How Managed Print Services can support digital transformation

It’s not news to anyone that digital transformation is a hot topic, reaching companies of every size in every industry. Yet, as with so many enterprise buzzwords, it’s not always clear what digital transformation means.

Perhaps the best way to see it is as a process where business activities and business models are redefined to make maximum use of digital technology, putting it right at the very heart of the business.

This might mean using business intelligence software and services to spot opportunities and anticipate trends, or using apps, the Web and social media to make a direct connection to customers. It could mean harnessing the power of digital technologies to transform the way your teams collaborate or creating new services that disrupt old markets. In fact, it might mean all of the above.

However, digital transformation can also mean transforming workflows, taking old paper-based processes into the digital world, automating them to drive efficiency and enabling companies to make more effective use of information. This often involves replacing paper forms with digital versions that funnel data directly into a back-end database, or scanning and storing paper-based documents inside document management systems, making them easier to search through, share and audit.

Processes that make it hard to find customer information or extract good, useful data can be ditched for digital processes that help rather than hinder. According to a recent IDC survey sponsored by HP Inc. 65% of knowledge workers claimed that adopting digital workflows, automating and optimising collaboration, routing and approvals, saved time, increased productivity and reduced errors. 59% of knowledge workers working in legal, security or compliance said that the time required to ensure compliance and decrease risk has been reduced.

Why is it, then, that those working in highly-regulated industries like financial services sometimes feel that digital transformation is a party to which they haven’t been invited?

A reliance on paper-based legacy systems makes such a radical rethink as challenging as it could be rewarding. There are specific regulations covering what documents need to be stored and for how long, with key information often siloed, making it hard to get any kind of wider view of the customer and their needs. Financial services companies can thrive on data, but paper-based workflows hold them back. Not that they’re ready for a world without hard copy; even where regulations allow for fully digital processes and workflows, financial services companies will have some customers who just prefer to handle everything the old way. Put it all together, and it’s no surprise that a recent QuoCirca survey found that while 30% of businesses in general viewed printing as critical for their business processes, that figure rose to 73% for financial services. This makes digital transformation that bit more difficult.

Difficult, but not impossible if you take advantage of Managed Print Services (MPS). MPS providers like HP understand that there is still a need for hard copy documents in financial services, and that companies working in regulated industries need processes and workflows that can support both digital and paper-based approaches at the same time.

They can bring in experts to look at your processes and workflows and advise you on how to digitise what can be digitised and support what needs to remain paper-based, with consultants fully briefed on the legal and regulatory issues involved. MPS providers can help you integrate print and digital documents in systems that comply with all requirements to make electronic copies unique, identifiable and tamper-proof, with the correct records on how information is copied, stored and reproduced.

MPS providers also have the technical and document-management expertise to put specialised solutions together, bringing in multi-function printers that scan and route documents to archives or specific applications, where they become machine-readable, sharable and much, much easier to audit. While integration with document management, business intelligence and CRM systems, allow authorised employees to get instant access to customer information when they need it, but in a way that enables strong security and compliance. Digital approval flows mean that you no longer need to print to get sign-off all along the line.

This approach can pay huge dividends in financial services, making key information both more accessible and more secure. When it’s easier to find and view all the client’s information, it’s easier to audit for compliance and detect potential fraud. Digital workflows also counter unnecessary document duplication, meaning clients don’t get asked to produce information they’ve already delivered and providers don’t keep records or documents for longer than required. Such a shift also reduces paper waste and document storage space and costs, while meaning fewer forms have to be filled in again because a client’s handwriting isn’t clear or a section has been left incomplete.

Adopting MPS can also bring a range of other practical advantages. Secure wireless printing from smartphones and tablets makes it easier to integrate mobile devices into workflows, so that teams can work with whatever tools they have to hand. Pull-printing features ensure that print jobs are only printed when authenticated at the printer. With it in place, there’s no reason for sensitive documents to end up sitting idle in the out-tray, where they can be picked up by anyone passing by. MPS also makes printing more convenient. For instance, follow-me printing features enable users to launch a print job from their desktop PC or laptop, then pick it up – once authenticated – from any other printer on the network. Documents needed for a meeting with a client could be picked up from the nearest printer to the meeting room.

Through the combination of cost savings, security, practical benefits and new digital workflows, MPS can be a powerful catalyst for digital transformation in financial services, helping companies move into a new era while ensuring compliance.