A Roadmap to Enterprise Capture

Kofax Enterprise Brief A Roadmap to Enterprise Capture Getting Ready While the case for taking an enterprise view of data capture is persuasive, actually implementing the strategy may be a bit more challenging. Despite the demonstrable benefits of integrating all information — whether paper or electronic — into ongoing business processes and eliminating paper from processes, the existing systems, methods and mindsets can be so entrenched as to make it difficult to know how or where to start. This document serves as a how-to guide for adopting a culture of document driven business process automation enabled by enterprise capture. A structured and phased approach is intended to take you from where you are to where you want to be, in terms of building a sustainable enterprise capture strategy optimizing document driven business process. What is Enterprise Capture? In its early years, document capture was used almost exclusively to “scan to archive, a welcome replacement to ” storing paper documents in warehouses of file cabinets. At the time, there was little expectation that capture would be used as a tool for transacting ongoing business. Today, scanning documents for archival storage remains a safe, secure and cost saving alternative to holding paper. However, thanks to the widespread adoption of low cost hardware devices, and software advances that allow for Enterprise Brief • The Road to Enterprise Capture • Page 2 automated classification and indexing of unstructured Initiatives for an integrated, enterprise approach to content, capture now offers far greater benefits. By document driven business processing usually originate integrating the scanning of paper with digital content at the corporate level, where the exponential efficiencies streams, capture has moved into the context of that can result from capturing critical business data at information management and collaboration. Content its earliest point are recognized. However, it’s important from documents, whether from paper, fax or electronic to understand that each of the many participants in files, can now be made available in a structured the business process will carry their own goals and electronic format to both enable and trigger active expectations. Simply decreeing, “We need to increase business processes. efficiency and productivity, may inspire the shareholders, ” but it does little to garner support at the individual or How to Deploy an Enterprise Capture departmental level. Strategy Even a change that brings obvious benefits can be Understand Overarching and viewed as a threat and therefore resisted. For many Individual Goals stakeholders, accepting a change to their work process To many employees, “becoming more efficient” is a requires an admission that there is a problem with the euphemism for reducing staff — hardly a great motivator. existing process — a process for which they are often The key to successful adoption of a process change is to responsible. This resistance is based on uncertainty first understand the many interrelated, but often diverse, and fear of the unknown, but it can be overcome with goals that exist throughout a transaction. education of just how far the technology has evolved. For example, a large insurance company with many Be forewarned: it would be a mistake to simply call a branches may seek to streamline its document processing meeting or announce a corporate directive and proclaim, between its customers, the local offices and a central “From now on, we are all going to capture all data as it headquarters. For instance, customers may come into comes in. For any system automation effort to succeed, ” their local office to make payments or policy changes it must have the willing buy-in of its constituents. This is involving a range of communications and document types often the most difficult part of introducing an enterprise among all parties. While “making the process more approach to document processing. Each of the existing efficient” is likely everyone’s underlying goal, there are stakeholders brings their own experiences, assumptions more specific goals that should be understood to better and misconceptions about the business process, and ensure willing cooperation with any process change. may be hesitant to adopt any change. The customer’s goal is apt to be a quick and accurate While a streamlined business process should be the interaction with a competent and friendly agent. intended result of an enterprise wide capture strategy Competitive price may also weigh heavily in the and deployment, it is not necessarily the expressed goal customer’s view of a successful transaction. The of the many participants in that process. Management customer service agent’s goals may be to have is advised to tread carefully when introducing any immediately available answers and precise information process change. from the corporate office, as well as the sense that their Enterprise Brief • The Road to Enterprise Capture • Page 3 efforts are being recognized. Or they may simply seek to If the customer is rewarded with more efficient service serve as many customers each day as possible. and a noticeable discount for conducting transactions electronically, their goals are being met. If the customer As the transaction progresses, an accounting clerk has service agent receives instant, accurate responses to their own goal: to enter data about the transaction into submitted queries (such as an immediate rate quote for a the database automatically, without having to manually pending policy change), they are much more willing to enter information that should already exist in the system. feed an electronic document system. The CFO’s goal might be to post the money from the transaction faster, in order to more accurately forecast Note that while overall process efficiencies should cash flow. And an actuarial prognosticator may be help each person accomplish their respective goals, striving to get the most up-to-date information (credit in no case is this considered a specific measure of worthiness, claims history, driving record, expected cost a successful transaction. Understanding the specific of loss) as a measure of their daily success. incentives for each party is critical to ensuring collective stakeholder buy-in to an enterprise capture initiative. For the clerical document-handling staff, tasked with bringing business data into a process from its many Understand the Process Flow origination points, even more mundane expectations may In addition to recognizing the competing goals and arise. Payments and accompanying remittance coupons motivations of document workers, it is also critical arriving in bulk are seen as a workload to be minimized. to understand the multiple roles of the documents High-speed scanners or remote deposit check capture themselves. More specifically, there should be an devices may be deployed, with the express goal of appreciation that each document is likely to contain getting data and dollars into the system faster. The daily several different bits of information, each of which may page count of accepted documents may be a personal enhance varied business processes. Further, incoming motivator. data may be received at nearly any location or in any format. And while it may arrive with a single intended In other areas of the company, forms, documents or purpose (such as a payment sent to credit an invoice), it unstructured correspondence may be captured by quite likely contains additional information that should be departmental staff in order to securely route them to available wherever it is useful to the organization. Such is their intended recipients. Their goal: “Get this work off the exponential value of an enterprise approach to capture. my desk as quickly as possible so someone else can deal with it. Exceptions caused by poor quality documents, ” Wherever possible, this multi-use of incoming illegible scans, wayward paper or unclassified forms are information should be seamless and automated. It’s rightly viewed as interruptions to this goal. Any initiatives unrealistic, for example, to expect that the shipping clerk that can demonstrate a reduction of these obstacles will who receives a “refused order” notice from a delivery likely be embraced.