Digital transformation is a challenge for a lot of businesses as they don’t know where to start and how to progress. Using paper is easy and it’s been the way of doing things for a long time.

There are multiple reasons that companies choose not to digitise processes, from not knowing the costs and ROI, to not knowing how long the investment will take to pay for itself. 

Despite all of this, the same companies might not be aware that the paper-based information they rely on can’t be easily shared with an increasingly mobilised workforce.

Telling someone to digitise a process is the easy part, but where do you actually start with something that you know to be urgent but which appears to threaten existing, comfortable norms?

Deciding which processes to transform with analytics

Like any sizeable task, digital transformation can be made far more approachable if it’s broken down into bite-sized chunks.

To help you decide which process to transform, it pays to make use of analytics that enable you to identify inefficient processes that will benefit from digitisation and to quantify cost savings possible with digital alternatives. Great ideas for digital improvement can only come from hard data on how your business currently uses paper. If you have Managed Print Services (MPS), a reliance on document workflow analytics will enable you to capture information about how the workforce uses paper documents.

Look for high-volume departments, peak periods during which high-output is required and don’t forget the quick wins; there could be lots of low-hanging fruit ripe for digital transformation right under your nose.

Making your MPS the foundation of digital transformation

Paper is no longer the best way to work. Imagine setting up a business from scratch today; would you design paper into its processes?

Probably not.

Thankfully, you can now use MPS as a springboard for much deeper changes, and it all starts by establishing how, where and when you use paper today.

Ask the following questions of your organisation:

• How much does it cost to process your paper documentation?
• How long does each paper-driven process take?
• What do people in the organisation know about the use of paper documents?
• Can you spot areas for improvement?

If you already have an MPS contract in place, you have the building blocks for digital transformation. What’s more, the majority of the analytical data you require to assess exactly what needs transforming is already available to you.

Start by looking at the day-to-day document processes that touch the endpoints of devices throughout the organisation. This will enable a measured pace of change with solutions implemented that are based on solid data.

Just 18% of organisations consider themselves to be paperless.

Paper puts a barrier between work processes and the people charged with undertaking them, resulting in disparate organisational functions and dreaded ‘silos’.

So, what are you waiting for? Once you start transforming to digital, you’ll never go back.