach to managing customer communications over the last 30 years.

While this segment has seen some

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The process is rife with redundant work, wasted time, regulatory risk, delays and a lack of visibility and control. If you think about it, this is a monolithic approach in a digital society that is demanding flexibility and ease. Communications today are more than just documents and it’s time to retire this antiquated system that was developed before the true evolution of customer experience and omni-channel experiences.

What if we started to think about our communications and content in a different way? One that enables us to be more agile? To personalize more thoroughly? To leverage the dynamic nature that digital channels bring to our communications? I am suggesting we take a modularized content management approach to our customer communications.

Modularized content management requires us to break down our documents into content components that are managed as individual objects using a new paradigm that separates the content from the presentation layer and centralizes its management in a content hub. This approach enables us to leverage more intelligent ways of managing content, driving efficiency, gaining control and achieving deeper personalization across all channels. It requires a shift in our collective mentality to move from an all or nothing approach for changes in which you edit, review and approve a full document vs. focusing solely on the component that is changing.

Modular approaches are used successfully across multiple industries in different ways; now it is time for the customer communications management industry to really embrace the opportunities brought forth through this method. Modularity takes communications management to a different level. There is no longer a need to redundantly make the same edits in

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platform after platform. More importantly, modularization of content assists with compliance. The same content can be repurposed for multiple communications with different wrappers, headers and footers and across channels seamlessly. It allows for content curation and, therefore, promotes flexibility in building communications not only to drive compliance, but also to keep your brand consistent. Additionally, re-use of these pieces allows for more creativity.

Those in the financial services and insurance industries have a compelling case for the modular approach.

While each business line may be communicating a different message, there are many elements that are the same.

Low hanging fruit such as contact information, logos, copyrights and signatures are easily identified content components. More complex content, such as product descriptions, disclosures, terms and conditions, fees and calls to action, are also repeatedly duplicated across templates and can be componentized for greater control and efficiency. A content curator can select the correct messaging easily and deploy it across multiple channels. Modularity is a great solution for the insurance industry as it relates to policy building and customization for groups or individuals. Utilizing this approach also avoids one big issue in the document-centric model: incorrect content. The modular library is kept up to date and in compliance with current regulations.

Customer communications management platforms have had basic shared content for years, but limitations in the capabilities and, more importantly, a document-centric mindset have constrained a real move to modular content.

The good news is there is software on the market today to facilitate the process of content modularization to

make transitioning from traditional mono-templates to dynamic modular communications possible. Applying advances in AI, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) are increasingly utilized to accelerate migrations and content management.

These processes can identify duplicate and similar content, as well as inconsistencies within content and branding—and can interpret sentiment and readability. This content can then be optimized prior to importing it into the content hub for use in future communications. Applications with these kinds of built-in AI, ML and NLP functions have been known to reduce the time required to migrate existing customer files by as much as 99%.

With any change comes growing pains; companies implementing new systems must remain committed to the end goal. It is essential to have compliance, legal, IT and marketing on board supporting the change and development of the content. Remind the stakeholders: A modular system will reduce the effort required to deploy new communications and campaigns while supporting compliance and brand alignment requirements.

The demise of the fully document-centric model should be celebrated as we replace it with a dynamic content hub that helps transform content into live communications between you and your customer. O

PATRICK KEHOE is Executive Vice President of Product Management for Messagepoint, Inc. an AI-powered customer communications management solution that automates and simplifies the process of migrating, optimizing, authoring, and managing complex customer communications for non-technical (business) users. Patrick has more than 25 years of experience delivering business solutions for document processing, customer communications, and content management.

APPLICATION ARTICLE

Proven Industry Experience Gets Insurance Provider to the Finish Line Faster When a national insurance provider needed seamless development of insurance and billing communications to enrich their customer experience (CX), they turned to WayPath Consulting.

Our North American-based insurance company client provides membership, insurance, financial services, and travel offerings to nearly 10 million customers across fourteen states as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Quebec. Seeking to advance the freedom of mobility and improve traffic safety, this company enables its members to map routes, identify gas prices, locate travel discounts, book hotels, and access roadside assistance.

They needed a partner who would continue their forms development in OpenText Exstream as they worked through their conversion from a homegrown platform to the more modern Guidewire insurance platform. Requiring development of approximately 300 insurance and billing forms supporting Specialty Auto, Specialty Home, and Legacy Auto products, they found the right partner — WayPath Consulting.

The project resulted in 100% conversions of forms in scope, and it is important to note that the deliverables were met before the required deadlines. WayPath’s team, combined with the Guidewire platform, provided this insurance company with increased customized engagement with customers, flexible innovations, and efficient growth.

Every modern organization needs a reliable partner they can trust. WayPath is proud to be that partner for ambitious, progressive, and visionary organizations across a range of industries. Our on-shore team of subject matter experts will speed up your time to market, shorten client and project onboarding time, and improve your service level agreements.

WayPath will get you to the finish line faster.

WayPath’s Chief Revenue Officer Paul Abdool says, “We know the world of CCM is speeding up and customers want things done ‘yesterday.’ WayPath is excited to help increase that Speed to Market for all of our customers with our experienced team.”

With tight deadlines, a lack of resources, and several iterations required to appease Brand, Legal, and Statutory, the WayPath team was flexible and responsive with this valued client.

