Document processing that’s sure to help your bottom line from Bottomline Technologies

Whatever your line of business, whether you are in security, science or insurance; whatever the product is that you are creating and selling – the crucial commodities for your business are always time and information. Time and information are the elements which make or break players in the modern world – and maximising your effective utilisation of both is crucial. And the two are necessarily linked – failure to organise time effectively means that you can’t make the most of the information available to you: and poor information management means a potentially catastrophic waste of time. First-class document management and document processing systems are neither luxuries nor extravagances – nothing could be more extravagant than trying to do without them.

And there is no field of economic life for which this applies more acutely than invoice processing. Your invoice processing system is the doorway for all your organisation’s cash – and if your organisation is above a certain size, then it is almost a certainty that you are falling victim to a small but persistent flow of errors, many of them challenging to diagnose, which are costing you time and money. Bottomline Technologies have developed a plethora of invoice processing solutions that can help you plug all the leaks in your accounts department, small and subtle as they might be.

Document management and document processing systems and technologies are key elements in an effective information management strategy. When a department is faced with an overwhelming influx of documents, or needs to send out the same information to many different recipients, automation of the right process and in the right way is crucial. Bottomline Technologies has developed a range of technologies and approaches to make sure that your organisation can get it right when it comes to information management systems.Â

Bottomline offers a mix of ready-to-buy software, and procedures that can be carried out as outsourced processes from Bottomline’s own data centre, to assist your organisation in taking the steps forward in the fields of document processing and management. Often a range of in-house and outsourced solutions are required: after all, for all the sophistication of a given piece of information processing technology, any organisation often needs an outsider’s perspective on their processes to help really make meaningful changes to their procedures; but also, the intimate knowledge of the precise needs and situation of an organisation that only in-house staff can provide will often trump the best efforts of an outside team.

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How document processing can help you

With the purchase of any new technology there has to be a reason to justify the expenditure and the trouble of training personnel and moving systems. In the case of document management that purpose is efficiency, which has many impacts elsewhere – not least in terms of reputation, as well as your bottom line. Invoice processing, for example, allows you to pay suppliers and clients on time (whilst not overpaying or duplicate paying); whilst this has financial benefits, it is also an important courtesy to those you work with and will do much to strengthen the relationship between you. That, of course, has knock-on impacts for the long-term arrangement between you. Cost is so usually not the sole criterion for changing provider or supplier; poor service is a more common reason. People often don’t mind paying a touch more so long as it’s worth it. Remove that incentive and you can find their loyalty is (rightly) short-lived. document processing can therefore be an important tool in your customer retention, with all that means for other aspects of your business.

The overall idea is simple: all of your physical documents are converted to electronic ones. This is carried out by various means. At the bottom end of the scale a scan-to-pdf may be used. More sophisticated systems use optical character recognition and are capable of turning handwritten notes into files.

These files can then be saved centrally, where they can be accessed by anyone who has the necessary permissions. That means documents cannot be lost or destroyed, and photocopying certain papers is no longer required. It allows you to treat all documents the same – letter or email, paper or virtual invoice. Businesses can often unwittingly employ a two-tier system depending on which medium they are more familiar with; either they will deal with paper first and leave the electronic communications, or vice versa. The danger is that some clients may get left behind this way.

document processing cuts out this hierarchy, and a good document management system will mean that your staff do not have to distinguish between paper and electronic copies. This will be particularly important for your accounts department, since ignoring invoices or being slow to process them is a sure way to upset clients and suppliers. Consequently you should find that invoice processing enables your organisation to run more efficiently – something that those who use you will appreciate.

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Document management: the up-to-date way to run an office

Although paperless offices are the ideal nowadays, the reality is far from happening. A paper-free office should save time and money, bringing efficiencies as documents are accessible and, essentially, indestructible. Unfortunately, if the rest of the world hasn’t caught up to your ideals, you will be forced to use both systems: an awkward combination of old and new. Document processing bridges this gap until everyone is on the same page (electronic or otherwise). It’s a system of turning paper documents into e-versions that can then be used like any other computer file. These can then be stored in a document management system, organising them so that they can be accessed by all of the relevant staff. Similarly, invoice processing streamlines your accounts department, ensuring that you have a computer record of all paper invoices, and that no one gets left behind because they are using old technologies.

The benefits of all this are immense. Where other companies and individuals use e-invoicing, you can send instant and secure requests for payments, and receive your money in the same way – without the need for tiresome and time-consuming paper invoices, which have a habit of getting lost. When customers and suppliers send you invoices by snail mail, they can be converted to electronic form by the software, allowing you to treat them in the same way as e-invoices.
This process is especially useful when it comes to invoicing and payments, since your company stands and falls on its cash-flow and reputation. No one appreciates it when invoices are lost or delayed, and this level of automation eliminates those kinds of problems. Along with other, related software it can also address the problems of incorrect invoices, including duplicates or more fraudulent ones.

However, the use of these technologies goes beyond invoice processing. Document processing is also useful for the day-to-day running of your business, since the efficiencies it brings lead to a smoother operation. document management means that you should never be delayed by a letter or memo sitting on someone’s desk under a pile of paper. Similarly, files can be used simultaneously by any number of people without photocopying. That can transform meetings and business planning and allow your staff to do their jobs more easily and speedily. That has knock-on benefits for productivity. Whilst the truly paperless office is some way off, then, this group of technologies has the ability to bridge the gap, making life a lot easier in the meantime.

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Invoice processing can minimise basic human errors

There are a great number of systems that are used for running a successful office and they will be different according to the size and nature of the firm. One of the most important organisational facilities which all offices must have, however, is a system that permits rapid and easy document management. This can include document processing and invoice processing and a lot of other systems can be added to boost the efficiency with which the office staff work and to cut-down the frequency of annoying human slip-ups that are inescapable in any firm. However many systems an office manager elects to implement within the business the most essential facility which is needed is document management – this is what much of running an office boils down to.

Nowadays, the filing and managing of documents regularly all takes place on a computer. This method of working has numerous rewards. Not only can different members of staff access shared documents and spreadsheets, but it is now also standard practice for staff to remotely access their work computer and continue to work on important documents despite being away from their desk, perhaps while travelling, or perhaps looking after a sick child or infant at home. When members of staff are able to store and edit documents jointly it increases the efficiency with which they are able to work and to collaborate. This in turn has a very positive effect on team morale within the office.

One of the greatest advantages of using a computer system to manage your documents is that files can be searched for individually, for example, by date, by title, by author, or by keyword. This again speeds up the working process and allows employees to make better use of their time for the benefit of the business. It also means that the wrong (perhaps outdated) file is less likely to be used at critical points in the business cycle because a properly organised system for managing documents can easily be used to replace documents and files as and when they are superseded.

There are many advantages to a document management system, from more efficient document processing to more accurate invoice processing. It can even help to reduce the carbon footprint of your business. In the current climate, when office space is at a premium and office overheads are high, using a computer-based system to manage and process documents makes a lot of sense. It is no wonder that they are increasingly popular across a wide range of businesses.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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