3 Reasons to Start ECM Implementation with Accounts Payable

If you’re an organization considering the move to cloud document management, you might be wondering about the differences between self-hosted and SaaS solutions. Some organizations want complete control over their software and hardware. Others prefer lower maintenance costs, pre-configured security features and automatic software updates.

Read on to see how SaaS and self-hosted solutions differ, so you can make a more informed decision on how to deploy a document management system for your organization.

Software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS offers customers access to software over the internet on a subscription basis, with the software hosted by the vendor or another third-party.

There’s no installation required, and resources such as servers or storage capacity can typically be scaled up automatically, or via a quick conversation with the SaaS vendor. On top of that, using SaaS generally means you don’t need to worry about the costs of maintenance, server space or hardware that you’d need if you were maintaining your own solution in-house.

Built-in security is also a particularly attractive benefit of SaaS products. The right vendor will have security controls already in place that are continually assessed, updated and improved to respond to the latest threats. Some vendors can also provide specialized security services to support compliance concerns and industry regulations, so customers have peace of mind that they’re abiding by the rules. Some of these features and services may include:

  • Automatic and on-demand detection of system threats and vulnerabilities
  • Penetration testing and other services that simulate real-world threats
  • Security controls that restrict access to sensitive content and features

Software as a service platforms can also be well-suited for organizations wanting built-in business continuity measures. In many cases data stored in these solutions is replicated and encrypted in real time to multiple sites at different geographical locations, so if disaster strikes in one location, your data is safe and sound in others.

Especially as technology improves with vendors innovating on their platforms year after year, SaaS is proving to be a convenient and cost-effective solution for the modern enterprise.

Self-hosted solutions

Unlike a SaaS platform, where your back-end infrastructure is managed by experienced IT professionals outside your organization, these deployments offer ways for you to take more control of your hardware, software and updates. Organizations in certain industries, such as government or finance, may also be subject to certain regulations that restrict how they can store information, thus preventing them from deploying a SaaS solution for the time being.

However, a self-hosted solution can still be cloud-based, and therefore share some of the advantages of a SaaS platform. Let’s take a look at each of the self-hosted solution types.

On-premises

Before cloud technology systems, on-premises deployments were the de-facto standard for document management. The most notable differentiator for this type of deployment is owning and maintaining hardware, and the need to manually deploy software updates. Here’s a look at advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

  • Ability to purchase the highest-performance or most-specialized machines for your purposes
  • Security that can be configured for your organization, in-house by your own IT staff
  • More control over computing resource usage
  • Capability to increase access points for custom integrations and other add-ons

Disadvantages

  • Top-of-the-line hardware can be expensive
  • Managing backups and associated sites can be labor-intensive and time-consuming
  • Need to spend money and time to upgrade hardware to keep up with pace of technology
  • IT will need to spend time and resources to implement even basic security settings
  • Recurring costs such as maintenance, server rooms and extra electricity usage

Self-hosted cloud

A self-hosted cloud deployment operates in largely the same way as an on-premises deployment with the exception of maintaining your own hardware. In fact, the applications themselves are the same and simply hosted on a vendor’s servers — most of the popular platforms, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, allow you to run standard computer operating systems on them. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

  • Scalability and flexibility to grow the solution with your business
  • Reduced system downtime after a disruption with built-in security and backup features
  • Hardware infrastructure maintained by experienced IT professionals outside your organization
  • Capability to increase access points for integrations and other add-ons

Disadvantages

  • Costs of renting hardware and specialized support services can add up
  • Implementations aren’t completely configurable as hardware isn’t on-site or owned by you
  • Hardware might not be optimized for your needs (or customizable to do so)
  • IT will need to spend time and resources to implement even basic security settings
  • Recurring costs such as maintenance, server rooms and extra electricity usage

Finding the right solution

The first question you really need to ask is if you need control over the hardware itself. These days, SaaS solutions offer so many valuable benefits, like managed security, disaster recovery and automatic updates that they are a worthwhile choice unless you absolutely need to use your own hardware. Modern cloud applications offer flexibility without any of the hassle setting up hardware or paying for extra space, power or cooling for your server room. They can give your IT team extra time and resources to keep your business running smoothly.

To learn more about a document management solution that can be deployed as either an SaaS or self-hosted platform, take the Laserfiche Cloud product tour.