The conversion to a new platform flowed seamlessly, and the company was able to experience greater productivity and satisfaction and can now provide their expanding customer base with more personalized, efficient communications.

www.waypathconsulting.com websales@waypathconsulting.com

By Scott Draeger

FINDING ZEN IN YOUR VENN

What’s your position in the customer experience value chain?

Y

ou’ve been pivoting without stopping. You’ve thought you arrived at a “new normal” three times in two years.

You’ve been introduced to new colleagues that need new integrations. You realize performance is critical to the KPIs of other teams. The good news is that your skills of managing customer communications are in demand. The bad news is that your skills are in demand more than you know by many parts of the organization. Stressed?

Maybe it’s time to take a look at the Venn diagram of other systems that

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have become adjacent to your customer communications management (CCM) system and find some zen in that Venn.

Before we seek calm, we should become aware of our surroundings.

CCM technologies started out generating documents that support critical business and customer functions.

These fall into four general categories: pre-sale marketing communications, time of sale documents (quotes, contracts and onboarding), regular communications and exception-related communications. If we map these types of communications to new

adjacent technologies and to our peers, who employ those technologies, we see that our CCM systems are fundamentally interconnected with other systems that impact both customers and employees. You will also find that other technologies are beginning to overlap your CCM initiatives.

Maybe you have heard colleagues talking about how they are using these technologies. Maybe some new KPIs related to them are appearing on new dashboards. You might hear about them on analyst webinars. But most importantly, you may hear these in new funding discussions as your peers are building their 2022 budgets and threeyear plans that close in 2025.

Let’s imagine a Venn diagram of how these technologies overlap with your work. They may share data, content, approval, budget, team members or other resources. If these technologies start to overlap your projects, you may lose budget to them, which means it is important to open our ears and listen for the sounds of these adjacent technologies. Can you hear the hum of any of these buzzwords or their acronyms in your operations?

CJM Customer Journey Mapping CJO Customer Journey Orchestration CMS Content Management System CPQ Configure Price Quote CRM Customer Relationship Management CXM Customer Experience Management DAM Digital Asset Management DXP Digital Experience Platforms ECM Enterprise Content Management MAP Marketing Automation Platform MRM Marketing Resource Management WCM Web Content Management Each of these technologies has a purpose, proven ROI and a clear departmental owner. Your CX team probably has CJM, CJO, DXP and some CXM technologies. Your marketing operations team is likely running CMS, CRM, DAM, MAP, MRM and WCM systems while they engage with prospects who are seeking information about your offerings. Your sales operations team is a heavy user of CPQ, CRM and

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some ECM capabilities as they create documents that turn prospects to customers. Your call center is likely accessing CJM, ECM and CRM systems to deliver great service by seeing what information is informing the customer’s context.

For you, the challenge is to really understand how these systems overlap with your customer communication strategy. Working for an enterprise or third-party provider, you must adhere to strict regulations as the company generates highly complex communications. In contrast, many of the systems mentioned are starting to generate simple communications, like a CRM system that can generate a simple invoice.

Sometimes, these are explained as “finishing the process” or “low hanging fruit;” however, any communication that isn’t accountable to your strategy has the potential to disrupt the

customer experience you are working so hard to achieve.

The more communications these overlapping systems are allowed to generate, the more difficult it becomes to have a true handle on your company’s entire communication portfolio.

Losing control of certain communications means you lose approval and accountability to a central communication portfolio that is designed to generate consistent customer experiences.

Make no mistake: This confusion will rattle your zen for sure.

To find some zen in this Venn diagram, you need to accept that an organization’s varied teams need these communications. Once you accept this, you can focus on extending your communication expertise to other team members in a way that connects their communications to the overall communications strategy to ensure the delivery

of higher quality communications that remain true to the CX strategy of the business. Best of all, if you work as a team, you can help to improve customer communications, reduce operational costs and find your zen in a new Center of Excellence that makes it possible to drive revenue, increase customer loyalty and for you to exhale. O

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.

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LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION How to use AI to improve your customer experience

By George Newton

M

any of today’s business owners are using AI tech to help improve customer experience. Here are some ways where you can use AI to leave a lasting impression.

Create Better Targeted Ads No one would say they like being advertised to. Many feel that they’re seeing more ads than ever before, and they’re more intrusive. That can sound discouraging since you have to

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get your product in front of the customer, and that means advertising.

How can you ensure they won’t dismiss it out of hand?

Many businesses are using AI machine learning to create much more targeted ads. AI can learn more about a customer, thanks to search histories, customer profiles, online behavior and more. The more data it has, the better the ad for the customer. As such, they’ll be much more likely to feel favorable towards an ad and make a purchase.

Offering AI Chatbots This is something you may have come across online. “You want to be able to answer customers’ questions whenever possible, but you can’t be online 24/7,” says business blogger Kelly Cassidy, from Write My X and 1 Day 2 Write. “A chatbot will be available all the time, and can give most customers what they need.”

AI chatbots are able to answer most questions a customer may have, offering advice or directing them to the

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correct page. When customers use a chatbot, they’ll be more likely to stay and buy from your site, rather than getting frustrated and bouncing when they can’t find what they need.

Personalized Search This is something that you’re already seeing in action on many big sites. If you have a lot of different products on your site, then it can take a long time to search through it all. For example, if you run a housewares site, you could stock hundreds if not thousands of mugs. How will the customer find one that suits their needs?

