Blogs

Walk through any office building, and I guarantee you you’ll see at least one photocopier – I think they hand them out as part of the standard “office welcome basket”, along with cubicle walls, staplers and Dilbert cartoons.  It’s probably been there so long (occasional upgrade aside) that it’s viewed as part of the furniture.

But really, how many people know what their photocopier is truly capable of?  Sure, you can print to it, and it makes copies (hence the name), but how many truly use its scan functions for all they’re worth?  In my experience, very few companies use their office copier to its full potential. 

It really breaks my heart sometimes to walk into a building, see a brand new (or even an older) copier or multifunction device right next to a file cabinet full of documents to bursting.  And many, many companies are guilty of this.  With a little research into document capture and workflow automation, many companies could save valuable time, money and real estate.

In the Document Management and Capture field, much like any other, many companies’ worst enemy is the status quo.  Those people that say “This is the way things have always been done – this is the way they always will be done”, in my opinion, have their heads in the sand.  If a company does not innovate, does not develop effective edge technologies and cost saving measures, they will be swiftly outbid and overtaken by those that do.

Here’s a list of phrases you may hear when discussing new and innovative Document Management solutions – or indeed any new innovation and idea.  I recently came across an article by Kamal Hassan on business-strategy-innovation.com entitled “20 Phrases that Kill Ideas and Innovation” – here they are for your convenience:

1. It’s against company policy
2. It’s not practical
3. It’s not necessary
4. We don’t have the resources
5. It will cost too much
6. We’ve never done it that way
7. Our customers (or vendors) won’t like it
8. It needs more study
9. It’s not part of your job
10. Let’s make a survey first
11. Let’s sit on it for a while
12. That’s not our problem
13. The boss won’t go for it
14. The old timers won’t use it
15. It’s too hard to administer
16. Why hasn’t someone else suggested it before?
17. Let’s form a committee
18. We should wait until the economy improves
19. Who else has tried it?
20. Is it best practice?

You may have heard some, if not all of these before.  When hit with one of these innovation killers – get to the bottom of it!  Quite often people are simply afraid of change and don’t have the knowledge or information to back up their claim.  And quite often, the innovation and change that they’re scared of can be the thing that saves their company thousands! In the case of Document Management, imagine having a simple network storage device take the place of that bulky file cabinet – that not only stores your documents but routes them to where they need to be instantaneously – doesn’t that sound better than hunting through cabinets for that elusive document?