General

In MPS or print management projects, one of the quickest and most measureable cost savings efforts is focused around device consolidation. It is hard to find an organisation today that doesn’t have an excessive amount of personal printers, or old equipment, that can be eliminated entirely or replaced by modern technology.

Equitrac customers are no exception to this:

• KeyBank reduced their print fleet from 12,000 devices to 3,000
• Liverpool John Moores University went from 750 print/copy or fax devices down to 250
• Peirce College had 50-60 personal printers and 15 MFPs and reduced that number to 20 new MFPs

This list goes on and on, and this ratio of at least a 3:1 reduction in devices is very common. And the cost savings are dramatic when you consider how expensive desktop printers are to operate, manage and maintain. The evidence is so compelling that it is hard to believe that every company wouldn’t jump at the chance to recognise the savings and start pulling out every desktop printer in their organisation.

What’s stopping them? User resistance. Perhaps you’ve heard one of these excuses:

• “You can’t take my printer, I won’t be as productive”
• “I have this printer because I print confidential information”
• “Why do you want to take this, I purchase my ink and just expense it. It’s not an IT issue or expense.”
• “I only print small jobs on this printer. How much can it really cost?”

There are a variety of approaches to helping overcome this user resistance and paving the way for behaviour change. First and foremost is communication. Demonstrate the reason that you are asking to take away a printer. Show reports on how much an employee is costing the company. Talk about the benefits to the environment by printing on more efficient devices. And explain that you are providing new tools and better technology that will actually improve their experience.

It is those tools and improved technology that will really make the case. With more modern print hardware you can deliver a better quality printed page, faster printing for large jobs and offer colour printing to the people who need it at a more affordable price. Using secure print technology like Follow-You Printing can alleviate the concerns over confidentiality since no job is released until the user authenticates at the device. And intelligent print rules & routing software takes the burden off of the user to decide which printer is best for each print job…they just hit print and a pop-up window will give them options of where to print the job and the associated costs. A modern print infrastructure will help employees be more productive, documents be more secure, and IT be able to focus on strategic activities…not printer support.

Finally, go back to communication. After six months, let employees know that the company has saved thousands of dollars thanks to their changed print behaviour. Let them know about the tens of acres of trees that were not cut to produce paper they would have used. Reinforcing the difference they are making will spread and help continue to drive print behaviour improvements.

So…don’t hesitate to initiate a printer consolidation strategy. Most customers that I talk to said that at the onset they had employees who put up a fight. But everyone expressed that because they communicated early and often, and implemented the right technology, those grumblings stopped and users quickly realised that change was a good thing. Just don’t expect them to raise their hand and say “take my printer”.

For more information please contact us on 01962 835053 or email enquiries@processflows.co.uk

The Director of Public Prosecutions has committed to making the Crown Prosecution Service entirely digital by April 2012.

Keir Starmer QC has said that the criminal justice system needs to move away from paper-based systems and transform the way criminal cases are handled. By April 2012, information will be passed digitally from the police to the CPS and sent over secure email to the defence.

The CPS is already moving forward using technology to prosecute. For example; the early guilty plea pilot in Liverpool, in which files are presented digitally; Winchester Crown court, where evidence is presented on laptops in court; and Dyfed Powys, where advanced information is served electronically. (http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/cps-go-paperless-april-says-starmer)

Alex Marshall, Chief Constable of Hampshire Police also highlighted that courts becoming paperless would save police time, as Police Officers could take evidence electronically using iPads or Blackberrys and those files could be sent straight to the court.

An Inquest, at Winchester Crown Court is currently relying on a photocopy with some pages missing. The inquest heard the document was given to the Independent Police Complaints Commission on the day of the crime, but the police watchdog has been unable to find it.

This substantial change in methods is going to involve considerable process change in the submission of evidence; from hand written statements, forms, emails, word processed documents, photographic evidence and police incident notes. However the benefits easily out-weigh the cost of change.

Where documents were previously photocopied many times for the distribution and sharing of evidence and case notes, this will be replaced by converting paper files – e.g. written and signed statements- to image. Similarly the addition of native files such as MS Word documents, XML based electronic forms and photographs and videos (in many formats) all need to be captured and stored.