Schools Turn to Technology to Save Money

Related to lower revenues from what has been called the Great Recession, many states have cut funding to both K-12 and higher education, and even as the economy recovers and some of that funding is restored, education funding is still behind where it was before the recession. Consequently, schools are turning to technology to help them save money.

For example, 48 states—all except Alaska and North Dakota—are spending less per student on higher education than they did before the recession, with the average state is spending 23 percent less per student than before the recession, according to the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, a Washington-based think tank focused on state and federal budget priorities.

In this cost-cutting environment, here are seven ways that schools are turning to technology to save money.

Reducing printing and paper use: A number of the “101 Smart Revenue Generators (and Money-saving Ideas)” from University Business involve eliminating paper processes for finance tasks such as employee reimbursements and refund processing, and introducing paperless alternatives such as electronic billing for tuition and online class registration. Document management can also help reduce paper use in accounts payable, as well as limiting printing in general. “If all entities that did business with the University of Houston System (UH) were paid via ACH, the university could save $100,000 per year,” notes UH president Renu Khator. Not only does this save money on printing supplies, postage, and paper, but it also can lead to the next item on our list…

Streamlining business processes: Some schools are hiring business process specialists to look for ways to make procedures more efficient. “The savings realized through the work of an analyst can more than pay for themselves,” reports eSchool News, especially when combined with a switch to electronic processes. Examples of processes that could be streamlined include purchase orders, payroll, and maintenance requests.

Special-purpose applications: Some schools are finding that they can save money through the use of applications intended to help them better manage food services, room use, utilities such as heating/cooling and electricity, textbooks, and school buses.

Everybody into the pool: Some districts save money by implementing shared services, pooling resources and having a single source for cloud technology, other IT services, and even administrative services such as secretarial.

Reducing the cost of communications: Schools can save money over the traditional phone-on-every-desk system. They can do this using technologies such as unified communications, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), and Skype, and business processes such as centralizing the purchasing and setup of communication technologies, According to eSchool News, 54 percent of school IT executives said the top benefit of unified communications was reducing operating costs, followed by increased productivity (50 percent) and more reliable communication (44 percent). In addition, some schools are finding that these technologies mean they can put a phone in every teacher’s room, which improves security.

Saving on computers: In some cases, schools are replacing computers because they were using Windows XP and were concerned about security risks now that Microsoft has stopped supporting that operating system. Some schools, such as St. James Catholic School in Gulfport, Miss., are taking the opportunity to move to Chromebooks, which are no-frills notebook computers that cost $200, as compared to a traditional desktop running Microsoft Windows, which generally cost about $1,000. Other school districts are saving money by buying refurbished computers instead of new ones. Refurbished computers can cost as little as one-third of new computers, eSchool News reports.

It’s true that investing in technology can result in some upfront expense, but in the long run, it can save on operational costs. Best of all, it can result in better educated students—and that’s the best investment of all.

5 Convincing Reasons to Automate Accounts Payable

When paper is used to manage invoices, AP might as well stand for “annoying process.” At best, hardcopy invoices cause a brief interruption in your day—at worst, they get lost on someone’s desk and you have to contact the vendor for a new copy.

Below are five telltale signs your AP process needs to be digitized and automated.

1. Lack of Autonomy

Process-Walking
Tracking down an invoice or PO shouldn’t require the involvement of 10 different people.

Tracking down the status of an invoice or purchase order (PO) feels like a days-long game of telephone. An employee inquires about an order, you defer to an employee in accounting, she asks the senior accountant…and eventually an answer arrives.

In a manual AP process, only the person with the document in hand knows its status. However, when an organization uses a document management system, any authorized user can view the status and activity of that document. With the added benefit of automation, employees can receive instant email notifications when an invoice requires attention—no searching required. The ability to independently locate and receive documents saves time and effort for you, your employees and your AP department.

2. Busy Work Blues

A department head’s goal is to manage people, not paper. But when you have to scan, fax or walk every document to the AP department, you have less time to devote to your employees.

By converting all AP paperwork into digital files (or better yet, having them start off in a digital format), organizations avoid the nuisance of shuffling invoices and POs from desk to desk. Additionally, an automated AP system can calculate totals, cross-reference invoices with PO numbers and send notification emails to everyone involved in the process. The busy work is still getting done, but you don’t have to do it.

3. Turnaround Time Terrors

The time you spend routing and signing documents affects your employees’ productivity as well as your own. Anyone who submits a PO knows it could take days before the vendor even receives the order. You want your team to get what it needs to work, but that goal becomes more and more distant with every paper document that lands on your desk.

