DM May-Jun 2021

DOCUMENT 

M A N A G E R 

Dm 

www.document-manager.com 

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT 

IMAGING & CAPTURE 

WORKFLOW/BPM 

CONTENT MANAGEMENT 

Electronic patient records: 

Making e-referrals work 

Artificial intelligence: 

Does your solution really need it? 

Cloud services: 

The shape of post-Covid IT 

Multi-function devices: 

The next target for smart automation 

NEWS • PRODUCT FOCUS • USER PROFILE • INTERVIEWS 

ISSN 1351-3222 Vol 29 No 3 May/June 2021

IF NOT NOW, 

WHEN? 

GO DIGITAL! 

As the world adapts to changed 

circumstances, digital business processes 

increase operational agility, improve 

collaboration, assure compliance and 

accommodate hybrid workers. 

Document Logistix helped one customer to 

workflow 15 million records, and another 

to ‘go digital’ from scratch by digitising 5 

tonnes of paper documents. 

Enhance your current systems or 

implement digital transformation now. 

www.document-logistix.com/2021 01908 366 388 info@document-logistix.com

Dm 

COMMENT 

Editor: 

Dave Tyler 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 

Sub Editor: 

Mark Lyward 

mark.lyward@btc.co.uk 

Welcome to our May/June issue, and 

Publishing Director: 

John Jageurs 

after a few false starts and 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

Sales Manager: 

postponements it genuinely feels like 

Abby Penn 

the industry - and indeed the world - is starting 

abby.penn@btc.co.uk 

Lead Designer 

to lift itself out of the bizarre limbo state that 

Ian Collis 

Covid-19 created. One sure sign that things are 

ian.collis@btc.co.uk 

Circulation/Subscriptions: 

returning to normal is that this issue of DM 

Christina Willis 

contains advertisements for not one but two 

christina.willis@btc.co.uk 

Managing Director: 

upcoming events - not online virtual events, but 

John Jageurs 

real life actual physical events to which delegates are invited. The AIIM 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

Forum and IRMS conference are not happening until later in the year, 

Published by: Barrow & 

but nonetheless it is reassuring to see the live events industry beginning 

Thompkins Connexion Ltd 

35 Station Square, 

to recover after a long period in the doldrums. 

Petts Wood 

We are even promoting the 2021 DM Awards, and we are confident 

Kent BR5 1LZ 

Tel: 01689 616000 

that - barring major setbacks - we will be able to return to a full 'big night 

Fax: 01689 826622 

out' event; our industry colleagues and friends will doubtless be champing 

Subscriptions: 

at the bit in the hopes of an opportunity to dust off the tux or cocktail 

UK: £35/year, £60/two years, 

£80/three years 

dress and celebrate in good company. We will of course keep you 

Europe: £48/year, £85 two 

updated as things progress, watch this space for the opening of 

years, £127 three years. 

ROW:£62/year, £115/two 

nominations for the awards! 

years, £168/three years 

This issue contains a wealth of thought-provoking editorial: one that will 

Published 6 times a year. 

Single copies can be bought 

certainly cause some debate is the bylined opinion piece from Max Kelleher 

for £8.50 (includes postage & 

of Generis, who argues that some vendors may be pushing AI as a 'silver 

packaging). No part of this 

magazine may be reproduced 

bullet' solution to every data/information/content problem that a potential 

without prior consent, in writing, 

from the publisher. 

user might be facing - even where there are better suited and longestablished 

solutions that will do the job. If the industry 'over-sells' AI now, 

©Copyright 2021 Barrow & 

Thompkins 

argues Kelleher, then customers will feel let down when they discover its 

Connexion Ltd 

accuracy isn't immediately perfect, nor the results as exciting or as 

Articles published reflect the 

transformational as they'd expected. Indeed it could be argued that 

opinions of the authors and are 

not necessarily those of the 

vendors have a history of making such claims just to get the sale of the 

publisher or his employees. While 

every reasonable effort is made 

latest technical innovation; OCR accuracy is perhaps the example most 

to ensure that the contents of 

readers will immediately think of. 

articles, editorial and advertising 

are accurate no responsibility can 

It can be difficult when buyers come into a pitch with a preconceived idea 

be accepted by the publisher for 

errors, misrepresentations or any 

that the solution must have an AI element just because that's the tech 

resulting effects 

everyone is talking about. But long term it might actually harm the 

vendor/user relationship to sell them something they don't need. As 

Kelleher says: "The customer demands a specific technology or method that 

may not be the best solution; the vendor then implements this solution the 

way it has been demanded - and the customer is disappointed by the 

result. In the best case scenario the customer loses faith in the vendor; in 

the worst the customer loses faith in 'all of AI', without ever really 

understanding it." 

