Blog • Do more with less - you already have the tools • PacSol UK

From experience, many businesses still think to improve a process with technology, especially if you already have a technology solution in place, that you have to go out, find the latest product, tear everything out and start again. (Ed note: At this point the author lets out a deep, long, world weary sigh)

Most businesses (there are always exceptions) will in fact already have the very platform / technology they need but the original implementation has been left to stagnate rather than been regularly reviewed, upgraded and modified to fit the changing business landscape.

The products PacSol implement provide a solid foundation not only for many years of service with continuous improvement but also for the addition of new services and integrations that further deliver value to the organisation and the various departments within. Not forgetting that all of the products we implement and support, whether PacSol or vendor, continually undergo improvement for stability, technology support and additional key features based on a general need in the market. These updates are usually available as a complimentary upgrade to existing customers and can provide access to new / improved solutions to current business processes.

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can” – Arthur Ashe

In our previous blogs ‘What next? Moving forward with your existing ECM’ and more recently ‘Positive Pandemic: Has Covid forced us to change for the better?’, I have touched on this concept but some recent customer interactions have brought this subject back to my attention.

The biggest expense in any platform’s lifecycle is the initial deployment (hardware, software, licensing, training) therefore getting the most ‘value’ out of that investment is crucial. Perhaps one of more of the following suggestions may inspire your organisation to re-assess how to get more from your current platform:

• Review your 'new' process - just because the platform and process installed previously saved time and produced department efficiencies doesn't mean it cannot be improved. Look to see if your sources of content have changed (perhaps requiring an additional handler) or if the way approvals were set is no longer optimal, change the sequence.
• Introduce task automation (workflow) - You are now storing your content centrally, have increased efficiency and have met compliance targets for your organisation's content. However you still rely on employees emailing links or dropping an instant message to team leaders, managers or departments for further actions. With workflow, you set the conditions for which automated triggers inform people or groups that their input is required - invoice approval, employee review sign off, expenses, records control confirmation...
• Automate your email - As a result of the pandemic, many businesses shifted away from paper to digital documentation. This is great news in general for efficiency but only if the correct process is applied. By ensuring documents to be processed are sent to a monitored mail box, emails, content and attachments can be processed, identified and stored automatically.
• Switch to online forms with automation - Rather than sharing a Word / Excel / PDF or even paper template with employees, why not host forms digitally from your document management platform? Once a user submits a completed form, the content of that form is stored as a standalone record and the data can be used to drive tasks / process for following actions. 
• Integrate the next department - Often the implementation of a document management system was to meet the need of a specific department or area in the organisation. All too often though, other departments who would also benefit (even if they are not major document processors) are left to use older systems and routines rather than being onboarded. Once the migration has completed, they too will have access to the suite of functions and opportunities to innovate process.
• Platform integration - Match incoming invoices, and automate Account Payable process with ERP integration. Collaborate on centralised content in tools such as MS Team with documents never leaving the repository. Update data in other applications based on actions in the document management platform or accept updates from those systems (potentially triggering workflows, tasks etc)

One of the best concepts introduced by the ITIL® framework is that of continuous service improvement. Once implemented, the new service is reviewed, data collected, improvements suggested, tested, results analysed and eventually implemented into the service. This cycle then should continue, only ceasing when the service is finally to be replaced after (hopefully) many years of successfully supporting the business process.

If you would like to know more about what your current platform could do for your business, contact us today for a risk-free, no obligation conversation on doing more with what you already have (therefore, for less).

 Toby Gilbertson. Director of Operations. August 2023 (Original version February 2021)

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