Blogs

The Harvard Business Review recently caught my eye. Titled “Global Business Speaks English,” Tsedal Neeley’s piece laid out the reasons why “adopting a common mode of speech isn’t just a good idea; it’s a must, even for an American company with operations overseas, for instance, or a French company focused on US customers.”

Neeley’s thesis and argument make a great deal of sense. For an international business to be truly effective, a consistent way of communicating is often necessary. Such a program streamlines processes, allows for effective collaboration and creates a common backbone for a firm’s business practices, no matter where they take place.

There’s much to be said on the third point – and it speaks to even more than language. As business increasingly goes global, firms around the world have a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of the top tier of vendors, no matter where they’re located. For instance, a firm with offices in New York, London and Tokyo can utilize the same service in each of its locations, entering vastly different information but receiving a valuable, common deliverable.

Yes, AIIM Community, this even extends to capture. Top document scanning, document management and paperless office firms (including my own, IPS) are making their services available worldwide. How? At IPS, there are two keys to our global efforts: a scalable approach and a foreign language document processing system.

Scalability: When it comes to taking capture global, scalability is exceedingly important. By taking a “hub and spoke” approach, top vendors can offer best-in-breed scanning and digital mailroom services nearly anywhere in the world. At IPS, we’ve taken the tack of building a global network of partners, which allows us to quickly and efficiently “staff up” where it’s necessary. Nearly any kind of document can be inputted in almost any country, then securely transferred digitally for quality control purposes. That way, we’re able to offer global customers the same level of service as our U.S. customers get.

Foreign language document processing: Global capture vendors do more than simple “translation.” Modern technology has made true mapping possible. If, for instance, an invoice arrives in German, solutions created by global capture services can recognize that it’s an invoice, convert it to a digital record and automatically populate it into ERP system in any language.

It’s a global business world. And that means that, from language to vendors, it’s never been more important to standardize techniques, processes and deliverables. Remember: Almost no matter where you are in the world, the very best is available to you – if you know where to look.