The adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” teaches us we have to work hard and overcome many challenges if we want to dance on the stage of success.  It also reminds us how difficult it is for even the greatest to stay on top.

Remarkable societies such as the Romans, Ottomans, Spanish, and British didn’t emerge by chance.  Visionary leaders directed strong individuals, united by a common purpose.  They had ample resources (or acquired them by force), were educated, well informed, imaginative, and flexible.  Leaders ensured the people had, created, or acquired the necessary tools to support established goals.  Work was distributed among the people. Authorities empowered citizens to embrace change rather than resist it.  Their efforts were rewarded by success, stability, and resilience in the face of disaster.  Eventually, corrupt leadership, excessive ambition, complacency, self-righteousness, natural and economic disasters, or a lack of ability to access resources surfaced.  The result: opposing goals, inflexibility, inability to survive difficult circumstances, and eventual ruin.  

Many parallels exist between what causes civilizations and enterprise content management (ECM) initiatives to succeed or fail.  As an advisor to your clients, you need to understand the principles that lead to success and be aware of mistakes and assumptions that lead to decline.  Advise and act accordingly.  Never let a sense of accomplishment lead to complacency.  In tough times like these, the guidance you give may dictate whether a company flourishes, struggles to survive, or folds.

The following guidelines will help you establish the framework for a successful ECM project, with tips for using standard office equipment (copiers, scanners, fax machines and printers) to significantly increase productivity and profit.  By providing a solid ECM solution coupled with the right equipment and advice, you can help your clients to rise above current challenges and avoid perilous downfalls.

Establish a clear vision and project goals.

• Know your client’s vision, long- and short-term goals, and how ECM can be used effectively to achieve them.

• Understand how copiers, scanners, fax machines and printers work with ECM software to help clients reach their aspirations.  Consider underutilized equipment that could serve as capture sources.  You might not make a new sale, but may benefit by consulting.

Solicit input and buy-in from staff.

• Someone must communicate project vision, process, and benefits to staff early in the planning process.  After they understand the project goals, take advantage of their knowledge and experience.  Staff members may unearth overlooked weaknesses or improvement opportunities that should be considered.  Carefully evaluate everyone’s input.  This also builds staff buy-in for your project.

Help staff embrace change.

• Employees who fear that ECM will eliminate their jobs often find it challenging to embrace project goals and meet timelines.  Job insecurity can lead to lack of commitment, slowdowns, and even project sabotage.  Make sure your client communicates short and long-term plans, including repurposing staff to other positions, eliminating posts gradually through retirement, etc.

Give staff adequate tools and training.

• After employees embrace the idea of using new technology, they will need adequate training, documentation, and support to succeed.  Regardless of who will provide what’s needed, make sure a detailed plan is communicated to staff.  It will relieve anxiety and encourage readiness to move forward.

Encourage creativity, flexibility, and communication.

• For an ECM project to reach its potential, staff must streamline how information is created, shared, and distributed.  Unconventional ideas often lead to innovative adaptations and integrations of existing technology, with ECM driving the changes. All ideas should be encouraged, as long as they are focused.

• Although detailed project plans are vital for success, there must be flexibility to address ideas and obstacles throughout the project.  A realistic yet positive attitude is critical. 

• Goals, policies, expectations, timelines, and roadblocks should be communicated regularly.  Appropriate, inclusive communication gets results. 

• Change is challenging. Recognize project milestones.

Celebrate success. Establish disaster recovery plans.

• Data is integral to a business’s ability to continue operations if there is a pandemic, flood, or other catastrophe.  Disaster recovery planning is vital. Create a hierarchy of business information.  Note who is responsible for which recovery steps, and the order in which data will be restored.  Discuss whether the company, the vendor’s professional services team, or you will provide the disaster recovery planning expertise the company needs.  Proceeding without a solid plan puts your clients’ businesses unnecessarily at risk.

Tools to conquer inefficiency
Web-based ECM stores, organizes, and makes information available to the right people, whenever they need it, from any location.  Copiers (including MFPs), scanners, fax machines, and printers often have many capabilities your client needs to get started, but your client’s staff—and even their supplier or advisor—may not be aware of the functionality or how it works.  Assess equipment your customers already own. Help them do more with less and you’ll earn their trust.

Copiers & MFPs. Many modern copiers and MFPs have basic scanning functionality that captures documents electronically.  Copier and MFP indexing functions might be severely limited, but if documents can be indexed with one or two keywords, powerful ECM tools can complete the cataloguing process. Customizable ECM security settings let you specify who can access files, improving security while significantly reducing paper waste.

Scanners. Whether your client chooses desktop devices with basic one-, two- or three-step functions or highly sophisticated scanners for large-volume batch input, scanning dramatically accelerates document availability and distribution.  Like copiers and MFPs, desktop scanners enable anyone to capture and manage information electronically with ease.  For high volumes of routine paperwork, high-speed batch scanning quickly captures and indexes documents for ECM storage within seconds, making data instantly available for search, retrieval, and processing. 

Fax machines. A frequently overlooked benefit of ECM is the ability to capture faxes electronically for storage and automatic routing.  Digital fax capture improves readability, eliminates frustrating ‘ghost’ transmissions, saves significant toner and paper, enables secure desktop access, and facilitates compliance.  If the system allows, your client can route faxes appropriately to email Inboxes, ensuring they are categorized and secured in the data repository for future retrieval.

Printers. Although most people equate printers with paper copies, some ECM solutions can capture data from print streams and feed it into on-screen reports or tables.  For those who regularly create detailed reports, enterprise report management technology (or COLD-ERM) saves significant time and expense.  Money should be spent on printing, toner, and manual documentation review only when it makes sense.

As an advisor in the office equipment industry, you have access to the building blocks to help your clients succeed.  Adding ECM to the mix lets them gain control over disparate information sources and helps transform office efficiency.  Understand the full capabilities of your equipment, educate yourself about principles that make companies rise and fall, and take proactive steps to ensure success.  With a solid plan and the right tools, you’ll be off to a strong start.

Laurel Sanders is the director of public relations and communications for Optical Image Technology, makers of the DocFinity® suite of document management and workflow software.  For information, contact her at lsanders@docfinity.com or visit  www.docfinity.com.