Instead of impeding projects, an automated AP process expedites the time between ordering and receiving. Not only does it eliminate the need to physically route documents, it also reduces the need for manual data entry, calculations and quality control. A document management system, for example, can extract information from an electronic PO or invoice and store it in a repository. Reduced manual transcription means reduced chance for data entry errors and processing delays.

4. Too Many Idiosyncrasies

Not every PO follows the same path from employee to vendor. POs typically require sign-off from different approvers depending on the dollar value of the order. Remembering who needs to sign what type of PO does not contribute to a quick and effortless process.

Another useful function of document management software is the conditional routing of documents. This type of system can determine, based on the information provided in the PO, whose approval is required. Once these conditions are established in the system, it can run thousands of times without error, giving you one less detail to remember about the AP process.

5.  Finger Pointing Problems

Signing paperwork is quick, but when an important document goes missing it pulls you away from work indefinitely. In the worst-case scenario, the invoice never resurfaces and those involved start to blame each other for its disappearance.

Document management software prevents this scenario in three major ways:

  • It electronically stores documents, eliminating the risks associated with tangible files.
  • It tracks user activity so you can see who has viewed, edited or approved a file.
  • You can establish user-based security rights to prevent unauthorized people from using—or destroying—electronic files.

Through these measures, you’ll always know who has handled an invoice or PO at every stage of the AP process.

Want to learn more about the strategic advantages that can be gained by implementing an AP automation solution? Check out this infographic and see how process automation can help your organization gain a strategic advantage and tackle the challenges of invoice processing.

Electronic Records Management 101: How to Reduce Risk and Restore Control

Physical records management isn’t practical for organizations with limited storage space or a wide variety of information formats.

Yet after working with numerous clients, especially government organizations, that want to move from paper archives to electronic formats or maintain a hybrid of both, I know the transition brings its own set of questions and business needs.

Any records manager worth her salt asks: How do we recreate years of records? How do we maintain control once records are living in a new software system? How do we show regulators that we’re still compliant? How do we get everyone on board with retrieving documents in a software system instead of a file cabinet?

In these video clips, I’ve covered five things to consider when you’re tackling big-picture questions about your organization’s records.

Why Electronic Records Management (ERM)?

Managing records in an electronic format is the most secure way to ensure that every document in your archive is maintained in both a compliant and easily retrieved format (just ask anyone who has had to pull paper records during an audit or discovery for a lawsuit).

This short video clip includes additional reasons that organizations have chosen an electronic format.

Webinar Clip: Why Electronic Records Management (ERM)?

What is ERM Technology?

ERM technology is different from imaging or document management systems that specialize in paper capture and document management. ERM technology goes a step further by automatically enforcing consistent, organization-wide records policies and having controls in place that protect records from loss and tampering.

 

Webinar Clip: What is ERM Technology?

Baseline Functionality of ERM Software

When moving to a digital format, it’s especially important to not only maintain but improve control of your records at every stage of the record life cycle. An ERM system should offer multiple ways to track every single interaction with a record from the moment it is created to the day it’s destroyed.

This video clip outlines the five features that are the mark of a fully controlled electronic records management system.

Webinar Clip: Baseline Functionality of ERM Software

Importance of Certifications

There are two important archival certifications to consider: The Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.2 certification and the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS).

This clip outlines the operational, legislative and legal guidelines of these certifications.

Webinar Clip: Importance of Certifications

Transparent Records Management

It’s common—and not incorrect—to create a record system structured entirely on retention schedules. However, those repositories can be difficult to navigate when someone wants to reference, say, a case file from ten years ago and doesn’t know that document’s exact creation or destruction date.

Transparent records management, a unique feature to Laserfiche’s records management system, enables general users to create a record layout of their choice without interfering with the overall records management structure.

This clip shows you how it works.

Webinar Clip: Transparent Records Management

 Take the next step to implement electronic records management within your organization and get your copy of “The Ultimate Guide to Records Management” eBook.

Ultimate Guide to Records Management

14 Acronyms You Need to Know Before Researching ECM

Enterprise content management (ECM) companies love their acronyms, especially in online conversations (perhaps because they eat up less characters when drafting tweets). while these acronyms can succinctly express technology and industry-specific concepts, they may also intimidate the uninformed.

To help ECM newcomers make sense of all this jargon, here’s a quick guide to 14 ECM-related acronyms you’re sure to encounter.

