December 22, 2009 – NEW YORK, N.Y. – In the current economic environment, businesses continue to look for effective steps to contain costs and increase competitiveness. One area of potential savings, reduced risk and enhanced efficiency may come as a surprise to many organizations: document management activities such as print/copy, mail and records management.
Why a surprise? Because many organizations don’t know how much their document management activities cost as well as how more effective approaches could help reduce those costs and improve efficiency. The good news is that there are document management activities – whether outsourced or managed internally – that can yield important business benefits. Océ spotlights three of them to consider for 2010:
Print/Copy Management – According to industry analyst Gartner, most enterprises do not manage their office printers well, having too much and often the wrong equipment and supplies for their needs. Actively managing office print can reduce spending by 10 to 30 percent while reaping real environmental benefits (“Key Issues for Print Management, 2008,” Pete Basiliere, March 2008). One print/copy management best practice - replacing personal desktop printers with workgroup MFPs (multifunction peripherals that combine print/copy/scan/fax functionality in one machine) shared by departments - can have a strong positive impact. One financial services company replaced 1,100 copiers and printers and 1,000 fax machines with 400 MFPs. The initiative eliminated 1,700 machines that no longer consume resources based on their manufacture, transportation, operation, maintenance, and eventual disposal.
Digital Mail – There are several approaches to the digital mail process. One is to convert incoming mail from physical to digital in the mailroom by scanning all mail capable of being scanned and then utilizing workflow processes for distribution. The digital images are stored in a database where, after being notified by email, employees can access them via a Web portal with password protection and interactive functions. Benefits of this approach include faster access to incoming documents and information, particularly for employees who are traveling or located in satellite offices. Other benefits include the ability to suppress non-essential company mail from entering the organization; a potential reduction in labor and facilities by centralizing multiple mail centers into one; and an opportunity to support “green” initiatives by reducing paper usage. Digital mail can be well-:suited for companies that receive a high volume of mail every month, including a high number of critical documents. Other factors include the number of employees who are mobile and telecommute, as well as the company’s desire to implement a centralized scanning solution and reduce paper.
“Our focus has always been on providing the very best treatment for our patients,” commented Carl Labbadia, Grove Hill’s Director of Information Systems (IS). “At times this has meant that our energies have not always been directed at remaining on the leading edge of information technology. For the last 12 years, with attention being paid to other areas of optimizing patient care, we’ve ran the same legacy billing and appointment management system.” 