AI-powered personalized search uses customer data to help narrow down the search to what the customer wants. You see this on Netflix. They have thousands of titles, so they use that data to bring you what you may like, based on things like your viewing history and what you have in your watch later list.

Anticipating and Preventing Issues Customer service AI is becoming so sophisticated that it can predict if issues are going to happen and take steps to remedy the situation. When this happens, it improves the customer experience as they don’t have to reach out to the company to put things right.

There are lots of ways you can see this happening. “For example, a hotel can offer early check-in to someone whose flight came in early, or a printer service can let you know when you’re running low on ink and offer a link to order more,” says Ruby-Mae Ingram, a marketing writer at Academicbrits and Brit Student. “Having a company anticipate these issues quickly makes the customer experience much better.”

Eliminating the Need For Returns Right now, around 30% of all online purchases are returned. That’s frustrating for both you and the customer, and

you want to find a way to reduce this.

You’ll never get the number down to 0%, but AI can help reduce returns by offering help to customers.

A good AI will be able to use data to see if a customer is likely to return items.

For example, if they have multiples of the same clothing item in their basket, that’s a sign that they don’t know which size they should buy. The AI chatbot can come in, and offer help with sizing.

These are just a few ways AI is currently helping enhance the customer service experience. With so much available, you’ll be able to really start making the shopping experience on your site as good as it can be. O

GEORGE J. NEWTON is a business development manager, writing with Essay Help and Dissertation Writing Service. He focuses on tech in business, and it helps growth. He also writes for Coursework Help.

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EXTREME CLOUD MAKEOVER

By Daniel Herndon

A phased approach is key to successful migration

N

ot so long ago, we used to anticipate Ty Pennington’s dramatic weekly reveal of a seemingly impossible renovation in an impressively short amount of time. The homeowners — and viewers — would be in awe of the transformation that happened in just weeks. That transformation is not unlike the one that businesses recently went through when the pandemic accelerated many teams’ cloud adoption.

For industries that work with large amounts of content, extensive document management processes and systems can often be viewed as a barrier to cloud migration. And although it would be nice to have professionals show up at the office and take care of all the work, unfortunately, businesses and organizations don’t always have that luxury. Luckily there’s a way teams can take their content banks into the next digital generation.

Now that we’re distancing ourselves from the immediate needs caused by unexpected remote work, IT teams can

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strategically approach their migration and lean on a phased approach for a smooth process. Cloud migration is a major undertaking and should be treated as such. The good news is that there are clear steps IT teams can take to lower the barrier to entry for cloud adoption. And utilizing a phased approach can prevent scope overload and an overwhelmed staff.

Navigating the Move to the Cloud The first phase IT teams should consider is arguably the most important: strategic planning. During the planning stage, well-defined objectives and success metrics should be set. Consider business, functional and technical requirements and objectives, and make sure they all align.

Devote the necessary time and resources the first time. Identify all the stakeholders that are involved or impacted and develop a responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) to ensure participation at the right levels.

Smooth Migration Once the strategic planning phase has been completed and all parties are invested in the process, the inventory phase can begin. This analysis and audit of existing systems will require many resources and take a lot of time. Getting buy-in from stakeholders ahead of time will help with a smoother transition — it is not just an IT effort.

Though the process can be lengthy and resource-dense, it does pose the opportunity to take inventory of existing systems and evaluate their effectiveness. The audit and analysis can give insights into what is needed based on how business operations have evolved over time. This inventory is likely to reveal some processes that are out-ofdate or no longer useful. These should be phased out prior to migration or even left behind during the process. To lean into the analogy: “don’t move old or broken furniture into a new house.”

Phasing the breakdown of systems — both horizontal like the email

infrastructure and vertical such as a CRM — significantly helps this process.

Each system has different requirements in terms of software updates and integrations and must be documented. Beyond the system maintenance, IT leaders will need to consider things like communicating this process to impacted users or key stakeholders, so they are notified about downtime or disruptive processes.

Finalizing the Process Even when all the systems have been migrated to the cloud, there is a crucial final step to measuring success.

Evaluation is one of the most important steps IT teams can take to ensure continued progress, ongoing stakeholder buy-in and consistent delivery.

Perform a retrospective after the migration to ensure that all systems are working as expected, stakeholder expectations have been met, success criteria have been accomplished and the organization is maximizing their investment. Conducting this analysis will not only ensure that

all stakeholders understand the benefits of the migration, but also validate the resources and time spent making the move.

Opportunity Awaits By now, the operational benefits of cloud adoption are widely acknowledged. In addition to taking extensive or manual processes into the next generation, cloud adoption has its competitive advantages too. It can help companies distinguish themselves from their employees and prospects and provide an edge to satisfying existing customers. The growing workforce wants access to the best technology. A modern, cloud-based infrastructure — and demonstrating the company’s willingness to evolve — is attractive when weighing career choices.