The message is simple: sell the solution that best suits the customers' 

actual needs, not the one that hits this year's buzzword count. 

Dave Tyler 

Editor 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 


May/June 2021 

@DMMagAndAwards 

3

Dm CONTENTS 

C O N T E N T S 

MAY/JUNE 

10 

12 

16 

18 

24 

..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

OPINION: MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES……..........................................…………….6 

MFDs are 'the new Tesla' of the digitally transformed office, argues Gabriela Garner, Product 

Marketing Director at Kofax - so can your MFD do 'Ludicrous Mode'? 

CASE STUDY: THORNDIKE MEDICAL CENTRE.....................................................…..8 

One Kent medical centre has managed to significantly reduce the time and cost of 

Subject Access Request fulfilment 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: SAP................................................................................…10 

Migration to SAP's cloud-native S/4HANA doesn't have to be as complicated as many 

organisations fear, explains Nick Parkin of Proceed Group 

EVENT PREVIEW: AIIM FORUM EUROPE.............................................................…12 

With less than six months until AIIM Forum Europe returns to London's Grand 

Connaught Rooms, 2021 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year for the digital 

transformation agenda 

MANAGEMENT: CLOUD SERVICES.................................................................……14 

Covid-19 has driven many organisations to integrate cloud platforms to cope with the 

pressures of remote working - creating risk, argues Herbert Lörch of M-Files, with the 

proliferation of information over multiple platforms and outside services 

CASE STUDY: ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST............................……16 

A new collaboration between a London NHS Trust and software provider Hyland is set to 

radically alter how research bodies manage clinical trials 

OPINION: ARCHIVE MANAGEMENT .............................................................…….18 

Grace Schneider of Storetec suggests a number of ways that businesses can avoid any 

nasty shocks on returning to the office after pandemic restrictions are lifted 

CASE STUDY: ACCOR GROUP...........................................................................…..20 

Hotel group Accor is able to provide partners with 24/7 access to a wide variety of 

corporate content via the Cloud 

OPINION: AI.....................................................................................................…..21 

Software vendors have a duty not to agree to or promise something that isn't right for the 

task, argues Max Kelleher, COO at Generis 

ROUNDTABLE: LEGAL........................................................................................…24 

The senior directors of two mid-sized UK law firms come together with legal market advisor 

Derek Southall and Sheila Gormley of Repstor to debate rising IT trends among law firms 

HEALTHCARE: E-REFERRALS..........................................................................…….28 

NHS initiatives towards a paperless healthcare system are well intentioned but too often 

gaps in trusts' electronic capabilities are hampering process transformation, says Jason 

Scholes, CTO at SynApps 

CASE STUDY: EUROTECH................................................................................…30 

The combination of a scanner and an innovative barcode scanning utility is saving two 

working days every month as Eurotech seeks to simplify workflow 

STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION............................................................….32 

The number one business imperative in 2021 has to be Digital Transformation, argues Dan 

Wajzner, MD of Document Logistix 

RESEARCH: STRATEGIES...............................................................................……..34 

New research suggests that digitisation and workflow technologies will be crucial to the 

recovery of small and medium businesses in the aftermath of COVID-19 

4 @DMMagAndAwards May/June 2021 www.document-manager.com

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Dm OPINION: MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES 

Time to accelerate your digital 

transformation strategy 

Multi-function devices are 'the new Tesla' of the digitally 

transformed office, argues Gabriela Garner, Product 

Marketing Director at Kofax - so can your MFD do 

'Ludicrous Mode'? 

