DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Taking a digital approach Document capture and management is becoming increasingly important as more small- and medium- sized businesses digitalise their records and need to distribute them among an increasingly spread- out workforce. What solutions are they looking for, what role can resellers play to help SMBs to manage their records – and how is the market changing with the rise of AI-based solutions?
For many businesses in recent years where economic growth has been slim at best, there has been an increasing focus on how to improve the efficiency of how the company works to try and help boost profits. One of the ways businesses have done that is through digitalising their records, and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have been increasingly doing this to try and gain an advantage. “In recent years, we’ve seen many SMBs move towards a ‘digital first’, or even a ‘digital only’ strategy,” says Antony Paul, global product head at Quadient. “It’s not hard to see why – digital documents enable more agile working, improve compliance and security, ensure business continuity and deliver greater economies of scale. This is particularly beneficial for SMBs that might have limited space or resources, as digitalising records can free up office space and associated infrastructure costs. “However, some SMBs are in a ‘halfway house’ – wanting to digitise their records but doing so manually. This is an incredibly time-consuming, mundane task for staff, which increases the risk of errors and can damage employee engagement. “SMBs should look for solutions that allow them to automate every aspect of the digitisation process. For example, solutions that can scan physical documents and automatically input the data into an online system will significantly reduce time and errors. If SMBs are confident their software can grab data from a variety of different types of documents, such as forms and correspondences, and automation is optimising processes and simplifying workloads, they’ll find digitisation is a much less daunting task.” Scanners and MFPs Nicola Williams, manager for document scanning solutions at Epson, adds that the scale at which an SMB will digitalise records
will largely be based on their sector and the stage they are at in their digitalisation journey. “Legal, finance, retail, logistics and hospitality industries, for example, each tend to have large document workflows, from invoices and receipts through to contracts, passports, inventories and so on,” she says. “Competitive SMBs will want all this content digitised to optimise information sharing, secure confidential material, save space, and generally improve business workflows through wider digitalisation. “Digitisation is normally where scanning equipment comes into play – as companies seek to either shift entirely to digital workflows or hybridise with hard copy documents. And while some professions will rely on scanners atop of large or desktop MFP devices, those with high document workflows – such as those sectors highlighted above – will benefit from standalone scanners with higher speeds, smaller footprints, and the ability to scan direct to cloud, networks, or emails without needing a computer. “Equipment requirements will also vary depending on individual roles within the business. For example, those travelling a lot may benefit from small mobile scanners so they can scan as and where they like; those working from home with limited desk space will benefit from a compact desktop scanner; those working with a wider breadth of materials may benefit from A3 and adjustable chassis for switching between sheet-fed and flatbed scanning; those requiring true-to-life visual imitations of content will benefit from ultra-high resolution flatbed scanners. The list goes on. And the shifts from in-office to home- based working, and vice-versa, are inevitably a huge factor in all of this.” AI impact Something that is becoming an increasing factor in document management is artificial intelligence (AI), as it is with many other
Antony Paul global product head
quadient.com
Some SMBs are in a ‘halfway house’ – wanting to digitise their records but doing so manually. This is an incredibly time- consuming, mundane task for staff... “ ”
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