Document management drives innovation.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis

Companies that focus on how documents and information are managed are better equipped to reduce costs, respond more quickly to changing market conditions, and increase profits, according to a recent study released by the Global Services Division of Xerox Corp. and conducted by research firm IDC.

Sixty-eight percent of the 550 U.S. executives interviewed for the survey said that effective document management initiatives are driving competitive innovation, profits, and revenue. The survey found that most businesses are overlooking an opportunity to improve their business while those that do have an effective document management strategy in place are realizing valuable revenue gains, competitive advantage, and improvements in overall efficiency within their organization.

Among the survey's other key findings:

* Almost two-thirds of survey respondents have initiatives in place to reduce the total cost of document management. On average, they expect to achieve a 20 percent reduction in costs.

* While knowledge workers spend 20 percent of their day looking for information in documents, about 50 percent of that time workers cannot find what they are looking for.

* Sixty-six percent agreed that effective document management drives customer service.

* More than half of the information that companies share with their customers is in the form of paper documents. However, more than 60 percent of respondents have not successfully integrated...