Chances are your organisation relies on 

a fleet of multi-function devices 

(MFDs) to manage basic printing, 

scanning, faxing, and copying functions. In 

doing so, MFDs support an 'always on' print 

infrastructure and are a critical component 

in keeping the engine of your business 

humming. 

What you might not realise is these 

essential, but at times overlooked, office 

devices could give your organisation a Teslasized 

turbo boost. 

MFDs are capable of so much more than 

basic print, copy and fax jobs - and herein 

lies a golden opportunity for businesses 

that take advantage. Because they're 

connected devices and part of the larger 

Internet of Things (IoT), MFDs have the 

potential to add enormous value to 

organisations and accelerate digital 

transformation. 

Just think about how the IoT has spurred 

an evolution in other legacy devices: 

thermostats, interior lighting, even cars. 

And while we can't all afford a Tesla, this 

automobile certainly leads the way in 

showing what a connected vehicle can do. 

MFDs now offer the same power to 

organisations. They can be the catalyst that 

accelerates your digital transformation 

strategy and delivers exponentially more 

value. Tesla's famous Ludicrous Mode 

allows its vehicles to accelerate from 0 to 

60 mph in less than three seconds. So how 

can you make your MFDs just as fast? A 

simple tune-up with intelligent automation 

capabilities converts MFDs into digital 

transformation on-ramps. Capabilities such 

as content-aware capture workflows that 

connect to business applications and deliver 

secure print and output management 

enable companies to extend the value of 

sizable MFD investments and propel 

themselves further along their digitisation 

efforts - improving productivity, security, 

and compliance. 

KEEPING PRODUCTIVITY HIGH 

Remote work has sky-rocketed due to the 

pandemic, but where will it settle for the 

long term as operations slowly come back 

to normal? The current estimate is that by 

the end of 2021, remote work will 

stabilise around 34 percent. While this is 

less than what we saw at the height of 

the pandemic, it's still double the norm 

from pre-Covid times. Additionally, people 

will most likely need to keep wearing 

masks and practice social distancing into 

2022, which means businesses need to 

prepare for long-term social distancing in 

the workplace. 

Many organisations are investing in tools 

and technology to keep productivity up 

while supporting remote work and social 

distancing. Collaboration tools and e- 

signature technology are just some 

examples of the focus on digital 

transformation and automation. But MFDs 

can also play a role by increasing 

efficiencies, optimising costs and driving 

productivity via intelligent capture 

workflows that disseminate information 

across the enterprise and automate 

routine tasks. 

As many employees continue to work 

from home or at best begin to shift to a 

hybrid work model, they can't get their 

hands on needed information from systems 

or workflows that only output documents 

in a printed format. Hybrid workers have to 

wait until they come into the office. Fully 

remote staff are worse-off, stalled until the 

information is manually distributed to 

them. Advanced print and capture 

management technology helps 

organisations overcome these roadblocks 

by improving hard copy output workflows 

and ensuring employees have timely access 

to critical business information. Productivity 

remains high no matter where employees 

are working, and they have the information 

they need to perform their jobs efficiently 

and serve customers. 

When organisations apply intelligent 

automation and content-aware capture, 

print and mobile workflows to MFD 

fleets, productivity speeds up 

significantly. Document capture workflow 

automation enriches information quality, 

increases accuracy and reduces errorprone 

manual tasks. 

6 



www.document-manager.com

OPINION: MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES Dm 

"A SIMPLE TUNE-UP WITH INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION CAPABILITIES CONVERTS MFDS INTO DIGITAL 

TRANSFORMATION ON-RAMPS. CAPABILITIES SUCH AS CONTENT-AWARE CAPTURE WORKFLOWS THAT CONNECT 

TO BUSINESS APPLICATIONS AND DELIVER SECURE PRINT AND OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ENABLE COMPANIES TO 

EXTEND THE VALUE OF SIZABLE MFD INVESTMENTS AND PROPEL THEMSELVES FURTHER ALONG THEIR 

DIGITISATION EFFORTS - IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY, SECURITY, AND COMPLIANCE." 

