BLOG
Digital Transformation | 5 Step Practical Roadmap For Digital Transformation
Leading digital transformation and data science experts like Bill Schmarzo say that Digital Transformation should be EVERY organisations’ #1 strategic business initiative.
We have been working with client’s to digitise manual processes and automate tasks to unlock efficiencies and a to create a better customer experience. These are the early steps in starting digital transformation. Below is a practical guide on how you can implement digital transformation in your business. 5 things that will have a big impact and accelerate innovation.
Process automation and improving efficiencies are at the core of digital transformation. Organisations must be more vigilant than ever in remaining innovative and future-proofing their businesses. This is critical in remaining profitable and competitive.
On average, “digital masters” are 26% more profitable than their peers according to George Westerman, Principal Research Scientist with the MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation.
Like to speak to us about what we can do for your business? Reach us here.
Digital Transformation Defined
There are many definitions of digital transformation. Think of it as a shift in philosophy. Digital transformation will allow an organisation to quickly adapt to new changes and opportunities through making the most of technology.
It is the process of using digital technologies to create new or modify existing business processes and culture to deliver a better customer experience.
Digital transformation marks a radical rethinking of how an organization uses technology, people and processes to fundamentally change business performance. Digital masters do two things better than other companies: identifying digital ways to change their businesses, and building leadership capabilities to drive transformation, according to George Westerman.
As employees, our everyday work life is filled with digital technology and yet the reliance on manual, paper-based processes and systems is still huge. We know what we know, and sometimes miss the opportunities provided by today’s platforms to improve our business operations. Simple fixes that capture data electronically, autmoate processes and provide new insights. The real value is in acting on the data we collect.
5 Tangible Steps to Transform your Business.
Step 1. Centralised Document Management
Today I spent close to an hour looking for a document. I wanted to use a file i’d created which had a lot of historical data and a good process document for a project we completed around business intelligence. For some reason, I didn't save this document to our document repository (M-Files) and it's lost somewhere on 1 of the 6 devices I use regularly. In contrast, I was able to collaborate with our marketing manager on an event plan and save my changes to his document. All with version control and from my mobile phone because it was saved in the repository.
Centralised document management is powerful, and it can be simple and quick to deploy.
Enterprise Content Management enables:
A central place for documents
Powerful search
Collaboration on documents, sharing and co-authoring
Security - Only the right staff see particular documents and you have digital copies
Eliminate duplicates
Workflows to automate processes
Version control and easy to restore documents without needing IT
Step 2. Digitise Paper Forms
Unlock efficiencies by digitising files. Reduce errors, lower risk and open the door for process automation and new insights.
Think of the new employee onboarding process for HR as an example. There are lots of forms, social media policies, privacy policies, payroll information and so on. All of this is repeatable when a new employee joins or leaves the organisation.
Instead of paper forms, you can easily create digital versions that work with mobile devices and enable your new staff hit the ground running, instead of getting up to speed for a week or more before they can contribute to your business. Apply digital forms to repetitive processes.
Did you know that even some of the largest vendors of software products still needed their employees to send in paper receipts for expense claims? Not all vendors embrace their own technology and someone has to physically validate the receipts and there was no way to efficiently pick up on duplicates or fraud. Smarter organisations like the Australian Tax Office now use predictive analytics tools to pick up on anomalies and provide new opportunities to detect fraud.
Did you know that you can quickly digitise paper forms using affordable platforms? Low-code, drag and drop platforms like Intrexx make it easy for virtually any employee to create e-forms which work on mobile devices and they can be plugged into a workflow to automate a manual process like an expense claim or a pricing request approval.
3. Automate Processes
You have the data, use it. Low-code platforms and ECM solutions can help here. As mentioned above, inputs from e-forms like an expense claim or a leave request can be connected to a workflow to automate the approval for such requests. Rules can be applied and a query against a database can automatically check if an employee has the leave entitlement they are requesting. If that leave is available, the system sends an approval that can be completed by a manager from their mobile device. This saves time and provides instant approvals with self-service applications.