Industry

Before we dive into this industry of information management, what does the industry call itself? It’s important to note that some terms are fitting for specific solutions, while others can be labeled as all of the above.

CMS: Content Management System

This term seems like it could refer to anything from closet organization to email filtering. It actually refers to applications that allow users to store, edit, search for and control content, especially (but not exclusively) web content. CMSs range widely in functionality and application—ECM is one of the more feature-rich and powerful examples of a CMS.

ECM: Electronic Content Management & Enterprise Content Management

“Enterprise” ECM and “electronic” ECM are both established abbreviations in the industry. However, enterprise content management refers to solutions for enterprise organizations while electronic content management is a broader term that can include consumer products.

Enterprise content management is an umbrella term that encompasses nearly every other acronym on this list. Go here to learn the basics of ECM.

DMS: Document Management System

DMS refers to the management of physical and/or digital documents. Most companies in the ECM industry, including Laserfiche, came into being by developing document management software. Today, DMS is considered a subset of ECM, as organizations have to manage far more data formats than text documents alone.

Check out our complete guide to document management here.

EDMS: Electronic Document Management System

While DMS can refer to both physical and digital documents, EDMS implies—you guessed it—only digital documents. Well, that was an easy one. Moving on!

DI: Document Imaging

DI is the process of turning a paper document into a digital document. DI tools come in many forms, from printers to scanners to the camera on your smartphone. Any technology that can digitize a paper document can be considered a document imaging tool.

Here’s how documents can be captured and stored in Laserfiche.

CSP: Content Services Platform

While this is still a newcomer in the field, it’s important to note. This term came about with a re-categorization of ECM, initiated by research firm Gartner. Learn more about this change here.

Processes

In the ECM industry, processes make the work go ‘round.

BPA: Business Process Automation

As it relates to ECM, business process automation is a powerful feature that reduces the time and resources required to move documents from A to B. For example, instead of dragging electronic documents into different folders and emailing them to coworkers, employees can use BPA software to handle these tasks automatically.

Read more about the basics of BPA here.

BPM: Business Process Management

BPM is a strategic approach that concentrates on reshaping an organization’s existing business processes to achieve optimal efficiency and productivity. It encompasses, but does not necessarily indicate, the automation of business processes.

RPA: Robotic Process Automation

Cousin to BPA and BPM, though distinctive in its use of AI. Robotic Process Automation is a software technology that enables employees to better focus on high priority tasks by pushing routine, monotonous tasks to software “robots” to complete.

TCM: Transactional Content Management

This term is easy to confuse with BPM as it also refers to organizing, automating and tracking content. However, TCM refers specifically to transactional content such as invoices, receipts and contracts. This focus on transactional content means invoices get paid on time and business vendors stay happy.

Records

ECM handles both live and archived documents. Understanding the terms used to describe digital versus paper will make it easier to research solutions, if you’re planning a Digital Transformation.

RM: Records Management

Many documents used and produced by businesses eventually become records. Some have to be destroyed after five years, some after ten—and others are kept indefinitely. RM establishes rules and practices for maintaining diverse types of records in accordance with internal policies and legal mandates. Basically, RM helps organizations stay out of trouble.

Get a quick overview of RM here.

ERM: Electronic Records Management

Because records management can be as low-tech as boxes of paper in a storage closet, ERM has emerged as a distinct industry term. ERM systems greatly improve the management of records through features such as retention and disposition scheduling and activity monitoring.

Learn more about the benefits of ERM in this guide.

Business Continuity

ECM aims to protect information on good days and bad days.

DRP: Disaster Recovery Plan

IT departments use DRPs to plan for system and infrastructure failures. The goal of a DRP is to recover from a disaster—man-made or natural—as quickly as possible and with as little data loss as possible.

An ECM system plays a vital role in disaster recovery by keeping company information in electronic repositories rather than flammable, flood-able file cabinets.

BCP: Business Continuity Plan

BCP is the more comprehensive version of DRP. Rather than focusing on systems failures, business continuity aims to minimize interruptions and downtime across the entire organization in the event of a disaster.

With ECM, organizations can back up and recover documents and records because information is digitally stored off-site. Data remains safe from harm and, with the ability to remotely access information, employees can keep working even if they can’t access the company building.

Now you’re ready dive into the great big world of Enterprise Content Management! Get started with 2023 Gartner® Peer Insights™ ‘Voice of the Customer’: Content Services Platforms to help inform your research.

What Exactly Is Records Management?