The information that MFDs capture can 

be automatically and securely processed in 

a number of ways. Data can be redacted, 

classified, reported, analysed, automatically 

routed, watermarked, barcoded or 

extracted. Employees who previously spent 

time on these labour-intensive tasks can 

now be redirected to higher-value business 

activities that drive growth and improve 

customer retention. A solution that 

provides secure mobile print, release, 

capture and authentication keeps hybrid 

and remote workforces cruising along with 

zero business disruption. 

NAVIGATE SECURITY & COMPLIANCE 

Large volumes of data are captured, 

processed and transmitted across MFDs 

every day. While companies want to keep 

all of this information secure, some of the 

data demands higher levels of protection. 

Financial data relating to clients and the 

company itself, personal health records, 

and competitive research are just a few 

examples where a breach can have 

disastrous consequences. Document 

security is important for competitive 

reasons and your company's reputation. 

And then, of course, there are the 

regulations and guidelines that can result 

in hefty fines. HIPAA, PCI DSS and GDPR 

are the big ones that come to mind. 

Unfortunately, regulatory and legal activity 

related to employee privacy infringements 

will double in 2021, according to a 

Forrester blog titled "Predictions 2021: 

Privacy Becomes an Imperative in a Year of 

Transition." Organisations must take steps 

to ensure that the sensitive and 

confidential data processed by MFDs 

remains protected from inadvertent and 

deliberate exposure. Digitising content and 

automating workflows for capture and 

print transform MFDs from a potential 

security liability into an advanced alarm 

system that improves security and 

compliance at scale across the enterprise. 

Data encryption and secure print release 

capabilities keep the data transmitted by 

MFDs secure and ensure confidential 

information is only accessed by authorised 

users. Intelligent automation allows 

companies to apply consistent business 

rules and data protection policies, 

including: 

Automatic redaction 

Watermarking 

Rules-based printing 

User authentication 

Secure mobile print release 

Unlike traditional printing, content-aware 

print and capture technology provides the 

context of what is being printed and 

identifies (or even stops) the printing of 

inappropriate information. A centralised 

audit trail of all documents that have been 

printed, captured and faxed from MFDs 

provides the data required for detailed 

metrics. Tracking and reporting improves 

compliance with GDPR and other 

regulations through a clear chain of 

custody. Organisations can also apply 

consistent business rules and track the 

movement of documents and the 

information they contain. 

SELF-DRIVING SOLUTION 

MFDs equipped with automation 

capabilities become the on-ramp to 

enterprise-wide digital transformation 

initiatives. An Intelligent Automation 

platform that provides a variety of 

integrated technologies and connects to 

business systems creates a scalable, 

efficient solution. 

Plus, a seamless experience across all 

devices with a single unified and intuitive 

interface delivers maximum convenience to 

your entire staff - whether they're remote, 

in-office or hybrid. Employees can turn on 

cruise control, while still making sure 

documents get to the right people at the 

right time, through the right workflows 

and processes. 

When shopping around for a solution, 

organisations should check the window 

sticker for the following features: 

Unified authentication (MFD and 

mobile) 

Intelligent capture 

Secure print release 

Usage tracking and auditing 

Multichannel capture integration 

(mobile, MFD, desktop, email) 

OCR conversion 

System-to-system connectors 

Information monitoring 

Information redaction 

Secure document quarantine and 

release 

The above checklist will help you select a 

fully equipped solution - a luxury model, if 

you will. Fortunately, it doesn't have to 

come at a luxury price tag, thanks to costeffective 

cloud deployment options. Plus, 

the time and money saved on printing, 

error reduction and efficiencies enable 

organisations to maximise their investment 

and obtain a fast ROI. 

Digitally transformed MFDs can do much 

more than basic print management. 

Organisations that upgrade MFD fleets 

with an Intelligent Automation platform 

maximise their investment and accelerate 

transformation strategies. If you want to 

increase productivity and enhance security 

and compliance, shift your MFDs into 

'Ludicrous' speed so you can work like 

tomorrow - today - with your MFD fleet 

leading the way. 

More info: www.kofax.com 




7

Dm CASE STUDY: THORNDIKE MEDICAL CENTRE 

Reducing the burden of 

data requests 

One Kent medical centre has managed to 

significantly reduce the time and cost of Subject 

Access Request fulfilment 

Subject access requests (SARs) and 

other requests for information such 

as medical reports for insurers are "a 

huge nuisance, tedious and time 

consuming," according to Dr Daniel Kerley 

of Thorndike Medical Centre in Kent, 

which looks after some 13,000 patients. 

