E-Docs:soft-dollar value or hard-dollar ROI?

BANGALORE: EMC Corporation has unveiled the results of a document capture survey conducted by AIIM.  In this survey, a significant number of respondents cited 'improved access to information' as the most important driver for scanning and capture investments.

This, the company states, demonstrates that companies are achieving soft-dollar benefits in addition to hard-dollar ROI.  Other business drivers include compliance, productivity and improved customer service.

Sponsored by EMC, the research study finds that document scanning and capture is a very risk-free investment compared to other types of IT projects and payback time of the initial investment frequently occurs in less than one year.

The survey polled 677 information and records management professionals, IT staff and line of business executives. Some key findings show that  42 per cent of organizations have increased productivity by 50 per cent from their scanning and capture investment. About  43 per cent have achieved payback within 12 months and two-thirds within 18 months. And nearly half have achieved savings of 40 per cent or more in paper storage costs.

The survey also found that while most organizations have already invested in capture technologies, two-thirds were only scanning 50 per cent of possible documents.  Respondents attributed the underutilization to the lack of capture facilities close to the business process as well as the existence of few enterprise applications that are captured-enabled.