4. Connect to Business Systems
Data collected from e-forms will be more valuable if it is connected to a business system. For example, the accounts receivable process (AR) will work more efficiently if invoices are connected to an accounting or ERP system like Xero or SAP. Workflows will automate a process and make it more efficient. Invoices can be automatically scanned, routed to the next step of the approval process, fields can be prefilled and the invoice can be sent to the right person to sign-off and complete the transaction. Connecting business systems will enable a holistic view and opportunities for better reporting.
5. New Insights. Analyse and Act on New Opportunities.
Digital transformation creates new data and the value realised when you can analyse and action it.
Take advantage of opportunities created by new views and a fresh perspective.
Centralising documents increases efficiency and enables productivity. The opportunity for better collaboration and process automation through workflow is now possible.
Digital forms save time and let you capture, automate and analyse data trapped in paper documents. Risk and compliance is improved with access to digital documents and if someone leaves the organisation, you still have control over valuable intellectual property.
You can transform the way your business operates with what you have achieved through digitising your business and developing digital processes. Electronic document management platforms and electronic forms provide access to operational data you can report on.
Analyse the data and look at trends, issues or opportunities to increase revenue. The reporting functionality of platforms has come a long way and should provide with a good baseline view for analysis. You can connect the data into operation dashboards or automate reporting using any of the major business intelligence (BI) and visualisation tools which are very powerful and affordable.
Digital transformation reduces administrative tasks and that directly helps staff to focus on their core job and higher-value tasks.
Summary
Digital transformation is all about efficiencies. Capturing data in digital forms enables automated processes and workflow. This is a key output from digital transformation and will transform the way a business operates. Digital transformation will help make a business smarter through new insights, leaner with increased efficiencies and more secure through reduced risk and improved compliance.
True digital transformation is a new way of thinking and applies to the whole business. In practice, you can start small and get some wins with things like digitising paper forms or implementing a central document repository. A phased approach will help you demonstrate what is possible and show a tangible result that is truly transformative. A better way of doing things that not only improves efficiency but also improves employee's job satisfaction by reducing the low value, repetitive tasks.
Want to know more? Take a look at the videos below or speak to us about how other companies have transformed their business. One small process can make a huge impact. Reach us here. We have been working with clients to get the most out of their technology for over 20 years.
Want to know more? Leave your details below and an expert will get back to you.
Like to speak to us about what we can do for your business? Reach us here.
ECM | 4 Reasons M-Files Is The Best ECM Tool Available
People are creatures of habit. They hate making changes. If they have a problem, they quickly get used to it and come up with the solution they need to keep going. Despite this, more companies switch to M-Files every day. Why? Because it is the best ECM tool on the market. But don’t just take our word for it.
For a business to succeed, it needs to leverage the competitive advantages available to it.
That’s why your company needs the best ECM tool available on the market. When share this view with people at networking events or client meetings, they all have a similar response,
‘Our current ECM system is fine.’
You wouldn’t pay a premium for food that is just ‘fine’. You wouldn’t pay to see an entertainer where the reviews say they are ‘fine’.
So why would you settle for anything less than the best? Especially when there is a solution that is rich in functionality and competitively priced compared to its rivals?
Simple. We are more comfortable with the problems we know, rather than the solutions that the best can bring. Here’s why.
Why Businesses Stick With Bad Services
People are creatures of habit. They generally avoid making changes. If they have a problem, they get used to it and come up with a workaround they need to keep going.
Despite this, more companies switch to M-Files every day. Why? Because it is the best ECM tool on the market. But don’t just take our word for it.
Here are four reasons your company needs M-Files.
Industry analysts have also recognised the M-Files approach to intelligent information management, labelling it as “Visionary” in the Gartner 2017 Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms
4 Reasons M-Files Is The Best ECM Tool Available
What follows are the four integral things that set M-Files apart from the competition-no matter what your industry is.
Reason 1: M-Files Unifies Information
The biggest issue people face with ECM tools is they don’t unify the company’s information. They use outdated silos or overly complex storage systems that make it difficult to retrieve your documents when you need them.
M-Files does away with the gatekeepers traditional to ECM software, by unifying information across multiple platforms such as:
Documentum
Dropbox
Box
Microsoft Sharepoint
Open Text
Reason 2: M-Files Has A Growing Network Of Responsive Partners
At a glance, this seems to be beneficial for the people promoting M-Files (like us) and not the user
The opposite is true.