But conversion is not enough, since each item has to be suitably and accurately classified and identified and easily retrievable in court. Not only does the Judge, Defence and Prosecution need to be able to find, view and identify key documents and phrases, but the jurors may also need to simultaneously be able to access the same information. So this requires new ways to present evidence and reports for analysis and assessment.

Furthermore, it may be necessary to ‘flag’ key documents for the jury to assess in their deliberations. But, on the contrary, there is no physical limit to the amount of information that can be accessed by both parties.

So, there is much to consider in this desire to migrate to digital working. All the above is deliverable with suitable process analysis and change management. This is already happening in the USA using our premier product OnBase – http://www.hyland.com/news/newsitemdetails/11-11-01/cobb_county_georgia_chooses_onbase.aspx. Here digitally collected evidence is directly up loaded to the case files.

This is the core business of ProcessFlows, where we continually take paper out of processes, making them far more efficient at the same time.

For more information please contact us on 01962 835053 or email enquiries@processflows.co.uk

The lifecycle of a paper document used to be simple

A document originated on paper (like a form) or was printed out. That document than lived in a labelled file folder and was stored in a drawer, filing cabinet or even off-site storage – depending on how often it needed to be accessed.

When information from the document was needed, it was retrieved from storage – copied if necessary – interacted with, then returned to storage when completed. This was a repeatable, known process and worked fine, although using paper as the permanent record often led to very slow, inefficient processing of information and is prone to errors and loss.

A number of years ago, electronic document management changed the nature of paper from a permanent record to a medium for short-term interaction. Paper storage isn’t completely a thing of the past, particularly in regulated industries and government, but many of the permanent records of information are now kept electronically.

While you would expect that this change in workflows would reduce the amount of paper that is generated, this isn’t occurring. Instead, the evolution of paper from a permanent record to a short-term interaction with information has just changed how paper is used – not how much.
In fact, this shift has resulted in a document being printed far more times from its electronic master, compared with legacy paper filing systems. Why?

There is a preference by many people to use paper to interact with information.

Users print the document, use it, then most of the time discard it. The next time it is needed … you guessed it; it is printed again and discarded again.

This may evolve over time as tablets and mobile devices make people more comfortable working with information on screen vs. paper, but we aren’t there yet. So, with most business processes still reliant on paper output for records, transactions or simply for better readability (Gartner, 2011), the best approach to is to help users print smarter with print management. Apply print policies to ensure that when a document is printed it is printed securely and to the most cost effective device. Track print usage and let users know how much they are printing and how much it costs, they’ll be surprised at how many times they print and we’ve seen dramatic decreases just from that awareness. And give them the tools to make better printing decisions, such as pop-up alerts that recommend a re-direct of print jobs to more efficient printers.

Even as its use as a permanent record is declining, paper isn’t going anywhere, but the use of paper can be managed with significant cost, security and workflow improvement results.

If you would like any further information on our print management solution, please contact us on 01962 835053 or email enquiries@processflows.co.uk.

We took part in the Workout at Work day, with some of our staff taking part in a Pilates session. We hold a weekly Pilates session for all our staff, should they wish to attend.

We also hold a gym membership that our staff can take advantage of as often as they like.

We encourage our staff to take regular breaks and exercise in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle in both their work and personal lives.

We obtained this up-to-date statistic from the recently published Process Efficiency Index 2011.

Following consultation with 458 European companies employing 1,000 + staff, based across 12 nations (including the UK), the Process Efficiency Index concluded that an average of 42.5 per cent of all business critical information is still held in hard copy only.

A total of 362 million hours of staff time is taken up every year ‘paper pushing’

Apart from the high cost, manual processing of documents creates bottlenecks, cumbersome and time consuming workflow and unnecessary stress for staff, which all impacts on customer service.

Almost 30% can be shaved off the cost of manual document processing with automation

Only 22 per cent of European businesses have a fully automated process to manage business critical documents.