What is a record?

A record is “information created, received and maintained as evidence and as an asset by an organization or person, in pursuit of legal obligations or in the transaction of business”, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

This quote brings up an important distinction. While records are often considered synonymous with documents, they include one important characteristic that makes them unique: records, whether physical or digital, include evidence of a particular business activity, requiring them to be stored and retained over an extended period.

What types of records are there?

Records include any tangible object or digital information which have value to the organization.

Common types of records are:
  • Documents created in the course of business (correspondence, agreements, studies).
  • Items that require organizational action (FOIA requests, controlled correspondence).
  • Documented organizational activities and actions (calendars, meeting minutes, project reports).
  • Items mandated by statute or regulation (administrative records, legal/financial records, dockets).
  • Items supporting financial obligations or legal claims (contracts, grants, litigation case files).
  • Items needed to communicate organizational requirements (guidance documents, policies, procedures).
  • Items posted on social media sites (when required by a specific industry.)

Why is records management important?

The U.S. alone has more than ten federal records management laws and regulations that must be followed when managing government records. In addition, regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may outline specific requirements for financial records. There are also laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that have their own set of rules that apply to specific industries.

How are electronic records maintained?

Storing files on an organization’s shared drive is not enough to meet industry compliance standards. Beyond the legal mandates, a records management strategy is vital to the lifecycle of your organization’s information.
The record lifecycle encompasses the following phases: the creation, distribution, active storage, inactive storage and retention, disposition and archiving of an organization’s records.

An organization-wide strategy should govern how information is created, stored, shared, tracked and protected.

This ensures your organization’s information will never be in the wrong hands or the wrong place and can still be accessed by those who need it.

Is your organization compliant with GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR, is a regulation on the processing and movement of personal data, implemented by the EU in 2018. Although GDPR was passed in the EU, its implications are global — any organization keeping or transferring data pertaining to individuals within the EU is subject to this regulation. In addition, other countries and even some individual states in the U.S. have created their own regulations in line with the requirements of GDPR.

Organizations need to remain steadfast in their dedication to proper records management if they want to comply. Reynold Leming, Chair of the Information and Records Management Society, encourages firms to establish an “information pedigree,” which combines a record of information assets held with proper information governance and audit trails of business events. This “information pedigree” then results in a traceable and accountable “ancestral line” for any piece of information your company works with over time. Here’s a few additional considerations for records management that you might not think of right away:
  • A records request can come from anywhere. Besides routine audits, requests may come from lawyers in a court case, insurers, law enforcement, the public or even the media. Having established best practices for storing and moving records can help make sure your organization’s time, or its reputation, isn’t squandered.
  • Business processes are a part of records management. Make sure your processes are consistent and can handle any records or personal information in compliance with any industry or government regulations. A process automation platform can help mitigate process inconsistencies and thus bolster your efforts to stay in compliance.
  • You can keep audit trails of paper documents. Although paper documents are largely a thing of the past in terms of day-to-day processes, records management involves, and in many ways necessitates, looking back in the past. You should maintain digital audit trails and inventories of any paper documents held in archives.
  • When you exchange data with a third party, make sure they take your compliance needs seriously. Make sure vendors are aware of any necessary records management or data privacy regulations, and that they intend to follow them. Keep a record of any contracts signed with vendors of software, equipment and the like, as well as third parties who process personal data on your behalf. In addition, you’ll want to know their best practices and policies when it comes to records retention and information management.
  • Maintain records of how you handle information. Policies, best practices and even laws evolve — you need to take note of when changes happen so you can show regulators, the public or whoever else asks, that you followed the rules when handling information.

What are the benefits of an electronic records management system?

Electronic (or digital) records management is the modern standard for how organizations control their information and records.

A quality records management system should provide:
  • Improved efficiency in the storage, retention and disposition of records and records series.
  • Detailed reports of which records are eligible for transfer, accession or destruction.
  • Audit trails to track all system activity and the entire lifecycle of records.
  • Customizable and flexible capabilities — tailored to the needs of the organization.

A dependable, efficient records management system can help meet these challenges without drastically altering business operations. In the words of Justin Pava, Principal Technical Product Manager at Laserfiche, “The best records management solution is one you don’t need to think about.”

In summary, building a records management strategy should be a top priority for any organization that values efficiency, security and compliance with regulatory recordkeeping requirements.

Customer Spotlight: City of Ithaca/Tompkins County

Learn how one county in New York reduced the time to furnish records in response to FOIA requests by more than half.