Failing to invest in comprehensive analysis to understand the scope of systems and not researching various options — or hoping there’s a one-stop solution — can create challenges for a successful transition. IT teams should ensure

they are taking the appropriate measures to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, strategically plan and audit systems accordingly. This process can keep the transition on track and minimize disruption for users. And ultimately, it can create better visibility into existing tools and create a more consistent ongoing audit process to enhance productivity and overall business operations. O

DANIEL HERNDON is the director of cloud services at Laserfiche. As a product manager, the customer is his passion, and using high-energy leadership and a data-driven approach to delivering products that customers love is his primary goal. Herndon brings 20 years of experience delivering consumer software products over a diverse career that includes Microsoft, Expedia, Zillow and most recently a healthcare analytics startup called Caradigm. Herndon, a native of Los Angeles, joined Laserfiche in 2018 and is a graduate of Cornell University where he studied architecture.

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By David Winkler

WHAT’S NEXT IN

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT? The four biggest trends executive leaders should look to embrace in 2022

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s we forge into a new year and leave 2021 behind, many businesses are still adapting their information management strategies to account for document sharing, anywhere-anytime access and data security concerns as many employees still work remotely — and may remain doing so for the indefinite future. Last year, we saw a strong focus on remote document management and cloud document storage as well as a push to improve workflows and collaboration across the enterprise.

Companies looking to strengthen their information management strategies turned to more practical, cost-effective and easy-to-use technology solutions that were proven to yield immediate return on investment.

Many companies will continue on this course into 2022. But what else is in store for the new year?

Information Challenges Existed Well Before the Pandemic Well before COVID-19 started impacting

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the business world, companies were already struggling with gathering, managing and extracting value from the sea of documents moving in and out of their offices. Companies were constantly challenged to secure and regulate information while making it easily accessible when it was scattered everywhere, processed separately and managed by different people.

The main reasons companies struggle with information management:  Huge volumes of information is being created and received every day;  Information is coming from different sources, such as employees, managers, external partners, customers, auditors and government entities;  Information flows through multiple channels, including postal mail, emails, faxes, web forms, digital files and data imports in different formats;  Information is living in disconnected silos, from file cabinets and fax machines to inboxes and various enterprise systems only accessible from the office or by certain people; and

 The lack of standardized controls have led to a fragmented view where companies don’t know what information they have, where it is, who has access to it and whether or not the policies for retrieval and compliance are being followed.

Needless to say, the pandemic forcing the majority of companies to move to a work-from-home model compounded these challenges tenfold.

Trends to Expect for 2022 Industry analysts predict that executive leaders will be looking for three things in 2022: growth, digitalization and efficiency. In order to realize these objectives and propel their organizations forward, executive leaders will need to look to embrace these four information management technology trends: 1. AI and Biometrics Will Take Document Classification and Authentication to New Levels: Depending on which industry stats you follow, the global AI market

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was valued at $62 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at CAGR of 40 percent from 2021 to 2028. AI-driven data capture functionality promises to drastically increase customers’ data entry speed and accuracy. We will see an increase in AI and machine-learning (ML) continuous authentication solutions during the next year to analyze documents for compliance as well as case and account management where it will detect anomalies in patterns within documents — both in physical-capture and digital machine-generated documents.

AI and ML have moved from a curiosity to a necessity and priority during the pandemic, particularly for remote workers. Expect to see AI/ML models constructed for advanced document classification to obtain higher levels of accuracy (i.e. 97 percent+) versus current classification technologies which are optical character recognition (OCR)and/or text-based (keywords matching).

In addition, we’ll see biometrics used to continuously authenticate document viewing and access for cloud-based content services.

2. Distributed Enterprise Models Will Grow into the Norm: Distributed enterprises reflect a digital-first, remote-first business model to improve employee experiences; digitalize consumer and partner touchpoints; and build out product experiences. Distributed enterprises are better positioned to serve the needs of remote employees and consumers, who are driving demand for virtual services and hybrid workplaces. This model requires digitizing everything that physically moves — from paper to processes to information. Gartner estimates those companies that enable a distributed enterprise model will achieve 25-percent faster revenue growth than peer companies that’s don’t.

3. Hyperautomation Will Reach Warp Drive: Hyperautomation involves identifying what work processes to streamline and standardize; selecting the appropriate tools and strategies; driving agility through the reuse of the automated processes; and extending

their capabilities using various technologies such as document management software; AI, ML, robotic process automation (RPA), business process management (BPM), intelligent business process management suites (iBPMS) and integration platform as a service (iPaaS) — to name a few. The benefits of hyperautomation are not only to save costs, boost productivity and gain efficiencies through automating manual processes, but also to capture, process, and integrate data into other enterprise applications. Organizations can then use that data to make faster, more intelligent business decisions.

Solutions that can manage end-toend process automation should be in high demand.

4. Privacy-Enhancing Computation Will Go From Nice-to-Have to MustHave: Data breaches aren’t going anywhere. In fact, our new world of remote work has presented more opportunities for data breaches than ever before. By September 2021, the number of data breaches had already exceeded the previous year by 17 percent. As companies worked to quickly get their remote and/or hybrid workplaces up and running, unfortunately, security wasn’t on the top list of technology concerns. However, they now see it as an imperative to remain competitive in today’s mobile business environment. Enter privacy-enhancing computation (PEC). PEC is designed specifically for the increasing need to share data while maintaining security and privacy. Businesses must be able to reassure consumers, customers and partners that any data stored with them is safe. PEC incorporates technologies that protect data while it is in use — allowing different parties within a business ecosystem to extract value from the data and get actionable results from it in a secure and privacy-sensitive manner. Because enterprise information management (EIM) vendors are engaged to ultimately handle these volumes of information — whether it be physical documents or electronic, or involve inbound capture,

management, and secure storage — organizations should have a high level of confidence in their partners’ technologies, processes and protocols.