Dr Kerley looked for a digital solution to 

minimise the impact of data requests and 

worked with iDocs Solutions to 

implement a hardware and software 

solution that streamlines the fulfilment 

process across data capture, processing 

and compliant delivery. 

THE BURDEN OF DATA REQUESTS 

Producing the information required by a 

data request involves significant work for 

practices because each record requires 

checking to ensure it does not contain 

details about third parties. 

Respondents to a survey conducted by 

GPonline/Medeconomics said that their 

practices received, on average, seven 

SARs a week - although some received 

many more. The majority (62%) said it 

took them longer than 30 minutes to 

process a single subject access request, 

and 18% said it took longer than an 

hour. Practice staff members are therefore 

spending significant time processing SARs 

- for which practices receive no funding. 

Practices also incur the costs of 

photocopying, printing and postage. 

The British Medical Association 

estimated that in 2019 GPs received 1.25 

million SARs. In addition, hospitals receive 

500,000 SARs a year. The number of SARs 

in both instances has risen significantly 

during the 2020-21 pandemic, frequently 

instigated by lawyers seeking 

compensation for their clients. 

The Chair of the BMA General 

Practitioners Council, Dr Richard Vautrey, 

said: 'We know from our members that 

they are concerned about the increase in 

SARs since GDPR legislation came in, and 

the knock-on effect on both workload 

and practice finances." 

Dr Kerley is committed to improving 

the patient pathway and takes a keen 

interest in technology that improves 

healthcare systems. Primary care, he 

explained, remains heavily paper based. 

In order to fulfil requests for patient 

records the practice historically had to 

print, photocopy (twice in fact!) and 

manually redact content in records page 

by page. The records of patients with 

lengthy medical histories could extend 

to hundreds of pages, so the effort 

involved to produce compliant copies 

was significant. 

The practice's secretarial team was 

responsible for the redaction process, 

which would have to be signed-off by a 

doctor once completed. Dr Kerley 

observed that the SARs production and 

approval process is a poor fit with general 

practice work. Requests await fulfilment 

until staff can find time to begin 

processing them, then doctors have to 

give up time that they could otherwise 

spend on patient care in order to read 

and approve documents prior to release. 

In his efforts to reduce the burden of 

data requests, Dr Kerley looked for a 

solution to capture and redact data, and 

to generate digital records that could be 

easily and securely transmitted 

electronically. He also highlighted another 

system imperative heightened by the 

introduction of GDPR: "Security and 

compliance are important to the practice 

as we don't want Thorndike to become 

another test case for data breaches, 

which can result in stiff penalties and 

reputational damage." 

STREAMLINED DIGITAL SARS 

FULFILMENT 

Thorndike Medical Centre implemented 

iDocs Bindr digital redaction solution 

integrated with Fujitsu scanners. The 

iDocs software identifies content by userselected 

keywords in scanned paper 

documents and digital documents and 

permanently redacts potentially 

regulation-breaching data. 

The new system overcomes issues such 

as incomplete data masking associated 

with manual redaction and also the 

8 




CASE STUDY: THORNDIKE MEDICAL CENTRE Dm 

problem of operator fatigue that 

naturally occurs with repetitive 

mundane tasks. SARs fulfilment costs 

have been reduced significantly in terms 

of staff time, photocopying/print costs, 

and postage. 

The iDocs redaction solution gives the 

practice confidence that it can fulfil 

data requests efficiently and more 

comprehensively than when it was 

using daisy-chained manual processes. 

A significant benefit is that complete 

digital records can now be emailed to 

the requestor securely, saving postage 

costs as well as being convenient for 

the patient. 

POSITIVE USER FEEDBACK 

It often takes time to embed operational 

changes, especially when they involve 

new technology, which can trouble 

operators until the technology becomes 

familiar. However, Thorndike reports that 

software installation, hardware 

implementation and training went 

smoothly and system users have no 

negative feedback. Dr Kerley says, "staff 

feel trained and confident." The 

introduction of Fujitsu scanners has 

proven to be popular and the fi- 

7300NX, in particular, is described by 

the Centre as "a good piece of kit that is 

easy to use." 

