INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
Digital document
management taking
businesses to the clouds
A
n increasing number of
companies are readily adopting
digital solutions to automate
and enhance critical processes, most
prominently document management.
Experts in the field say the advent of
innovation and rise of mobile-first and
digital-centric businesses has changed
the industry dynamic profusely.
Digital documentation and solution
development is being driven by cloud-
based solutions, integrations via APIs
and digital signatures.
Local specialist software and IT services
provider Assimilated Information Systems
(Pty) Ltd. (AIS) says in terms of the
adoption of digital document solutions,
the majority of large enterprises are still
engaging their customers with paper
forms and signatures.
“The smaller startups though, which
must scale acquisition without seeing
their customers, are mobile-first
and exclusively digital, and this is
disrupting the industry and eating into
the enterprise customer base,” says
Craig Leppan, Business Development
Manager at AIS.
According to Leppan, on the digital
document output side, many large
enterprises have implemented digital
document solutions, but there remain
business challenges around rapid
business rule changes, branding updates
and product changes to keep up with
market demands. “Those who have
embraced the appropriate document
solutions for their business are seeing
the ability to adapt their messages and
product offerings to their customers,”
adds Leppan.
While going paperless is the main
objective, AIS points out that there are
several considerations that must be
kept in mind.
www.intelligentcio.com
Craig Leppan, Business Development Manager, Assimilated Information Systems
“Mostly it starts with an understanding
of where they are today; in terms of IT
systems legacy, architecture and other
factors. Cloud is an obvious choice to
implement new solutions next to some
of the legacy systems and to pilot a
digital process with a small customer
base,” Leppan continues.
AIS believes there is serious business
momentum now with global customer
bases that need to be digital, and a new
millennial customer that only knows
digital and mobile.
The reality of the market is that there are
risk factors involved in digitalisation and
document automation, including storage,
audit, proof of signatures, contract
repudiation and reputation damage. But,
as Leppan explains, these are mitigated
by normal good IT governance,
architecture and implementing proven
and trusted solutions. n
“There remain
business
challenges around
rapid business rule
changes, branding
updates and
product changes
to keep up with
market demands.”
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