Those that do:

• Are more efficient
• Have cut costs by reducing the number of hours staff spend dealing with hard copy documents
• Been able to free up their staff to focus on activities that help to grow the business and improve customer service
• Can cope with the ‘ebbs and flows’ – such as ISA application peaks or end of year reconciliations
• Can find information quickly and easily
• Are compliant, greener and leaner

Forty-five per cent of respondents to the Process Efficiency Index said that lack of time was the main barrier to automation

ProcessFlows can undertake everything for you – from an initial review of your existing processes to discover where change will be effective, to full deployment, training and support.

Three easy ‘hands-off’ ways to cost-effectively get you from a manual muddle to automated efficiently:

One: Deploy on-premise business process management solutions

Our solutions and technologies integrate with your existing line of business systems (accounts, HR etc), to provide a centralised repository which holds all of your information electronically, in single underlying database.

The repository is easily and securely accessed by all users from all familiar networked systems and PCs, ‘at the click of a button’.  Workflow automatically routes documents throughout the organisation, for authorisation, queries etc., eliminating the piles of paper that tend to cause a back-log, or get lost and compromise security.

Two: Outsource your manual business processes to a third party and reduce your salary bill by 35%

ProcessFlows has an EU Nearshoring facility in Bulgaria, staffed by  highly qualified operators who are trained in back-office processing for accounts, invoicing, administration, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, human resource management, content management and service desk management.

Outsourcing has the added benefit of no up-front investment costs – you simply pay for the services you need, on a month-by-month basis.

All of your documentation will be electronically captured, processed and stored in a secure repository, in line with compliance regulations.  Your users have access to all company information via the internet. No more paper to slow things up and space previously taken storing documents can be reclaimed.

Three: Implement Software as a Service (SaaS)

Gain all the benefits of the latest process automation technology, without having to invest up-front in an on-premise install and software license fees.

ProcessFlows is able to centrally host and deliver document management, content management, customer and relationship management business applications to clients/users via the Internet.

Applications can be purchased as a monthly or annual subscription fee, usually based on the number of users.

Automating is easy

You don’t have to struggle with manual and outdated processes – give us a call and we will do our best to help and advise on the best automation solution for your business.

Virtualisation enables one physical server to run multiple and different operating systems, and therefore behave like several virtual servers.

So instead of individual servers each running at 10% of capacity, the consolidated ‘virtual’ server works at 65% + of its capacity, which means that you can switch off four out of every five servers.

• In a 200 server estate the power savings from server consolidation and virtualisation amounts to £107,439 per annum with a 75% reduction in the number of physical servers
• This figure did not take into account the power savings from reduced air conditioning (normally £4 for every £1 of server power)
• Data Consolidation and de-duplication enables you to reduce the amount of disk space by 70 percent
• In most companies over 70% of the data on their disks hasn’t been touched in over a year
• Putting only the current data on shared disk systems enables companies to reduce their storage related energy costs by over 50%

With the right approach, you can simplify your infrastructure, make it more responsive, and shrink your IT costs.

To find out more about our Server Analysis Service, call us on 01962 835053 or email enquiries@processflows.co.uk

80% of the power used by storage systems is taken up by spinning the hard disk drives on which you store the digital data – even if you aren’t using all the disk space.

Spinning hard disk drives (HDD) provide high capacity computer storage. But regardless of whether you are utilising the storage capacity they provide or not, motors are running and disks are spinning, so you still use 80% of the total power.

Reducing the number of spinning disks in line with what you actually need and use, will immediately reduce your electricity consumption.

To understand why power is in such demand by your storage and why you are spending so much on energy costs, it is probably a good idea to rewind.

The way HDDs are designed and work has not changed much since the 1970’s.

• The disks, which are coated in a magnetic media, are attached to a spindle
• The spindle is attached to a motor, which constantly spins the spindle and the disk
• The read/write drive heads, which magnetically encode/decode the data, are driven by another motor which moves them very precisely on a cushion of air, across the surface of the disk

Constant spinning produces heat, so in addition to the power needed to keep things moving, the heat has to be dissipated – and cooling costs about four times the running cost.