The fi-7300NX scanner (see 

http://emea.fujitsu.com/scanners) is a 

fully networkable image scanner that 

supports web systems and connects 

directly to client systems. Users can 

initiate scanning from the scanner's 

touch screen or from applications on 

smart devices. The fi-7300NX scans 60 

pages a minute and loads up to 80 

sheets at a time. The capability to scan 

batches of paper documents makes data 

capture far more efficient and the 

practice has since invested in another fi- 

7300NX for its vaccination centre. 

Thorndike can also extract documents 

from patient management systems, 

which are held in multiple formats, and 

convert them to PDF using iDocs PDF 

converter in order to redact them in 

iDocsBindr. 

POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER 

ENHANCEMENTS 

iDocs Bindr - which has won multiple 

DM Awards in recent years - has 

established roots in the legal sector, 

where leading law firms use the system 

to collate and transmit sensitive case 

documents securely. Digital redaction is 

relatively new in the medical sector and 

both iDocs and Thorndike Partnership 

are interested to explore ways to 

extract even more value from digital 

document processing. 

The practice views the iDocs 

implementation as a gateway system 

that has the potential for future 

enhancements, such as the attachment 

of DWP forms and summaries. Once the 

pandemic eases, the practice and iDocs 

are also interested in conducting 

research to learn if requestors, especially 

patients, appreciate the new data 

processing and delivery methods. 

A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE 

Dr Kerley reports that, since the 

introduction of iDocs Bindr, Thorndike 

Partnership has been able to catch up on 

its post-Covid backlog of data requests 

relatively speedily, and "free of pain" in 

comparison with the tedium of manual 

processes. He also noted that the 

practice has not replaced a secretarial 

position after that staff member left, 

which indicates the contribution of iDocs 

Bindr to improved levels of efficiency in 

aspects of the practice's administration. 

In conclusion, Dr Kerley stated that GP 

practices have generally been a long way 

ahead in implementing digital solutions 

compared with most other medical 

institutions. Practices function as small 

businesses so it is worth medical 

professionals investing time to explore 

iDocs digitisation for its cost savings, 

compliance confidence and 

improved service. 

More info: www.idocssolutions.com 




9

Dm TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: SAP 

Top tips for S/4HANA migration 

Migration to SAP's cloud-native S/4HANA doesn't have to be as complicated as 

many organisations fear, explains Nick Parkin of Proceed Group 

The clock is ticking as we move ever 

closer to the deadline of 2027 for 

migrations over to the biggest 

update to SAP's HANA. There's 

reluctance amongst the SAP customer 

community to make the move. Indeed, 

results of the latest SAP annual member 

survey found that 58 per cent didn't 

intend to make the move to S/4HANA 

within the next two years, and another 

27 per cent were going to wait three. 

Of those holding back, most cited 

complexities in tackling the move as the 

biggest cause for concern. 

The value of SAP's latest platform is 

still vastly compelling: an IDC survey of 

300 SAP customers found recently that 

customers were keen to take advantage 

of the AI/Automation aspects of HANA, 

giving them the ability to optimise 

digital transformation strategies, as well 

as improve their agility and innovation 

whilst reducing time and effort to 

process information. 

But despite these pros, the perceived 

costs and complexities of what some 

feel is a mammoth task is making 

businesses stall on the decision to get 

started. But the news isn't all bad, a 

recent PWC survey found that those 

that had completed the journey found 

it wasn't as difficult as expected. There's 

a lot to be learnt from those businesses 

who have already made a successful 

transition and are now reaping the 

rewards. 