M-Files is the best ECM tool available. That means it attracts only the highest quality partners.
When you engage with M-Files, you get access to a growing global list of partners who can help you integrate M-Files strategically to rapidly scale your business.
Reason 3: Seamless Integration With Microsoft Products
M-Files was smart. They recognised the business world’s dependency on Microsoft and developed an ECM software that integrated easily with it. M-FIles integrated with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and even Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Manage your Microsoft Office documents effectively – without changing the way you work.
Make Microsoft SharePoint even better.
Manage customers and their documents – No complex setups for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
That means you can quickly and easily add M-Files to your business without having to do complicated work arounds, bringing on extra IT staff, or wasting dozens of hours training your team to get started.
This is doubly important when using M-Files’ graphical workflow editor. You can easily and instantly set up different manual processes for office workflow-without having to learn convoluted systems!
Workflows facilitate routine tasks of the organisation, such as processing purchase invoices.
Reason 4: Adaptable Pricing Models Fit To Your Needs
Value and price aren’t the same thing-any good business knows that.
However, one thing M-Files recognised right away was that the blanket pricing model of traditional ECMs didn’t reflect the value of the price a company paid.
That is why M-Files has licensing options both for companies and offices that let you decide the level of engagement you need.
This is key. By opening access this way, M-Files makes sure you only pay for the value you need without trapping you in an overly large contract where you only use 10% of the services you pay for!
Talk With An M-Files Expert And Discover How To Rapidly Scale Your Business
M-Files is the best ECM tool available on the market. If you aren’t familiar with how our system works, or how your company can use ECM software's to rapidly scale your business, let’s talk.
Use the link below to schedule a quick call with one of our in-house experts. We can handle your questions, review your business, and outline how you can grow your business with M-Files.
ECM | Is Your Document Management Process Losing You Money?
If you are like most businesses, you lose, on average, 2-4 hours a week rounding up everything you need. You don’t want to lose time searching for the documents you need, but you don’t have a choice. Your ECM software solution doesn’t match your needs.
How long does it take you to get the documents you want?
If you are like most businesses, you lose, on average, 2-4 hours a week rounding up everything you need.
You don’t want to lose time searching for the documents you need, but you don’t have a choice. Your current way of storing documents in folders, email or existing ECM software solution doesn’t match your needs.
Most ECM software manage information through a more traditional approach such as silos. At a glance this seems the right idea. It’s not, here’s why.
Why Traditional ECM Software Solutions Don’t Work
A lot of businesses buy into the sales pitch traditional ECM’s use.
And it makes sense.
You have a lot of content, so you organise it into different storage and business units (IE-Silos). Each unit holds a particular type of content, or project, or period of time’s worth of work.
When you need to recall that specific document, all you need to do to get it is go to the silo it is stored in and retrieve it.
This seems like a simple and easy to use content software solution. So why do so many companies lose money using it?
Simple.
Your company’s content isn’t static. Your company constantly has a demand for previous content. It could be for sales, research, comparison, updating systems - it doesn’t matter.
These needs won’t be met using a traditional static storage method. Eventually, you misplace or forget the silo type you stored the content in.
Or worse.
You need a document you haven’t used in a while, and you don’t remember when you first created it or what silo it’s stored in.
The Big Problem With Traditional ECM Solutions
For a business to succeed, it has to adjust and react to situations in real time.
If you are using a traditional ECM software solution, you can’t.
Using ECM solutions not catered to your needs means you are stuck manually searching each silo hoping to hit the right one the first time.
This can take hours, every one of those can lose you business. Even worse, you give up and re-do the document from scratch.
If you have a compliance requirement such as some of the Food Industry clients we work with, the consequences can be more severe.
What you need is a content software solution that can process large amounts of meta-data, combine content tagging with AI features, and offer access to the content you need both instantly in the office and the field.
The M-Files Go Anywhere Solution
There are three things about M-Files that make it attractive to growing businesses.
The first is how it uses metadata, the second is how it uses phrase/word tagging, and the third is the AI learning function built into the system. The approach is to store something based on what it is rather than where it is stored. This approach means you can retrieve the document and so can the next person, you are future proofing your business.
