6 key benefits of digitally transforming business processes
One of the first questions we face when talking to prospective clients is some variation on ‘Why do I need to digitally transform my business processes?’
To us here at Docuworx, the benefits are clear as we have helped many companies across Asia Pacific embark on their digital transformations. For prospective clients, however, change can seem daunting, especially when it is unclear what they stand to gain.
While the specific benefits may differ depending on the size of your organisation and the industry you are in, broadly speaking there are six key areas in which your business will achieve improvements.
#1 Time
Without a digital document management solution, employees spend countless hours on manual processes, checking, filing, paper shuffling and searching for documents through filing cabinets. All of these little moments add up. According to research by Boston consultancy Delphi Group, 15% of all paper handled in businesses is lost and 30 per cent of all employees’ time is spent looking for those lost documents.
Digital document management solutions save you time by storing all your organisation’s data in one central location. Documents are never lost and users can search for them from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection.
By using automated workflows, digital document management solutions also help you reduce the time spend managing approvals and routing documents. The steps in your processes are completing automatically and quickly, greatly improving upon slow and laborious manual processes.
The time not wasted on manual processes and searching for lost documents means your employees have greater opportunities to focus on higher-value tasks that will drive your profits further.
#2 Money
Digital document management solutions can also help improve that all-important bottom line. The old cliché that time is money holds true. A good solution will allow you to save money by eliminating the costs associated with the searches outlined above.
In addition, by going paperless, your company will save thousands on paper, printing and postage costs. The increased efficiency also adding to more productivity and profits.
Digital document management solutions can also help you with the rising need for telework in the age of Covid-19. Using such a solution, workers can access information from anywhere and anytime.
Salespeople can submit expense reports without ever stepping foot in the office and online collaboration can be streamlined. This may also allow you to realise significant savings in the rental of office space or provision of staff travel.
#3 Compliance
Governmental regulations are an ever-increasing fact of life. Regulations worldwide are enforcing stricter standards around document security, data privacy, retention and information disclosure, making it hard for companies to keep up.
However, complying with HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, GDPR and other mandates does not have to slow down your organization.
By using a digital document management solution, you can improve transparency and data security seamlessly, ensuring that you don’t run afoul of the law or compromise your customers’ experience.
When digitised, your company’s information is accessible to all authorized users at the right time, without fear of losing that data or having it end up in the wrong hands.
#4 Space
All businesses produce and use large volumes of information, which has been traditionally stored on paper. Over the years, this paper accumulates, taking up crucial office space and making work areas cluttered.
When you make the shift from paper-based processes to digital document management, you will no longer need expensive and space-consuming filing cabinets to maintain hard copies of your business records.
You’ll free up office space so that your employees can be more productive and have a nicer work environment. Going paperless is also good for the planet, saving trees and making your office a “greener:” environment.
#5 Competitiveness
In an increasingly competitive and global business landscape, maintaining your edge has never been more important.
US car dealership Home Run Auto Group recently reaped the benefits of digital document management against a backdrop of plateauing vehicle sales.
The company uses DocuWare as a virtual accounting team serving its 27 dealerships, allowing it to realise personnel savings of $660k. Home Run Auto Group then saved another $260k by reducing printing costs. Leaving productivity gains aside for a moment, the dealership managed to achieve almost one million in cost savings alone.
Justin Fehrman, CFO for Home Run Auto Group said that the integration with dealer software, digitised workflow and internal controls makes DocuWare indispensable.
“DocuWare had the flexibility that we craved that allowed us to change our workflow and simplify tasks for our employees,” he said.
#6 Survival
When disaster strikes, as it has done twice in Australia this year (bushfires, Covid-19), there is a strong possibility that companies heavily impacted will not survive.
In fact, according to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, almost 40 per cent of small to medium businesses never reopen their doors following a disaster.
However, having the right technology in place increases the possibility that your company will survive and even thrive.
While no-one could have predicted Covid-19 and the resulting shift to telework, the companies that have commenced their digital transformations have been able to weather the storm much more effectively.
For example, Australian manufacturing company Gliderol has been using DocuWare for over three years now, but recently noted that the solution has been instrumental in the company’s success during the crisis.
Gliderol CFO Leanne Baston said the using DocuWare, the company has digitised all of its receivables, payables and purchasing.
“We have scanned over 400 archive boxes, which is the five years’ worth of archives, that we must keep for tax records,” she added. “That has freed up space and allows us to quickly lookup things online. At present, six out of my team of 10 are all working from home, but it has had no impact on our operations.”
In addition, Leanne says that DocuWare has enabled her to keep the same level of staff despite the business growing by 45%.
Ready to start your digital transformation?
As Australia’s only Platinum Partner of DocuWare, Docuworx can give you peace of mind as you take your first steps in your digital transformation.
If you would like a demonstration and Free Trial of how DocuWare’s can help you mitigate risk, improve compliance and efficiency in your business, contact us today.