Video Case Study

The Challenge

Document imaging, which can include the document intake activities associated with mission-critical processes such as handling insurance claims, is critical to effectively managing these processes. Many companies, however, face challenges in optimizing their document intake processes.

A company that provides human resource (HR) document processing services to thousands of clients, including many FORTUNE 500 companies, teamed with Océ Business Services to help it meet a compelling challenge. The services provider had been growing rapidly and as a result needed to make changes in order to meet stringent document intake standards necessary to effectively process employee benefits transactions. To address the challenge, the company was planning to implement an additional work shift in order to avoid penalties and meet internal production demands.

The Océ team worked with the company to create an alternative. The solution comprised implementing a new approach that would not only eliminate the need for an additional shift, but would decrease expenses over a three-year period as well as significantly reduce the time it takes to process customer HR-related documents.

The Solution

The new approach was based on changing how and where the company processed its customer documents. Rather than a centralized system, in which all the company’s mail was processed in one location, Océ helped create a system whereby the mail is being processed in five regional mail centers that are located closer to mail origination points. In these regional centers, managed by Océ, the mail is received, opened, scanned, and entered into the company’s workflow system electronically.

The CBPS team redesigned the workflow first, eliminating the criss-crossing of packages on the dock and in the mailroom. With the new process, the team was able to ensure "One Piece Flow" – an efficient workflow for each package from receipt through staging for delivery.

Next, the team reconfigured the package tracking software to match the new workflow, ensuring that the entire chain of custody can be tracked for any delivery scenario. The redesign included using handheld devices, a new list of status codes available in the software system that enable better tracking and new performance management reports.

The Result

The solution achieved a variety of business benefits for the company including reduced turnaround time (the time it takes to receive and open the mail and enter the documents into the company’s electronic workflow system). In some sites, this turnaround time was reduced by one to two days. The new system also cut overall document processing costs by about $1 million over a span of 18 months.

Additionally, Océ helped solved a challenge created by the fact that the HR services provider had acquired three different companies, each of which used different document management platforms. The company created a unified platform; Océ provided employee training for the system, which significantly helped streamline the implementation.