Browse customer reviews of Laserfiche on G2

Get insights from real customers on why Laserfiche is a top choice for organizations looking to encourage better recordkeeping.
Read more laserfiche reviews

Further reading

If you’re looking to expand your digital transformation beyond electronic records management, an enterprise content management system (ECM) may be the right fit for your organization. Learn more about the ECM market and top vendors by checking out the G2 Grid® for Enterprise Content Management (ECM):
G2 Grid® for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems

Already considering Laserfiche as your records management solution? Take a look at the Laserfiche Solution Marketplace, a hub for pre-built workflows and templates that customers can use to jumpstart processes necessary to meet all kinds of challenges, including regulatory needs, such as building permit applications and inspections.

Whether you’re just getting started with records management or looking for new insights, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Records Management to see how you can improve your information governance strategy.
Download the eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Records Management.

10 Ways People Kept Records Before Paper

Today, we live in a digital world, in which paper is quickly becoming an outdated source of records storage. But what about the days before paper?

Here are 10 ways people recorded information before paper and mass printing became available.

1. Bamboo

Chinese scholars wrote on bamboo stalks as long ago as 500 BCE. The scholars used small knives to scrape away mistakes. These knives became a symbol of political stature, as the owners had the power to change records.

2. Birch Bark

Birch bark manuscripts have been found in India, Russia and the Middle East. Birch bark was used in medieval Russia for school exercises, personal letters and business ledgers.

3. Bones and Shells

Ancient Chinese oracles used shell & bone fragments to predict future events. Oracles carved questions onto the bone or shell, then applied heat until it cracked. They interpreted the crack patterns as answers from deities.
These “oracle bones” date back to 1400 BCE & represent the earliest records of Chinese writing.

4. Clay Tablets

Cuneiform, one of the earliest writing systems, is often found on clay tablets. The first libraries consisted of clay tablet archives. Ancient Mediterranean civilizations used clay tablets for sophisticated accounting systems.

5. Ostraca

Ostraca, or broken pieces of pottery, are considered the “scrap paper” of ancient civilizations. Ancient Athenians used ostraca to cast votes when the government wanted to banish a citizen. This gave rise to the term “ostracize” which means to exile or banish.

6. Palm Leaves

Palm leaves were used in Southeast Asia as early as 1500 BCE. Scholars theorize that Southeast Asian scripts contain mostly rounded shapes because angular letters split and broke the palm leaves.

7. Papyrus

The oldest discovered papyrus scrolls date back to 2500 BCE. The word “paper” derives from the word “papyrus.” Papyrus was expensive to produce and became a monopolized resource in the city of Alexandria. It was often washed and reused to save money.

8. Parchment

Parchment is made from goat, sheep or cow skin. Its use as a writing medium was perfected in Pergamon (modern day Turkey) as a cheaper alternative to Egyptian papyrus.

9. Silk

Some of the earliest known manuscripts of I Ching and Tao te Ching exist on 2,000 year old silk. Silk manuscripts were used for philosophical, mathematical and military records in China.

10. Wax Tablets

Wax tablets were made of wood panels covered in soft wax. Entire tablets could be erased by melting the layer of wax, giving rise to the Latin expression “tabula rasa” or “clean slate.”

Looking to take your office past the days of paper? Deploy a Laserfiche solution and get started quickly with the Laserfiche Solution Marketplace, which offers pre-built workflows for processing digital contracts, permits and more!

Want to learn how to maintain even the most sensitive of records, despite the challenges of the modern era? Get your copy of the “Ultimate Guide to Records Management“.
Download the eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Records Management.

Tech Tip: How to Use URL Parameters to Pre-Fill Form Fields

Often a will contain several generic fields that many respondents will answer in the same way. Rather than making users fill in these fields, which can be repetitive and time consuming, organizations can pre-populate them with the correct information so that, when users open the form, these fields will already be filled in. To do so, organizations will need the form’s URL and the variable names associated with the fields they want to fill in.

Filling in the fields of an electronic form can be repetitive and time-consuming. Rather than making users fill in those fields, organizations can pre-populate the generic form with the correct information that multiple respondents will answer in the same way.

This can all be done by linking to a specialized URL that includes all the information you want pre-filled in the form when users click it.

