It would seem, given the emphasis on technology by businesses, that most companies would have digital processes down. But the truth is, they really don’t.
“There are still so many organizations that are still very paper heavy,” says Jessica Dynia, Branch Sales Manager at Blue Technologies, Inc. “It’s a time-consuming operation just to get every-day paperwork processed — an order or an invoice. Workflows are essentially manual, and they don’t need to be.”
Other organizations have digital scanning, storing and retrieving processes down, and they collaborate through software tools to communicate and manage workflows. However, they’re still not as efficient as they could be, and that’s costing them in both time and money.
Smart Business spoke with Dynia about digital tools to improve efficiency and how to incorporate them into any organization.
What tends to hold organizations back from going digital?
Organizations tend to say that a digital transition has been on their plate for years. Their delays can usually be attributed to the belief that the transition would be cumbersome, or a huge ordeal, so they continue to put it off. That becomes a cycle. In the meantime, accounts payable and accounts receivable are bogged down with manual processes, work is getting overlooked or shuffled to the bottom of the pile, which leads to missed deadlines.
What they often don’t realize is that once digital workflows are in place, the results are immediate and apparent. By capturing data from invoices the moment they come in, they can pay out quicker and likely take advantage of vendor incentives for early or on-time pay that could lead to significant savings. Manual tasks that once took up the time of a high-salaried staffers are digitized, freeing them up for more important tasks. Critical aspects such as approvals are sped up, cash processing time is shortened, workflows are streamlined and greater visibility is created throughout the process.
Who can help organizations with their digital transition?
This transition is made much easier with the help of a managed services provider. They will work with an organization to understand how work moves through their systems. They then make software recommendations, sticking around once those have been installed to customize them so that all manual processes transition to digital. They’ll ensure work moves to the department where it needs to go and gets the sign offs that are required. They’ll also illustrate the oversight that these systems offer so that workflow can be tracked from start to finish.
Further, these systems include storage that allows organizations to digitally maintain all the formerly manual paperwork so that, whenever a file needs to be recalled, locating the document is easy and less subject to human error as it would be if it were filed away in a cabinet incorrectly, or not filed at all. That can be a major benefit for any audit situations, giving organizations peace of mind that they know exactly where to go to get all of their information.
These digital systems also connect with cloud services that the organization may already be using. That not only expands how much storage is available to the company, but it also works well with companies that have employees working remote, allowing them to save and access files from anywhere.
Organizations can also utilize copiers to skip otherwise manual steps in the workflow. An employee could sign into their cloud service directly on that machine, scan their document and upload it directly to the cloud, moving that into the workflow process. Rather than papers passing through lot of hands, that process becomes automated.
By working with a managed services provider that has subject matter experts who are certified and trained, organizations get a high level of technical capability. The managed services provider will install the software, customize it and address any questions that might arise through the transition. They’ll also make sure that the software stays up to date. That kind of support makes digital transition fast and easy.
INSIGHTS Technology is brought to you by Blue Technologies, Inc.
