Discovering BPO Scanning - A Transformative Story

Everyone has a story. We like to listen to stories, and we learn from them more easily than a lecture full of facts. Have you ever gone through the exercise where you are given six items and are told to extemporaneously to create a story? I think it's a fun exercise because I am a born story-teller. Not so for everyone.

My little six-panel story for this article is all about digitization. When you are in the business of content management, your customer goal is two-fold - enabling access to information and increasing efficiency with better processes, usually automated. But, the key to this whole process is digitization.

THERE IS NO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT DIGITIZATION

Our friends in this story realize that they seem to be shuffling a lot of paper. We find this to be true in organizations like government agencies where there is always a request form to fill out. Paper forms in. Paper to be processed. Paper to be filed. Paper to be stored.

Then, when you need to find some information on that paper, you are stuck - digging through paper files hoping that something is not miss filed or you are able to remember where you filed it. To manage your content effectively and to get that access, all your paper needs to be digitized. [Then, there are other media you might be using - that needs to be converted - like CDs; we can do that, too.]

In fact, for critical business operations - like claims processing - we can set up a P.O.Box for the claims, digitize them and send them right over to you. You never see the paper. We call this Digital Mail as a Service.

Back to our story... this team, just like you and I, are accustomed to storing information on their own home computers, and finding what they need quite easily. I don't get investment statements, bank statements, credit card statements, or cell phone bills in paper format; they are digitally mailed to me. And, if I need to reference them later, I know, they can be found on those companies' archives. We should have a similar dynamic at work.

BEGIN WITH BACKFILES: Some people have started to transform by taking all their backfiles and archives - and digitizing those first. If your operation finds your staff referencing those records, then by digitizing them, you are saving them and your business tons of hours in time-not-wasted through these physical searches. You also save on space and storage costs. If you have a lot of backfiles - then you are saving a lot of space and long-term storage costs.

BUILDING A DAY-FORWARD STRATEGY: This part of the story only makes sense. Why would you continue to operate the "old way" and start accumulating paper again, when you can continue to digitize your info. This strategy could be investing in some scanners or it could be developing those e-forms -- it really depends on your needs. Will a scan, store, retrieve solution do? Or, do you have a more ambitious future state - say with Intelligent Automation and Workflows? However you decide your Day-Forward strategy, - it simply should be part of your journey.

As you might expect, getting your business into a better digital position takes time. We have to assess what you have and you have to decide what to digitize or what you need to continue to store as paper. Everyone is different -- which is why BPO Scanning is a transformative story - everyone's transformation is affected by their particular needs and requirements plus the stage of their strategic digital plan. This should be a great relief - it is not "one-size-fits-all" to use a retail analogy. You've got an idea of what you want to do and when we consult with you - you might learn a few more things you need to consider.

PROCESS MAKES PERFECT

While our story ends with "Happy Girl" - what you don't know is the backstory. Not only does our story have a happy ending with digital records and a solid step forward to adopt a content services platform, but this company side-stepped disaster. They are located right in the middle of Nashville - and flash floods inundated their offices filling the lower floors with water. While an unfortunate incident, all their records were safe and sound. There were no more boxes in their basement so no soggy or destroyed records.

They have built a digitization process so they have dodged a disaster. Tables once stacked with paper to process and paper to files now comfortably hold some plants. The former state to the current state could not be better. For more on digitization and "tidying up" your offices, read my blog The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

In closing, I ask "What would be your digitization story?" Would you be able to share a story about your productivity gains, your happier employees, and the magic of digitization? Would it have a happy ending?