Document Management, Content Management & BPM

Compliance on trial: CCube Solutions

Even among organisations which are using document management systems, take-up of records management remains surprisingly low. A more practical approach – with less emphasis on standardisation – may be what is needed. It all started, as it usually does, with a simple idea: turn paper into electronic files which can save space and storage costs, and can be moved around and shared. Lessons learnt from the early adoption of digital imaging systems fuelled the evolution of electronic document management (EDM) systems which include electronic content, workflow, systems integration and collaboration. Coupled with maturing technologies, higher end-user expectations and a greater hunger for the competitive edge, our irreversible dependency on digital information has grown beyond recognition and continues to drive new products and services. While the benefits of this information revolution continue to manifest themselves in business enterprise and, more recently, in social changes, the other side of the coin only becomes apparent when data misuse stories make it to the law courts.

The information enterprise: CCube Solutions

Dr Vijay Magon, managing director of CCube Solutions, explains how businesses, working closer with IT suppliers, can realise tangible benefits by careful use of existing technologies to deliver successful information management strategies and systems. Most businesses will be dependent on both paper-based content as well as electronic content. The latter is surely a sign of more recent times, particularly with low-cost, high-speed desktop computing. Many businesses have fallen into a culture where information is stored in a veritable hotchpotch of formats, leading to an incoherent and ill-defined approach to information management. At a time when the amount of information and records being dealt with by businesses grows year by year, in the form of documents, emails, electronic data streams, faxes, etc, the need for businesses to embrace a practical strategic policy towards records and information management grows ever more pressing.

Electronic forms – the nugget of hope!: CCube Solutions

Why do we like paper so much? Is there some genocode in our make up that inextricably binds us to paper? While we wait for some clever scientist to discover the link and maybe an enterprising pharmacist to develop anti-paper tablets we can take every morning, what do we do in the meantime? Back in the 80s when personal computers came into being, pundits predicted the demise of paper – computers and electronic storage systems were going to wean humans off paper. Computers did not solve the paper problem; in fact they made it worse through widespread access to low-cost technology to print more – the growth of ink cartridge shops in our high street could not have been predicted! Amongst predictions about the impact of amazing developments in hardware and software technologies rested a less publicised nugget about the imminent and rapid growth of electronic forms or e-forms. With the growing rise in online business and e-commerce, organisations need a simple, cost-effective way to capture and track transactions through the various processes, to successful conclusion.

The Infonic guide to document management integration: Infonic

Electronic document management (EDM) systems are commonly deployed to enhance business processes by improving efficiency, usually based on reducing the time taken to perform a certain task. In many cases, the DM system is not the only business tool being used to achieve the task but complements existing systems by providing rapid access to supporting documents or by automation through the use of workflow. An example of integration is ‘document enabling’ line-of-business applications (accounts payable, HR, patient records) to provide access to the documents relating to the transaction, capture of documents, approval of documents (invoices, applications, etc) and updating of the integrated system. In many cases the users continue to use the core business system and the DM system remains hidden from the users until it is called into play by the integration. Typically, an integrated DM system will provide far greater benefit to an organisation than a standalone one – although the benefits there can also be substantial. The result of integration is generally a more rapid return on investment.

Microsoft SharePoint and the ZyIMAGE Information Access Platform: ZyLAB

The fast adoption of MS-SharePoint makes life much easier for knowledge workers because it is so easy to set up collaboration portals and project team sites. Users can easily rely on SharePoint-enabled repositories to share, store, access and organise the unstructured information that is needed to do their day-to-day work. Because of the prominence of SharePoint servers in business, it is imperative that any technology integrated into an organisation can actually work alongside, and even enhance, SharePoint’s capabilities. In addition, although SharePoint is certainly a robust tool and a solid platform on which to build various business processes, SharePoint can’t do everything. With this reality in mind, the following white paper profiles how ZyIMAGE can help SharePoint be a more complete and robust solution by providing more cost-effective and long-term storage capabilities and offering additional FDA, FAA or DoD 5015.2-certified functionalities, as well as the need for more extensive e-discovery search functionality.

Records management, enterprise search and KM: ZyLAB

Most organisations have embraced, or are in the process of embracing, the need for some form of suitable, high-quality records management (RM) solution. The US Government’s recently passed Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has made the need for RM policies even more urgent. To support these types of comprehensive policies, organisations are coming to realise that any effective RM solution they implement must be multi-faceted and have a fairly substantial level of search and e-discovery capabilities. In fact, integrating a full-blown enterprise search framework into a RM solution carries a great deal of potential for better overall knowledge management. This kind of highly efficient, integrative RM approach can lead to enhanced competitiveness, more agility to meet specific customer needs, minimised legal risks and better positioning for higher profits.