That’s why security and industry certifications will matter even more in the coming year.

No More Passes for Companies That Haven’t Figured It Out Pre-pandemic, we saw a business landscape where companies were slowly moving from a heavy, document-centric workstyle to one that was more data centric. However, COVID-19 fasttracked that movement. Companies found themselves needing to act quickly, but being smart about the technology they deployed to address the changing business marketplace.

People around the world have rapidly increased their technology adoption and usage since the outbreak of COVID-19. As a result, they have higher expectations that digital experiences work well — whether it be remote work, online shopping or streaming entertainment. While they previously were willing to forgive companies struggling with pandemic-related disruptions, people will expect companies to have successfully solved those problems in the coming year.

Fifty-six percent of U.S. consumers believe that companies should have figured out how to handle pandemic-related disruption by now. Fifty-eight percent of consumers expect companies to have marshalled their digital resources so they’ll be able to respond better if the country is plunged into another public health emergency.

Bootstrapping digital transformation out of business necessity will move to building a well-thought-out information management strategy for more sustainable benefits in the long term. O

DAVID WINKLER is Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Docufree, a leading provider of enterprise information management (EIM) and digital business process services. For more information, visit www.docufree.com.

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IT’S NOT AS SIMPLE AS YOU THINK DON’T OVERLOOK THE COMPLEXITY OF ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE

BY ALAN PELZ-SHARPE

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ven though industry analysts feel the need to label and sort enterprise technologies into neat silos, this practice has always been of limited value — as it often makes navigating a buyer toward the right product for their needs much harder than it should be. For example, once upon a time, we called it ‘workflow.’ That made sense, as this was a technology used to manage the ‘flow of work’… ergo ‘workflow’. Likewise, we used to call ‘document management,’ because it was a term used for the technologies you would manage documents with. You get the general drift.

Today, we live in a world of cognitive content services, ambient search and hyper-automation, with multiple sects, gangs and subgroups lurking around the

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corner from RPA to insight engines. All this effort to label, often entirely different products, into a single category helps nobody or very few. Take, for example, all the enterprise search tools in the market today. It’s in our nature to simplify things, but the ambiguities and differences between, say, the Microsoft Azure Cognitive Search product, ElasticSearch, Searchblox or Sinequa are essential to understand. They are all enterprise search products, but they are all quite different and incredibly complex.

Or, to put it into more practical and hypothetical terms, imagine that four technology vendors are designated as ‘leaders’ by the experts; I want the best technology, so I will look at these four and nothing else. It sounds sensible, but in our experience, this simplification process of identifying so-called leaders does

little more than blinker and potentially blind you from finding the right solution to your needs. To quote Albert Einstein, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That’s our job as industry analysts, to remove the unnecessary complexity and focus on what matters. Let me give you an example. We wrote about Adobe Liquid Mode and Google Workspace, both interesting, but technically very different products in and of themselves. What we tried to highlight in our research was that they both enable accessibility features that are critical to hearing, sight or the motor-impaired, and improve everyone’s usability experience. We could have dived deeply into the underlying AI technology in both products, but to what end?

On one level, this is a screed against Magic Quadrants and Forrester Waves,

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but it is important to note that we know the analysts who write these reports and have huge respect for their work. Such reports have value and are typically compiled with rigor and draw upon extensive analysis and knowledge. But they are not and should never be used as an excuse to pull together a shortlist blindly. The value they bring is in measuring and comparing market leadership; not for creating a shortlist of products.

You, the buyer, need to find the right technical and cultural fit to meet your organization’s requirements. That’s a very different thing. It’s hard work, but it’s worth doing correctly. And the key to doing it correctly is to define your business problem first. Nobody has a CRM, ERP or ECM problem; they have real-world issues and improvements to address. Determine your goal first,

figure out how to reach that goal; in many instances, you will find that you do not need to buy new enterprise software; in others, you may need to invest in technology and augment what you already have rather than rip and replace. Once you have identified what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it, you move forward.

If new technology is required, keep an open mind about which technology firm can best help you. Look at how others have solved similar problems and engage with your peers. In our experience, a good shortlist may well include a mix of different products that would live on different quadrants and waves. Assuming you have the budget, always bring the shortlisted vendors into your location, spend time with them, get to know them, and how they will approach this particular project.

Again, in our experience, this is where surprises occur, often the ‘best’ technology is immediately discounted, and a lesser-known vendor emerges as the perfect fit.

So why do enterprises rely on quadrants and waves to select products?

Well, typically, they use these constructs to save time and energy. Rather than spend months of research, they use Gartner or Forrester to create the shortlist under the theory the shortlist may not completely match the org’s needs, but it is good enough. In addition, quadrants and waves are perceived to reduce risk — if a vendor is on the list, the vendor has been vetted.

If we do the research ourselves and find a small company that matches our needs, how do we know they will even be in business next year?

Though this all seems sensible and logical, it raises many issues. You may save a bit of time, but there is no reason to spend months researching a suitable shortlist; it’s not as demanding or arduous as you may imagine. Just because a product comes from a large technology vendor, the vendors that typically dominate MQ’s and Waves, there is no guarantee that the product will be around or supported in the future.