M-Files is a new ECM software solution designed to:
1: Meet the needs of businesses in real time - With M-Files software solution your company can access the data it needs instantly in real time, anywhere. That means no more gatekeepers and time wasted sifting through silos. Users can also roll back to older versions of files without needing to wait for IT.
2: Be accessible and easy to adopt instantly - We talked about this in the last post, but it is worth mentioning again. M-Files is easy to learn and easier to use. This is key. If your team doesn’t like the solution, they’ll resist it. With M-Files, you won’t experience resistance.
Do you want to save your company money, save time wasted searching for files, and for your team to be able to easily access the content they need from anywhere in real time?
M-Files can help.
Discover The ECM Software Solution Your Business Needs
M-Files is used by hundreds of thousands of happy M-Files users all over the world. However, you may have a specific question. We have an expert on staff to answer your questions, outline how the system could benefit your company.
ECM | The 3 Reasons Why Clients Choose M-Files
Are you tired of traditional content management solutions slowing down your business?
Are you tired of traditional content management solutions slowing down your business?
Chances are you have finally decided there is a better way to manage your content or to pull the plug on your current content management system. You’ve lost time and possibly clients searching for documents you need in real time only to come up short.
So you start researching options only to grind to a halt when you realise how many options you have.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Choice Paralysis
Do you know what choice paralysis is?
It’s a cognitive hiccup that transforms easy choices into difficult ones. It works by adding lots of options that overwhelm the decision making part of your brain. Your mind perceives the mass of options and freezes up.
There are nearly forty different ECM options available, and after about five minutes of reading, your eyes glaze over.
We get it. Most ECM sites are unreadable. Here’s why.
Why ECM Can Be Confusing
The ECM companies you want to review have websites that are complex and confusing. They are filled with walls of text crammed edge to edge with technical industry jargon.
The reason vendors do this is they want to promote every speed and feed but this can lead to data overwhelm. The ECM journey does not have to be this complex.
We want you to make decisions with the right information about ECM systems.
That is why, to help you decide on the best option for your company, we collected the three most commonly praised things from our M-Files clients.
This way you can decide if the solutions our clients enjoy fit your company’s needs.
3 Reasons M-Files Is Right For Your Company: Praise Direct From Users’ Mouth
Before we start, we should disclose that we sell and implement M-Files and we have been using it internally for nearly a decade. We are one of the early adopters in Australia and we had the same issues and frustrations as many companies face today.
These are some of the challenges we experienced
Documents stored in many different places / silos
Difficult and slow to find the document we needed
Duplicated documents
Difficult to recover documents without restoring from backups
Manual processes
No version control / Different versions of the same document
Employees found it hard to collaborate on projects
There are a lot of ECM options available and we've used and implemented quite a few of them. Despite that, we only promote and help clients implement just one. Why?
Because M-Files is the most business friendly option available. To help you understand this claim we have included the top 3-reasons that cause our clients to rave about the software.
Reason 1: M-Files Is Easy To Adopt Due To An Easy To Use And Familiar Interface
Most ECM’s have difficult to learn interfaces. M-Files doesn’t. Actually, M-Files has great user adoption rates because it looks like your current system. Users don't feel like they have to learn another new tool to use. Below is an example of an M-Files vault, it looks like a regular networked drive.
Another benefit is M-Files enables finding, accessing and managing information residing virtually within any system, without disturbing existing processes and users. This means you don't have to rip and replace your existing systems. It integrates with popular software like Microsoft Office and Sharepoint. See just some of the integrations here.
This is important. Why?
Because when you introduce a new software, you experience resistance. People don’t like change. With M-Files they will.
The interface is easy to use and intuitive. This means teams adopt it much faster and the benefits of being able to find the documents they need reinforces the positive user experience.
Reason 2: M-Files Works Fast In Real Time
Imagine this.
Your team is out of the office and needs a document.
M-Files gives your employees instant access to everything they need from a mobile device or laptop. They can also make a document available offline if they don't have internet access.
This is powerful! Think about how much your clients will value seamless engagement in real time.
Reason 3: It Increases Efficiency
You and your employees will no longer waste time looking for documents. This will save you time and improve efficiency. Read how a South Australian food manufacturer - Mitani improved efficiency, traceability and compliance.
