Fighting the paper invasion is a constant battle for many organizations. Scanning paper records to keep down the sprawl of file cabinets and archive shelves has been common practice for many years. But, what about the hundreds of thousands of external paper documents that pour through the door every day and bog down our active business processes? They create more problems than paper records – slowing down response, restricting access, and making additional demands for re-keying, copying, and filing.
Yet, the progress being made towards paper-free processes is very slow. Most organizations have yet to address more than 5% of the possible processes that could be given the flexibility, visibility, and efficiency that are characteristic of electronic workflows.
In this research study, we look at the reasons for this poor progress, measure the adoption of digital mailrooms, chart the progress of mobile capture, and show which processes are the most effective for paper-free working.
Below are the key findings from this research project - Winning the Paper Wars
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74% of respondents have business improvement campaigns that would benefit from paper-free initiatives. Only 24% have a specific policy or maxim to "drive paper out of the business."
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The amount of paper flowing through business processes is decreasing in 41% of organizations. But for 19% it is actually increasing.
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On average, respondents feel that driving paper out of the process would improve the speed of response to customers, citizens or staff by a factor of 4.0x. Those with more experience in paper-free processes report an even greater speed-up of 4.6x.
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On average, respondents feel that driving paper out of the process would improve the productivity of process staff by 29.7%, rising to 35.4% for those with more experience.
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Two-thirds of those adopting paper-free processes report a payback within 18 months. 50% see payback in a single 12-month budgeting period.
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HR, accounts payable and customer correspondence are the most popular paper-free processes, with 70% reporting that AP and AR have "Excellent" or "Good" ROI. “Contracts and procurement” is also proving to be a successful candidate.
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Physical signatures and legal admissibility are given as the biggest paper-free concerns among staff, with Legal Counsel, and to an extent Finance, being most resistant. Yet overall, even Legal Counsel are 37% pro and 26% against, with most line-of-business and C-levels broadly in favor.
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31% scan pre-process, with 10% using digital mailrooms. 26% use paper in the process and then scan for archive after the process. Consistent across all sizes of business, digital mailroom is twice as popular in Europe.
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Nearly a third of organizations are processing electronic documents, forms and PDFs separately from scanned paper. 20% print them out - including 13% who print them out and then scan them back into the capture system.
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As regards benefits of paper-free processes, "Better records for audit trail or compliance" beats "Faster response and improved productivity." Better monitoring of process status and workflow is also a significant benefit.
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15% are currently using smart devices to scan or capture forms - more likely by their own employees than by customers
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Spend in the next 12 months is set to increase strongly for mobile capture, with OCR, BPM+workflow and AP+AR also set for a steady increase. Spending on scanners, MFPs and outsourcing will generally be flat, although outsourcing is set for a steady increase outside of North America.