There are multiple reasons for this; though they may be a large vendor, this

product may be an insignificant part of their overall business. Similarly, large vendors are always pushing you to move to the new version, platform or newly acquired product. In contrast, small vendors are typically dedicated to one product; it is what they do, period, and are in it for the long run. This being said, you always need to undertake some due diligence on how committed and sustainable the vendor or the product is, regardless of the size of the company.

As the occasionally accurate, Wikipedia defines it, “Categorization and classification allow humans to organize things, objects and ideas that exist around them and simplify their understanding of the world.” The keyword to note here is ‘simplify,’ and the danger we face is that enterprises often deal with highly complex situations requiring highly complex solutions.

Simplify, simplify, simplify was a mantra of the Quakers, and it’s a good one, but enterprise software isn’t simple, it’s complicated, and we need to respect that or face the consequences.

For sure, technology vendors themselves are often poor at marketing and tend to overcomplicate the situation, focusing on their technology rather than the value it brings. But under the covers, a lot is going on, and significant differences in approach, architecture and how to deploy technologies effectively should never be ignored or unnecessarily simplified. O

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.

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By Ron Cameron

PRIORITIZING CLOUD

WORKLOADS

D

igital transformation is an overused buzzword.

Digital transformation is simply giving your users the ability to work electronically, and by doing so, to be more efficient and productive. In addition, the pandemic accelerated adoption of digital technologies — pushing organizations across all industries to quickly roll out new cloud services to better accommodate remote work and ensure business continuity.

Even when the pandemic is behind us, it’s widely accepted that the cloud-enabled workplace is here to stay. With this in mind, what do organizations need to do to continue their cloud adoption as the dust settles?

Navigating the Road Ahead Cloud usage can’t slide back. Instead, now is the time to develop new cloud workflows that create value, efficiencies and result in further transformation. This effort will require putting certain foundational tools in place that enable information workers to quickly and easily collaborate on content and initiate workflows from anywhere. In other words, the path to IT modernization in the cloud must begin with the systems that not only store and process

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Where to start with modernizing IT

business-critical content and data — but do much, much more with it.

As a result of the remote work boom, businesses realize that much of their business-critical information is spread across a variety of systems and platforms, or in some cases, not even digitized.

Connecting all this content and data across disparate sources within the company is a significant challenge. The question now is how to connect this patchwork of information and provide ubiquitous, intuitive access to all employees — making information and insights available whenever and wherever they need it.

To enable this collaborative workplace nirvana, enterprises need to consider four key strategic initiatives: Future-Proof Your IT Stack With the Cloud Modern cloud solutions are designed to work as part of a connected IT ecosystem, and organizations must ensure that all aspects of their IT stack can operate in an optimal manner within this environment.

Many organizations have been reticent to modernize their legacy document management systems, especially if they have made heavy investments in complex on-premises systems that failed to deliver on expectations or that

have embarked on daunting migration projects that did not go as smoothly as promised by vendors. The reality is that existing solutions still provide value to many organizations. But even in these instances, the price tag for ongoing maintenance, the cost of having to commit internal and external resources for support, the expensive hardware required to run legacy solutions, and lack of integration are issues that organizations must still contend with.

A more effective approach is to adopt cloud platforms with robust APIs that work in harmony with existing legacy systems until the time is right for them to be retired. This provides a low-risk approach to modernization that allows organizations to migrate content and data from older legacy systems at a pace and manner that best fits their needs — versus the often painful “rip-and-replace” model.

Go Low Code or Bust Low-code platforms offer more flexibility and control — and require less IT expertise and involvement — than traditional custom-code alternatives. With an agile system that is easy to configure, users are empowered to choose, implement and integrate the specific templates and workflows they need, when they need

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE! them. Instead of being overwhelmed by a complex system, information workers can naturally find ways to adapt the system to their own needs.

What’s more, low-code platforms drive user buy-in. When employees are involved in designing and initiating their own workflows, they inherently have more stake in the system because they have a sense of ownership.

Stay in the Security Lane Any organization deploying a cloud-based content services platform must ensure it addresses the necessary compliance, privacy and security controls. Companies should not attempt to reinvent the wheel and instead rely on solutions that leverage the security and compliance investment that Microsoft has made in Azure.

To date, Microsoft has invested over one billion dollars in research and development for security and compliance, and this investment is baked into Azure. Protection is delivered at a software level and across physical data centers, infrastructure and

operations. Independent audit reports verify that Azure adheres to numerous security, compliance, privacy and regulatory standards. It is pretty much impossible for any one organization to match this hardened level of defense with their own IT infrastructure.

Fuel Up on AI Deploying a platform that blends intelligent capture, AI-powered classification, data extraction and RPA-enabled workflows will deliver immediate value. Modern cloud solutions that feature innovative technology for intelligently automating repetitive, mundane tasks are a must for modernizing an IT environment.

AI-infused information management platforms can be trained to recognize, identify, classify and process high volumes of incoming documents from any source to accelerate decision making, enhance customer service and drive innovation within a company.

An effective approach to modernization should begin with a content-first

strategy. Organizations will benefit from having an agile low-code solution that meets today’s robust security and compliance requirements, as well as one that integrates innovative technologies like AI. Documents and information are the lifeblood of any organization’s day-to-day existence. Making sure both flow as efficiently as possible should be an essential goal of digital transformation. O

Since KnowledgeLake’s inception in 1999, RON CAMERON, president and co-founder, has taken great pride in creating a positive company culture where employee and customer satisfaction are the highest priority.