Most companies probably do not know how much electricity is being consumed by their IT systems – but if a 100 watt bulb left on 24 hours a day for a year uses 876 units of electricity @15p per unit, and therefore costs £131.40 to run for the year, it gives some scale to the cost of keeping the hardware powered up.

To find out more about how to reduce storage costs, call us on 01962 835053 or email enquiries@processflows.co.uk

It is now more or less acknowledged that the looming cuts in the Public Sector mean reduced staffing and investment.

Accepting that a new era of austerity is around the corner and that you will have less people and resources at your disposal to get the job done is the first step towards this new and viable vision of the ‘Council of the Future’.

Managers who can demonstrate to stakeholders that working smarter can make substantial savings, whilst at the same time improve customer services, should still be there when the good times return.

Top Shop’s Sir Philip Green, said this week that no business could survive the level of money that was wasted by the Government.

You could not be in business if you operated like this.  It would be impossible.

There is some good news as far as back office processes are concerned – you can implement some cost-effective changes which will help you do more with less resource and deliver constantly improving customer service.

There are several ways you can help your organisation to get from process A (manual, labour intensive and inefficient) to process B (automated, electronic and efficient) and cut costs.

1.  Implement Business Process Management solutions which integrate with your existing system

• Hold all your information electronically
• Minimise your use and dependency on paper
• Easy and secure access to all information by every department and the public (such as online access to planning information)
• Saves the time people spend searching for documents

2.  Outsource your Business Processes to a third party and gain access to a sustainable source of high-level skills for less cost

Nearshoring, with an EU-compliant Nearshoring facility, rather than Offshoring, is more convenient – time is more in line with UK working hours, so it is easier to manage and the language skills of operators are good.

• Reduce salary costs by 35% +
• Nearshore your Finance & Administration, IT Services and Back-office processes
• Enhance services with 24×7, multi-lingual operation
• Pro-active, remote network monitoring, management and administration
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd line support or overflow facility for IT

3.  Have a close look at your server virtualisation and infrastructure and cut down on the costs of maintaining and paying for server capacity you never use

Three-quarters of server managers polled said at least 15% of their servers are not doing anything useful and 83% said they don’t have a good grasp of the utilisation rates of their servers

• Analyse your existing server estate to identify over capacity
• Work out the optimum areas for virtualisation
• Design a virtual environment that’s aligned to your leaner and meaner business strategy

4.  Unify your communications

Supporting mobile working initiatives and doing more with your current telephone system will allow you to:

• Reduce (or ease the burden) on receptionists and improve customer service
• Provide 24x7x365 access to information with interactive voice response technology
• Introduce text messaging –a popular, cost effective, non-intrusive, 2-way communication method
• Eliminate fax machines by bringing fax into the existing IP environment and integrate fax with the Multi Function Printers you are already using every day

If you would like any further information about any of the cost cutting ideas above, please call us on 01962 835053 or email sales@processflows.co.uk.

ProcessFlows is a finalist in the 2010 Document Manager Magazine Awards

We still need as much support as possible so we would be grateful, if you have a minute, to vote for us.

Please go to www.dmawards.com and then click on the tab at the top marked ‘Vote Now’ – we are top of the list in the Partner category.

The rules are:

One email address, one vote and voting closes on 30th September 2010.

So please get voting now!

‘Measure Twice – Cut Once’ is a true enough statement when applied to a skilled craftsperson (or a DIY amateur!), but in these days of austerity, why not apply it to business?

Graham Robinson, ProcessFlows

We can forget to measure the costs of some of the familiar things we take for granted in our every day working environment, and they all add up!

Do you know, or does anyone in your organisation know how much is spent on:

• Office Paper for copying and printing?
• Printers and consumables?
• MFD’s – have they saved you any money?
• General filing stationery?
• Internal Mail/Communications?
• External Mail/Communications?
• Fax machines and consumables?
• Storage space?
• Data entry?
• Business Travel?
• Fixing mistakes in processes?

For many organisations these costs can run into hundreds of £1000’s, and that is not taking in account the huge labour cost consumed incurring all these costs.

We can show you how to halve these costs– then, if you are lucky, you can use the savings for much better returns or simply meet your target cut as directed.

01962 835053, or email sales@processflows.co.uk.