Effective technology usage in insurance: Celent/EMC Document Sciences

This authorised reprint contains material excerpted from an independent Celent report. The full report is 52 pages long and contains case studies of 39 model carrier components, including the one included here. This reprint was prepared specifically for Document Sciences, but the analysis presented is has not been changed in any way from that presented in the full report, which was not sponsored by any vendor. For more information on the full report, please contact Celent at www.celent.com, insurance@celent.com, or +1 617 262 3120.

TransPromo – a new marketing opportunity: Docuplus

With today’s consumers disappearing under an avalanche of marketing messages delivered across a plethora of media, businesses are struggling to find fresh, cost-efficient and effective ways to reach new audiences. Statements of bank, credit card, phone or utility accounts are generally perceived as important by consumers and, as such, currently represent an under-exploited means of bringing other related marketing messages to their attention. Thanks to TransPromo, it is these everyday transaction documents that are set to generate more direct selling and relationship-building opportunities for companies. TransPromo represents a fusion of the latest technological breakthroughs in digital colour printing and document management software with intelligent management of customer data. The result is a powerful communications channel that targets consumers with offers relevant to their preferences and interests through documents whose arrival is anticipated and which are read and kept for reference. This white paper explores the world of TransPromo, highlights how it can fit into a modern marketing strategy and explains the considerations crucial to its effective deployment.

Interactive documents get smarter: Carlson/Exstream Software by HP

In the digital age, the document – in all its many formats – has become the cornerstone of customer communications. From account notices, billing statements and welcome kits to sales decks, direct mail promotions and email newsletters, the document is central to any company’s efforts to get, keep and grow customers. So consider this: what are your documents really telling your customers? What, for example, does a 20-centimetre-high stack of application and disclosure forms tell a customer opening up a new mutual fund account? It most likely says that the brokerage is cumbersome and bureaucratic – and it might even influence that customer to defect. Yet all too often, that is how many companies still communicate with customers, especially in documentdriven industries like insurance, banking and healthcare. The process is just as inefficient at the back end, where workers manually enter the information into a database, create even more documents, and then mail them back en masse for more signatures.

A call for ECM standards: The Content Group

Too many organisations are failing to achieve corporate goals via an enterprise content management (ECM) investment. This is not due to any shortfall in ECM technology but as a result of failing to follow the right processes in defining and implementing an ECM strategy. If the IT industry is to avoid the pain endured by the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, it needs to take action now. An industry-wide standard – preferably backed by a body such as the British Standards Institute – is required to act as a reference point for organisations providing insight into the components of ECM technology and overcome endemic board-level misunderstanding. It must also define best-practice guidelines on the development and implementation of an ECM strategy to enable successful enterprise-wide deployment. Without this standard, organisations will continue to invest heavily in ECM and yet fail to attain corporate objectives. ECM technologies are maturing and can deliver excellent value; without clear guidance based on industry consensus, however, that value will continue to elude the majority of organisations to the overall detriment of the ECM marketplace.

Ten-minute guide to electronic document management: CTDS

In today’s world of collaborative working and technological advancement, organisations are suffering from information overload now more than ever. Research shows the influx of information is only going to get worse. In fact, research from IDC shows that in 2010 organisations will be creating six times more information than in 2006. This growth of unstructured information is making it harder to effectively store and access business-critical information, while ensuring its safety and adhering to compliance issues. Although technology is helping to cause information overload, it can also offer ways to combat it. The solution for many is to use an electronic document management system (EDMS).

Corporate information – controlled & accessible: In-Form Consult/TOWER

Compliance demands are requiring all organisations in both the public and private sector to undertake a corporate review of their information management practices. Regulators are demanding that business practices are shown to adhere to legal information reporting requirements and business best practices. Legislation has granted consumers new rights to ensure information is held securely, accessible and disposed when no longer required. Examples include: in the UK, the Freedom of Information Act requests require public organisations to provide quality information to meet demanding timescales; European data protection directives place demands on organisations’ personnel information to be managed so that it is stored securely and accessibly and is disposed of when no longer required; and in the financial sector, companies must comply with the reporting demands of regulations such as MiFID. Organisations with listed US parent companies must meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Does the board know?: The Content Group

Using enterprise content management (ECM) to enable the knowledge-based workforce is the key technology trend for the next five years. But it will take strategic, board level commitment to make it work, insists Ben Richmond, chairman and managing director, The Content Group. Within five years every employee will expect the rapid provision of tailored information to support day-to-day roles. They simply will not countenance the confusion and inconsistency of information resources endured today as organisations struggle to manage multiple sources of unstructured data. Making that shift, however, requires buy-in at board level. Isolated implementations of ECM technologies without a joined up strategy – from email management to document scanning – will address immediate business issues and reduce costs, but they will not alone deliver the true knowledge-based organisation. It will be a strategic, board-level approach that provides a fundamental, strategic change towards a process and people-led information infrastructure that enables real business transformation.