KnowledgeLake is a cloud-native solution for document processing that enables organizations to capture, process and manage their content in a single platform.

The company combines intelligent document capture and robotic process automation (RPA) to increase productivity. Two million users worldwide employ KnowledgeLake to work faster and more efficiently.

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WHAT THE ANALYSTS SAY… From delivering a better customer experience to utilizing the latest technology to reduce costs, we’re always looking to achieve our ever-evolving objectives and goals. To help us do that are trusted advisers.

To make sure you’re in the know with the most up-to-date information, we’ve compiled a list of recently released vendor evaluations and research reports. Take a look and then download and/or purchase the full report to learn more.

The 2021 CCM-CXM Service Provider Aspire Leaderboard This update to Aspire’s interactive, self-service vendor evaluation tool builds on the success of the CCM Technology Vendor Aspire Leaderboard, with the addition of North American CCM and CXM Service Providers.

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Technology Arc for Intelligent Digital Content, 2021 Aragon Research introduces its Technology Arc for Intelligent Digital Content, 2021. This new report is a rework of the previously named Technology Arc for Digital Transaction Management and Enterprise Content and is focused on the broad and overlapping spectrum of technologies and services used by business and technology leaders to leverage content. This Technology Arc is focused on helping businesses make investment decisions in the broad set of technologies that enable them to create, share, augment, reuse, and edit diverse sets of content. It features 32 technology profiles that are split between the emerging, adopting, and mature arcs. aragonresearch.com/thearagon-research-technologyarc-for-intelligent-digitalcontent-2021/

Download and/or purchase the full report to learn more.

Madison Advisors Post Composition Solutions Market Study Once considered tools to “fix” applications prior to print production, today post composition software has become a multifaceted, cost-effective solution that assists organizations in normalizing disparate composition programs and legacy data streams, allowing for reliable delivery and enhancement of client communications across omni-channel distribution channels, and enabling a step up to sophisticated customer experience management (CXM). Madison Advisors’ “Post Composition Solutions Market Study” evaluates six companies that include post composition software as part of their portfolios of offerings: the solutions’ post comp differentiators and pricing, and how each provider is meeting changes in the marketplace. madison-advisors.com/product/post-composition-solutions-market-study/

Essential Guidance: Records Management

IDC Worldwide eSignature Software Vendor Assessment

Too many companies treat managing business records cavalierly. Managing business records isn’t optional. Read this eBook to understand the challenges of over-retention and that records-enablement across your IT landscape is possible. Learn about the correct process for records enablement, as well as details about the four major phases: general preparation, specific preparation, execution, and ongoing. Records management isn’t optional, but it doesn’t have to bust your budget or consume all of your time.

Download “How to RecordsEnable Your Information Systems” from Doculabs today. info.doculabs.com/howto-records-enable-yourinformation-systems

An electronic signature (eSignature) is a legally agreed upon replacement for uniquely identifiable physical acceptance of a document. eSignature solutions improve the efficiency and the experience surrounding B2B and B2C document workflows. eSignature technology enables workflows to remain digital, leading to reduction in transaction time and cost, increased security, and improved employee, partner, and customer experiences. The contribution of eSignature technology to business continuity became glaringly evident during the pandemic, as gaps were exposed in organizations without end-to-end digitally transformed processes.

This report looks at current trends and evaluates 12 key vendors offering eSignature solutions. www.idc.com/getdoc. jsp?containerId=US46742320 DOCUMENTmedia.com winter.2021

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SPONSORED CONTENT

THE SEARCH FOR CCM/CXM What is the best choice for your company’s customer communications management and customer experience management?

You need to find the solution that has the features and the company with the know-how that best fits into your strategy. To help you find the answer we have gathered a short list of companies, any of which might be the perfect fit for your business and your specific needs. Take a moment and give each company a good look, check out their websites and details, and then send an email or give them a call.

Since its inception, Messagepoint’s innovations have changed the Customer Communications Management landscape. We brought you the first cloud CCM solution, the only full-featured business user authoring solution, patented Variation Management, and the first AI-powered content optimization and migration solution with Rationalizer.

We’ve done it again. Messagepoint has expanded the capabilities of our intelligent content hub to now give you end-to-end control over your customer communications across all channels. With the recent introduction of Messagepoint Composer and Messagepoint ECP, Messagepoint adds powerful composition, production, and archiving capabilities. To learn more, visit www.messagepoint.com. www.messagepoint.com | info@messagepoint.com | 800.492.4103

O’Neil’s ONEsuite CCM and CX Platform enables you to work from ONE integrated platform while transforming the entire customer experience. From Data Analytics and Business Intelligence, Content Creation and Delivery, Sales and Marketing and Omnichannel Communications, ONEsuite has all the tools you need to know your customer, communicate with them more effectively, and improve customer experience and satisfaction.

