DCA News Blog

Accelerate Your Business Processes with a Digital Mailroom

Posted on 2/1/2011

Despite the use of technology to streamline processes, paper mail volumes continue to grow exponentially in most corporations.  The growth of businesses combined with an increasingly mobile workforce contributes to the rise in paper mail usage.  Even relatively small companies often need to process tens of thousands of pieces of mail monthly.  As a result, mailrooms require a high degree of automation in order to keep up to date.   Organizations today demand accurate information to be delivered to the appropriate recipient in a timely manner and they will spend a high degree of time and energy converting the information they receive into useful data if using a manual process.

With a digital solution, all paper documents can be opened, scanned, and emailed to the proper recipient.  This reduces the cost of moving paper around within the corporation, and allows for easy tracking and archiving of all received mail.  With 90% of mail being automatically processed, even relatively small corporations can significantly reduce mailroom costs by automatically routing incoming mail.

Also, if more than one person at a corporation requires information coming in through the mailroom, automatic scanning and processing allows multiple recipients to receive what only entered the corporate headquarters as one single piece of paper.  This automation saves time and money, while also mitigating the risk of critical documents being lost when they are still needed to serve business functions.

Since many business processes begin in the mailroom, delays or inefficiencies in the processing of mail create a bottleneck at the start of those business functions. Many operational areas can be negatively impacted by poor performance in the mailroom including accounts payable, customer service, sales, supplier relations and many other areas of the business.  

For more information on digital mailroom solutions, please contact DCA at (908) 735-0393 or contact us online.

Tags:
digital mailroom business process automation

Creating Winning Strategies for Gaining Information Advantage

Posted on 12/14/2010

Information today is flowing into organizations at an unprecedented rate, and with greater variety and complexity than ever before.  For many organizations, this rapid influx of information presents a challenge, yet others see it as an opportunity to shift the competitive landscape and revolutionize the way they do business.  EMC recently formed the Council for Information Advantage, where top IT experts discuss successful strategies for leveraging their company’s information as a business asset.

The ten executives in the Council recently unveiled three strategies for gaining information advantage; shifting from manual input of data to intelligent recognition software, reducing the “silo problem” faced by most companies, and providing comprehensive training to end users.  The first strategy is discussed by Andy Brown of Bank of America, who encourages utilizing well defined processes to manage corporate information and employing them consistently throughout the enterprise.  This can be achieved by automating data classification and automation in core business processes whenever possible, thus achieving efficient information governance. 

A second strategy recommended by the Council involves collapsing information silos to unlock the value of data across multiple facets of the business.  Most companies today are simultaneously supporting multiple systems and networks, each dedicated to a single department or line of business.  By streamlining information systems, data can be shared over an enterprise wide framework and used for business critical decisions. 

Looking beyond the investment of time and resources, the largest hurdle to implementing new technology infrastructure is often internal resistance to change.  The final strategy suggested by the Council works to counter this issue.  Before implementing a solution, IT should engage the end user in defining the requirements and desired results of the project.  By collaborating with end users throughout the process, organizations are more likely to realize their IT goals.  In addition, it is crucial that the solution is user friendly and business units are adequately trained to unleash the maximum potential of the technology. 

As information continues to multiply, the need to develop strategies and supporting infrastructure to competitively leverage information becomes paramount to success.  For more information on how to use these and other strategies to improve your business processes, please call DCA at (908) 735-0393 or contact us online.

Tags:
emc information management document management business process automation