For example, let’s say you were emailing an event singup form to clients, and your email lists were already sorted by region. For the emails going to California, you could change the link from:

www.website.com/signupform

To:

www.website.com/signupform/?State=CA

To dig a little deeper, let’s take a quick look at the basic structure of these specialized URLs:

baseURL?variable1=value

All you need to do is replace baseURL with the form’s current URL, variable1 with the variable associated with the field to be filled in and value with the appropriate field value.

To fill in multiple fields, insert the ampersand symbol (&) before any additional variables:

baseURL?variable1=value&variable2=value

In the example below, on a purchase order form that is only available to Laserfiche employees, the Company field was pre-populated using the following URL:

baseURL?Company=Laserfiche.
Browser window with pre-filled URL in address bar.

Note that these URLs can also be generated using a digital workflow.
Pre-populating form fields can both reduce errors and save time for whoever is filling it out, increasing efficiency of staff and satisfaction among customers.

Customer Spotlight: Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group

Discover how Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group wanted to deliver a more seamless experience for its staff and customers. Learn how online forms and other technologies helped the firm reach its goals.

Continue Your Journey

Compare top enterprise content management (ECM) vendors on G2

Digital forms can be powerful, but can be utilized even more effectively in conjunction with other ECM features and tools. Check out the G2 Grid® for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and compare top vendors on the market.
G2 Grid® for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems

Get more out of forms within Laserfiche

For those eager to learn how forms within Laserfiche can be made even more effective, be sure to check out these enhancements available on the Laserfiche Solution Marketplace!

See Laserfiche in action

Want to further explore how Laserfiche can help your organization achieve its goals? Schedule a consultation today.

InvestmentNews Study Shows the Payoff of Advisor Technology for Financial Services

Right now, RIAs are busy formulating their business plans for 2015.  In the area of advisor technology, investment decisions have become increasingly complex: what kind of technology is needed, can current technology simply be upgraded—should new technology be purchased at all? To help advisors answer these questions, InvestmentNews performed a study on the effects of investing in technology for advisory businesses. According to the study, firms that integrated a variety of technologies and displayed an innovative and progressive attitude toward technology had higher revenues, profits, AUM, and number of clients than those who limited their technological investments.

What Types of Advisor Technology Are Used?

In the study, the technology ‘innovators’ were identified as using up to six software solutions on a daily basis. The most commonly used advisor technology applications are:
  • CRM
  • Financial planning
  • Account aggregation
  • Document management
  • Portfolio management
  • Portfolio rebalancing

Each of these technologies provides unique opportunities for efficiency, compliance, data accuracy and better customer service—but trying to manage so many distinct applications with siloed information can be just as inefficient as having no software at all.

The real benefit comes when these technologies can share data and talk to each other. When integrated, these technologies not only provide faster data and better insights to the advisor, they can automate entire processes with workflows—leaving more time for the advisor to focus on clients.

What Daily Processes Are Improved by Technology?

One of the most common processes that financial advisors automate is the opening of new accounts. Without technology, this can be a tedious process. Forms have to be filled out, mailed for signatures and checked for errors repeatedly until the new account can be finalized.

With integrated technologies, this process looks much different. By implementing CRM, document management software, forms filling software, and electronic signatures, the time required to open a new account can take minutes instead of weeks.

Through the use of these software applications, advisors opening new accounts experience the following benefits:
  • Software auto-populates electronic forms, reducing processing time and errors resulting from manual entry.
  • Forms are e-mailed to account holders for e-signatures, eliminating paper and courier costs.
  • Compliance review and approval processes are automated with workflows, allowing advisors to start booking revenue sooner.

This method of processing new accounts not only saves time, but records an audit history of every action taken at every step.

These efficiency and compliance benefits are not limited to the opening of new accounts. Virtually any data or document-driven process can be automated, including the creation of a blotter, storing client communications, social media archiving, AP processing, HR onboarding and document filing.

Why Adopt Advisor Technology Now?

A combination of factors including increased audits, changing recordkeeping requirements, the rise of mobile devices and social media and the vast potential for efficiency gains are driving advisors to shift their attitudes toward technology.

Those who realize these benefits are surging ahead in this competitive industry and allowing technology to take care of the back office. Now they can dedicate valuable time and effort to more important tasks, such as client and talent acquisition, money management, financial planning and client relationships.

To learn more about the benefits of adopting technology in your business, read our new whitepaper, “Technology Strategies of Top-Tier RIAs,” which summarizes the data from the InvestmentNews Research Study and outlines the practices of these top performing RIAs.

