It seems that everywhere you look these days, people are talking about ‘digitization’ (or ‘digital transformation’). But unlike many buzzwords we’ve seen come and go over the years, this one is driving real change.
Moving from paper to digital workflows has the potential to radically overhaul how organizations work internally and externally. They’ll be able to cut costs, operate more efficiently, provide better customer service – and even gain a competitive edge.
You might think that this all sounds like something only larger organizations with big IT departments should care about. But it’s not.
Documents are still central to at least 40% of business processes[1], regardless of the size of the organization. So digitization is something all SMBs should care about.
And they do, based on the results of our recent comprehensive international study, The State of SMB Document Management.
Digitization and the Journey to Value
The good news is that SMBs are well on their way to digital transformation. They told us they want to digitize processes to reduce costs, grow the business, and make it easier to share documents.
But what’s really encouraging is that SMBs are also focusing on the big picture. They’re looking beyond mere cost-cutting, to creating business value. A French IT manager told us, “digitization allows companies to save costs and generate revenues and if we implement an internal process, it will make our work easier and improve accuracy.”
Taking It to the next Level
It’s worth stating here that digitization isn’t just a case of converting paper documents to digital ones. That in itself would be a big gain, as you cut storage costs, improve document sharing and reduce wasted time. But it’s only the first step.
True digitization involves creating an end-to-end digital solution that includes document routing, storing, sharing and printing. It incorporates mobile print and cloud solutions, as well as state-of-the-art security.
It also takes complex document workflows and automates them. So with one press of a button, your MFP could scan an invoice, route it to whoever needs to see it, and store it in the cloud.
And from the survey, it’s clear that forward-thinking SMBs are aware of the huge potential of this next level of digitization.
For more insights on how digitization can give small and medium sized business an edge, read our slideshare.
[1] Poor document processes lead to significant business risk, IDC
Share this article on Twitter!
Tweet: Digitization – high on the agenda for forward-thinking small and midsized businesses (SMBs) https://ctt.ec/v6yHD+ via @XeroxOffice
Subscribe to the Small Business Solutions Blog and receive updates when we publish a new article. [wysija_form id=”1″]
