The Impact of Manual, Paper-Clogged Processes

I recently read an interesting blog post by AIIM President and CEO John Mancini (Mancini, John. “Why can’t we stop talking about technology?” Web blog post. The Digital Landfill. AIIM. 9 Aug. 2016). The main idea is that we might want to stop worrying about what content management is and instead focus on what it can do for people. As Mancini states, “So let’s forget about this ‘content management thing’ for a moment and think about how bad, manual, and paper-clogged processes impact a few real people.” He adds that he’s spoken with people who have automated a previously paper-driven process. These people, according to Mancini, swear by the results and would return to life pre-content management for anything.

I and my colleagues at Canon Business Process Services have posted previously on how automating business process workflows, particularly in accounts payable operations, have yielded significant benefits in terms of cutting costs and document processing cycle times. To motivate more people and organizations to tackle the challenges of “information chaos,” Mancini offers the refreshing suggestion that we on the “sell side of our industry” stop talking about technology and instead focus on the benefits it can provide. He supports this view with a few short scenarios on how manual, paper-based processes can impact a “few real people.”

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