3 Steps for Optimizing Business Processes

What’s better? Processing a document digitally or with paper? If both methods take the same amount of time and effort—the answer is neither.

Optimizing a business process requires more effort than simply purchasing new software. It requires taking a critical look at an organization’s operations and minimizing the resources required to get things done.

This blog post will outline three steps to optimizing your organization’s business processes.

First, let’s establish what kinds of business processes we’ll be discussing:

Document-based business processes

Every organization, whether it provides education to students or wine to consumers, relies on repetitive tasks to accomplish its “big picture” goals. Contract management, invoicing and hiring are just a few examples of processes that keep businesses moving.  The tasks that fall under each process must be handled attentively and consistently—no matter how menial they may seem.

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Contract management is one example of a repetitive process that keeps an organization’s operations moving.

These document-based processes are imperative to business operations, but in some cases they’re more of an Achilles’ heel than a blueprint for success. Do any of your everyday tasks feel more burdensome than productive? Keep one in mind as we go through the phases of business process optimization.

Phase 1: Identify

Once you determine which business process needs an overhaul, the first step is to list out all the key components of the process. These should be fundamental, unchangeable aspects of the process. To identify key components, ask yourself these questions:

  • What is the goal or desired outcome of this process?
  • When does the process begin and end?
  • What activities move the process forward?
  • What departments and/or employees are involved?
  • What information is being transferred between steps?

For instance, the following questions should be answered in the case of employee hiring:

  • What is the goal or desired outcome of this process? To hire a qualified candidate for the job.
  • When does the process begin and end? It begins when an application is received and ends with the decision to hire or reject.
  • What activities move the process forward? Application reviews, interviews, approvals and rejections.
  • What departments and/or employees are involved? HR and the applicable department managers.
  • What information is being transferred between steps? Applications, resumes, cover letters, interview dates/times and notes from reviewers.

Note that the answers don’t address how the process is done, only what is done.

Phase 2: Rethink

This phase should address your unique methodology and reveal potential areas for improvement. Think about every step that is involved in the business process you’re analyzing, then ask the following questions:

  • How much paper is used in this process?
  • How many copies of the same document are made?
  • How many man hours are required to complete the process?
  • Of those hours, how many are spent doing redundant or extraneous work?
  • Where does the process stall and why?
  • When do errors occur?

Compare these answers against your key components list. You’ll realize tasks that seem essential, like photocopying a document for every department manager, don’t actually align with the process goal. You’ll also realize that correcting an error is only essential if an error is made—eliminate the error, and you eliminate an extra task that does nothing to drive the process forward.

Let’s look at another example. RMS, a medical device manufacturing company, answered the above questions and found that its document management processes were inefficient. Important information for each order was compiled in a large folder and hand-delivered between departments across a 155,000 sq. ft. shop. RMS threw out the book (literally) and starting using business process automation (BPA) tools to digitize orders and automatically route them to the appropriate departments at the appropriate times. This cut order processing time from 8-10 weeks to 72 hours and saved over 200 hours of staff time annually.

The intention of business process optimization is to reduce or eliminate time waste, resource waste, unnecessary costs, bottlenecks and errors while achieving the goal of the process. But until you know how this can be accomplished, you’re stuck in dreamland.

Phase 3: Automate

Repeat unnecessary tasks, and workflow stalls. Repeat successful tactics, and business flourishes. Once you’ve separated the essential from the non-essential in your business process, it’s time to apply a solution. But if this is your first experience overhauling a document-based process, you might feel daunted by the possibilities. You could even worry that you’ll make more mistakes if you alter the process than if you just leave it alone.

As a matter of fact, alleviating this concern over human error is precisely what BPA tools are designed to do. By allowing the software to “automate” tasks, organizations can manage processes faster and with fewer errors. You can read more about automation and see some concrete examples here.

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Business process automation (BPA) tools optimize operations for organizations in a wide range of industries.

Of course, not all automated workflows perform the same. How can you design the fastest, easiest and most cost-efficient business process possible?

Next step: Learn from the best

By repeating the best practices of other organizations or departments, you can demonstrate tangible ROI and avoid a lot of guesswork. Most importantly, you’re better equipped to convince your coworkers that change is not only possible, it’s practical.

For an overview of how process automation can help your organization streamline operations, watch our webinar, ECM 101: An Introduction to Process Automation Capabilities.

To learn more about how process automation software can help you automate routine tasks, such as data entry, routing information between parties, organizing documents and more, check out our process automation buyer’s guide.