Maximize Meaningful Use Of Information: Recycle Clean Data For Significant Savings
By Jim Thumma, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Optical Image Technology
It's common knowledge that ECM is essential for capturing, storing, and accessing business-critical content. But are you making the most of the meaningful information that you capture?
ECM lays the foundation for the greatest "recycling" tool in your corporate toolbox: the use and re-use of information, everywhere it has value. From customer information that is used in purchasing, CRM systems, and invoicing through employee information that is found in contracts, reviews, vacation requests, and more, ECM and BPM (business process management) let you use and reuse content logically. Backed by a clear vision and solid implementation, they can help you to avoid keying errors, maintain accurate files, make smart and timely decisions, and propel routine business processes forward, maximizing your resources and improving your bottom line.
Expand your vision for using your content wisely in this executive series. Read real-life scenarios in your industry that will inspire your creativity and expand your possibilities. Learn from the author's experience and advice so you can and achieve significant cost savings. The series features advice for readers in multiple markets, which are detailed below along with the article titles:
Recycling — reusing an item for the same (or a new) purpose — is vital as society seeks solutions for sustainable living. Yet for insurers, the greatest potential for reusing valuable items in meaningful ways doesn't require material recycling. It lies in the meaningful reuse of important information. Consider the information you collect from policyholders and others, and how many decisions are contingent on what they supply. How can you extract more value from what you have?
Humans have hunted from the earliest times. Maybe that's why we often accept the burdensome quest for information. We're accustomed to the chase; even fooled into thinking we're doing something valuable. Yet time lost in pointless pursuit means something is sacrificed. In the case of college enrollment, a drawn-out chase can mean losing top candidates to other institutions and ending up with a mediocre catch.
Life's melodramas certainly make colorful scenic backdrops for legal practices. Whether you handle divorce, corporate negligence, routine contracts, or wills and testaments, stories often are hidden amid a slew of documents. Finding the truth and exposing charlatans can be fascinating, but you don't need behind-the-scenes drama as you sort through unwieldy files, rushing to meet rigid deadlines.
Every healthcare provider and institution is unique. Yet no matter what services you offer or who your constituents are, you and your peer institutions share at least two common goals:
A. Provide the best quality of care possible.
B. Get paid quickly and appropriately so you can continue offering care.
Keeping everything – even when it's paperless – encourages turmoil rather than preventing it. Unsurprisingly, 70% of surveyed businesses report business records are growing rapidly; 60% report ‘content chaos'.2 As information grows unabated, managing documents beyond their useful life becomes increasingly challenging without a retention plan and an army of people to manage it. Wading through extensive search results looking for answers is expensive. The chaos becomes debilitating when digital disarray hinders eDiscovery, audits, and other legal matters. Read on to find out the five most common (and costly) errors that lead to investigation.
Shrinking budgets, ballooning deficits, and public demand for fiscal prudence require new responses to the crusade for efficiency. Inefficiencies silently hemorrhage cash. The only way to stop the bleeding is by smarter information management, which first demands recognizing its full value so you can maximize meaningful use.