ONEsuite was recently recognized by national industry analysts, securing a leadership position on the CCM-CXM Service Provider Aspire Leaderboard, a dynamic, digital-first, positioning grid that ranks service providers across the CCM and CXM industries.

www.oneildigitalsolutions.com | mark.rosson@oneildata.com | 310.448.6400

OpenText Exstream leads in Capability and Flexibility — modes of deployment, application, operation, and integration requirements. Our solution supports deployments off cloud, in the customer choice of cloud, or as an OpenText managed solution with full functionality. Exstream supports all needs for batch, on-demand, and interactive communications. Our CCM software solution supports all communication types — data intensive communications, long documents, and digital channels. Further integration into customer systems of record (CRM, ERP etc.) as well as into the OpenText Experience Platform for Communications is unmatched.

www.opentext.com/exstream | 800.499.6544

Papyrus Software is an expert player and industry leader for more than 30 years in providing standard software solutions for the complete customer engagement cycle to the world’s largest organizations.

The Papyrus CCM Platform for documents and real-time messaging integrates INBOUND and OUTBOUND communications and provides a unified platform for batch/online/ad-hoc and interactive correspondence, eliminating the need for point solutions. The Omni-Channel experience is enhanced with a closed-loop of incoming and outgoing communications, across multiple touch-points, devices, channels and over time.

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

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“When it comes to CCM deployments, we know a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. That’s why we’ve built the only any-premise CCM solution on the planet. Deployable on-premise, as a hybrid, SaaS, or hosted managed service, Quadient’s Inspire Suite handles your most complex communication challenges — at every stage of your growth. With the highest-rated rendering engine on the planet and an NPS score of 97%, Quadient Inspire delivers unmatched speed and scalability, with no unexpected fees.

We’re in the business of customer success. Your success. But don’t take our word for it — read our customer reviews. Then, let’s connect.”

www.quadient.com/intelligent-communication/customer-communications | info@quadient.com | 866.883.4260

Sefas is the only complete omnichannel CCM/CXM solution in the market, unifying all customer communications irrespective of channel and format. This enables us to generate insights and analytics that our customers use to enhance customer satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value. The Sefas solution, augmented by strategic partners, is interactive and automated and plays a key role in improving customer experience. We centralize information in an easily accessible manner and enable true omnichannel processing based on customer preference, with no impact to legacy applications.

www.sefas.com | 781.425.5060

Smart Communications is a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations. Its Conversation Cloud™ platform uniquely delivers personalized, omnichannel conversations across the entire customer experience, empowering companies to succeed in today’s digital-focused, customer-driven world while also simplifying processes and operating more efficiently. Smart Communications is headquartered in the UK and serves more than 650 customers from offices located across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Smart Communications’ Conversation Cloud platform includes the enterprise-scale customer communications management (CCM) power of SmartCOMM™, forms transformation capabilities made possible by SmartIQ™ and the trade documentation expertise of SmartDX™. To learn more, visit smartcommunications.com. www.smartcommunications.com | www.linkedin.com/company/smart-communications | 800.986.6810

WayPath Consulting prides itself on two decades of technology problem-solving expertise. Our team averages over a decade of tenure. We understand the complexities, the ins and outs, and potential landmines of setting up and growing positive digital experiences. Our on-shore team will speed up your time to market, shorten client and project onboarding time, and improve your service level agreements.

Every modern organization needs a reliable partner they can trust. WayPath is proud to be that partner for ambitious, progressive, and visionary organizations across a range of industries. With WayPath, you can take the faster path.

www.waypathconsulting.com | websales@waypathconsulting.com | 877.334.4266

Xpertdoc’s industry-leading solutions ranging from entry-level document generation to full-scale enterprise document automation — allow companies to simplify, optimize and automate consistent document processes, from creation to delivery, and stay ahead of their competition. And with our cutting-edge API integration, Xpertdoc can scale along with your business.

Our innovative and intuitive solutions empower business users to easily and efficiently create, generate, manage, deliver, store, and e-sign better documents, faster, resulting in improved communications, accelerated business processes, increased productivity, and reduced dependence on IT.

www.xpertdoc.com | info@xpertdoc.com | 866.961.9111 DOCUMENTmedia.comsummer.2020 winter.2021 DOCUMENTmedia.com

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Think About It / RICHARD MEDINA /

/ SCOTT DRAEGER /

“PROCESS MINING SOFTWARE IS DESIGNED TO ANALYZE EVENT LOGS AND OTHER DATA FROM PROCESSES IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY PROCESS IMPROVEMENT AND AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITIES. FOR CONTENT-CENTRIC PROCESSES IN PARTICULAR, THE NEW PROCESS MINING TOOLS CAN BE INVALUABLE IN HELPING YOU ANALYZE, OPTIMIZE, MIGRATE AND MONITOR THEM.”

“IN THE PAST YEAR, COVID-19-RELATED UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD HAS COST MORE THAN $36 BILLION. 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.”

/ ANDY FEEST /

/ ALEX MORGAN /

“In 2021, the average cost of a data breach in the US was $9.05, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report.”

“For the longest time, many organizations have delayed or postponed modernizing their customer communications platforms, preferring to stick with the “if it isn’t broke” approach. That said, some — compelled by necessity and the significant long-term benefits of a modern CCM tool — do decide to take on the painful task of migration. In the long run, due to the savings of having fewer pieces to maintain going forward, it was considered worth the cost. / BOB LARRIVEE /

“In a recent survey asking, “Do you feel that your company will revert back to a more traditional work model post COVID-19, or transition to a different model?” 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.”