One of the things that clients don’t expect but get excited about when they realise it’s included with M-Files is workflows. A common example is the Accounts Payable function. When an invoice is received by email it is automatically processed through M-Files, all of the invoice information such as customer and cost information is captured via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and the invoice is routed to the right person to approve. All of this is done automatically with transparency, an audit trail and notifications. Automating manual processes will make you more efficient and approvals can also be done on the go via mobile devices, so no more waiting.
The best part about M-Files is that these three reasons to use it only skim the surface of everything that sets it apart from the competition.
Recommended by Industry Analysts
Industry analysts have also recognised the M-Files approach to intelligent information management.
“Visionary” in the Gartner 2017 Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms
“Leader” in the Forrester Wave: Enterprise Content Services, Q2 2017
“Leader” in the Nucleus Research ECM Technology Value Matrix 20
But don’t take our word for it. Schedule a call with one of our experts. They can answer your questions live and share real life examples of how M-Files has helped companies become more efficient.
Schedule My FREE Call Today - Click here
Do You Know Your Current Content Management System Is Losing You Money?
Worried that this is the case?
If you use a traditional content management system, then you are going to want to read the next article. It covers everything about how your current systems are losing you money.
ECM | Never Waste Time Looking For The Right Document Again
Are you tired of wasting time looking for documents you need?
Never Waste Time Looking For The Right Document By Using The Best Information Management Tool: M-Files
Are you tired of wasting time looking for documents you need?
Your business moves quickly. When you need a document you don’t want to spend hours searching through content silos to find the information you need-especially if you need multiple documents.
Tell me if this sounds familiar.
You start a project and realise you need some documents. You look in the folders scattered on your desktop, in email, the network drive and cloud storage and end up losing hours searching for the documents you need.
Or worse.
You find the document but it’s behind an access wall, and the person with the clearance you need isn’t available. What do you do?
If you are using traditional information management systems, this is more of a problem than you like to admit.
So why haven’t you switched to a new system?
When asked this, most companies explain they:
Didn’t know solutions were available
Didn’t know the available solutions were affordable
Didn’t realise there was one solution so easy to use they could instantly integrate it into their day-to-day
Thankfully, there is a solution-one that is so easy to use you can instantly implement it and start seeing results right away. What is it?
What Is M-Files
On the surface, M-Files is an ECM.
What is an ECM? It is an Enterprise Content Management system. They are the more robust grown-up cousins to traditional systems.
What sets them apart is that they are built to be tailored to an enterprise’s specific needs. That means instead of getting a system you plug your content into, the ECM adapts to your document needs and erects a system around it.
M-Files is a metadata based, repository neutral, intelligent acting solution companies can enlist to quickly and safely find the content they want-right away.
How does it work?
Simple.
M-Files manages information by "what" it is versus "where" it's stored. No more guessing where to store a document, just tag it and relate it to other important business objects, such as customer, project, case and so on.
The Missing Keys Example
M-files searches for content you need based on what the data you are searching for is in place of where it’s stored.
To understand how it works, imagine you lost your keys in your house.
Your house has ten rooms. Traditional content management systems would require you to go room to room to search for your keys.
The old system could tell you if the keys were in the room you searched, but not what room had your keys. Worse still, the old system does not help you with managing duplicates or old redundant keys laying around causing clutter.
This is where you waste your time. If you have multiple silos of content, you could waste hours searching through each one before finally landing on the right one.
If you need multiple documents and search in a random order, you can waste even more time.
Using M-files you would immediately know both:
The exact room your keys are in
Where in the room the keys are
So how does this help you?
How M-Files Information Management Helps Your Business
Your company is larger than most businesses.
This places unique demand for specific needs on your business-like content management.
For your company to get and keep the edge-both over your rivals and startups-you need your team to respond in real time. Traditional content management systems keep you from doing that.
Every hour you waste looking for documents is another hour your competitor looks better.
Take back the edge, succeed at the speed of demand, and get ahead of the competition by using M-Files.
Discover 3 Key Reasons M-Files Is The Best ECM Tool Available
You want to know why M-Files is the best option available on the market today?
Then you are going to want to check out our next article. In it we share the top three things our clients rave about when they switch over to M-Files.
By - Matthew Heinrich - Senior ECM Consultant at Advance
