While everyone is being bombarded with bad news regarding the housing melt-down and the associated 'credit crisis', the question facing many businesses now is: "How will a worsening economy impact the bottom-line?"
The exact answer to that question requires a crystal ball and a keen understanding of economics. However, there are some efficiency actions that any business can take regardless of economic conditions that serve well to strengthen the margins.
All too often, companies fail to investigate their internal operational efficiencies until there is a driving factor that negatively impacts revenue. Well for many, now is that time. Below are a few examples that can offer a high return:
1. Speed-up Customer Service - Provide instant access to records allowing customer service representatives to quickly answer questions and forward information to people who are requesting it. This is done by bringing electronic documents and paper documents into an indexed, searchable document repository. Scanning paper documents also frees up office space, improves disaster recovery options, and reduces time associated with filing and re-filing paperwork.
2. Go with Digital Signatures for Document Approvers - Use the digital signature technology as part of an electronic workflow approval process for efficient, verifiable document approval processes. This enables employees to easily and securely approve documents from their office, or remotely via web access.
3. Unify Storage for Project Team Members - Provide your project teams with a central location to access invoices, drawings, email communications, contracts, and more. This eliminates searching for documents distributed across email servers, accounting software packages, project management software, shared file servers, and more.
4. Automate Repeatable Processes - Keep people and their expertise focused on their jobs, and relinquish them of the need to push paper and manage process flow. Most business steps that are repeatable can be automated with workflow. User-influenced errors and process breakdowns will be eliminated, accuracy will increase, and cycle times will often shorten dramatically.
5. Reduce the Risk of Loss - Every document and file can be a liability if they are lost or improperly handled. Government regulations are on the rise, and the ability to respond to legal discovery requests or compliance inquiries with urgent speed can make all the difference in avoiding a large financial loss. Take action in advance to make certain information is captured and managed according to the laws and regulations that apply in your industry.
In an economic downturn, when financial and human resources get stretched, it is a good time to consider investing in productivity improvements with the goal of accomplishing more using existing resources. By operating a lean, efficient organization, a company can be well-positioned to survive in economic turmoil, and thrive in times of prosperity.
Author Resource:-
Jim Kemp, ECM and Document Locator Professional. Document Locator is an enterprise-class document management system designed to enhance efficiency, reduce risk and improve collaboration. Get Document Management information.
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