Taking a staged approach is all that's 

required and that's the key to a 

successful migration. It doesn't have to 

be complicated, it just needs to be 

approached with consideration. Here 

are our key steps for achieving success 

when planning your migration: 

1. Will you choose a 'greenfield or 

'brownfield' implementation? - 

Greenfield means a complete 

reimplementation of SAP, taking only 

your master data with you and leaving 

the legacy system behind - that would 

10 




TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: SAP Dm 

"THE VALUE OF SAP'S LATEST PLATFORM IS STILL VASTLY COMPELLING: AN IDC SURVEY OF 300 SAP CUSTOMERS 

FOUND RECENTLY THAT CUSTOMERS WERE KEEN TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE AI/AUTOMATION ASPECTS OF 

HANA, GIVING THEM THE ABILITY TO OPTIMISE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES, AS WELL AS IMPROVE 

THEIR AGILITY AND INNOVATION WHILST REDUCING TIME AND EFFORT TO PROCESS INFORMATION. BUT DESPITE 

THESE PROS, THE PERCEIVED COSTS AND COMPLEXITIES OF WHAT SOME FEEL IS A MAMMOTH TASK IS MAKING 

BUSINESSES STALL ON THE DECISION TO GET STARTED." 

be prime for decommissioning. It's 

complex, but the positives are that it 

means you can take full advantage of 

all the new functionality of HANA 

whilst having a smaller system from 

day one. Brownfield is where you 

migrate everything existing from your 

old system into the new one. 

This is where rightsizing becomes 

important (see point 5); you need to 

make sure that what you're taking with 

you isn't old legacy data that is no 

longer needed - taking up valuable 

space. Both have advantages and 

disadvantages, the key is to make the 

decision at the outset with what suits 

your organisation best. 

2. Start early and review your business 

processes - critical before beginning 

the first stage of implementation is to 

review what business processes you 

have, and what you actually still need. 

IDC recently reported that not 

mapping business needs to processes 

can be a costly mistake - making 

corporate speed of responsiveness 

slow, and therefore affecting 

responsiveness to competitive 

demands. As part of the process, 

involve users, and business heads at 

the outset throughout the entire 

transformation project. Get rid of the 

processes you don't need, so you go 

into the project with a clean slate. 

3. Review the whole SAP landscape - 

not just SAP systems, but those they 

use. SAP is never isolated, it always 

links in to other applications and 

systems. Do you want to run in the 

cloud or on-premise? These decisions 

need making at the outset. 

4. Data cleansing - a crucial element 

of migration, lowering risk and 

reducing the cost of memory for data 

you no longer need - data cleansing is 

a vital and fundamental step but is 

often the most overlooked. Reducing 

your data footprint will also reduce 

infrastructure, hardware and licensing 

costs. It allows you to perform the 

migration with much reduced business 

downtime. 

By keeping only quality and necessary 

data in your system, SAP will perform 

better. Archiving data will be a key 

part of the process, but make sure you 

look to a data management 

professional to ensure this is done 

with accuracy. 

5. Rightsizing - sizing the HANA 

landscape is a vital step when creating 

a technical project plan, rightsizing 

will help you realise the maximum 

benefit from your investment while 

reducing total cost of ownership. 

Inadequate or over-provisioned 

rightsizing could lead to excess 

capacity, while under-provisioning can 

cause delays leading to and increased 

cost of operational performance. 

Best practice will be to determine the 

amount of memory the main data set 

will require and plan accordingly. 

Establishing the memory size for both 

static and dynamic data well as the disk 

requirements for persistent storage. 

6. Set standards - ensure you follow 

high implementation standards, 

cutting corners during a migration 

project can leave holes that appear 

further down the line and is an 

unnecessary risk to the project. Ensure 

that the source systems are prepared 

for the migration, and ensure full 

backups and archive logs for regular 

restore points. Risk mitigation will 

ensure a smoother migration. Avoid 

shortcuts and maintain high 

standards. 

7. Proof of concept - a proof of 

concept allows you to test your 

migration before you begin the full 

exercise. It will validate the migration 

process, give you a reasonable 

estimate on the time needed to deploy 

- or throw up any issues that might 

cause problems that need fixing before 

the full migration has started. It helps 

with project planning and decision 

making, which could improve total 

project productivity. You can do a 

proof of concept by making a copy of 

your SAP production system to create 

an SAP sandpit environment and 

perform the actual migration on this 

system first. 

8. Use qualified and experienced staff - 

it's imperative that SAP experts are part 

of your migration process. Your 

technical team should have plenty of 

experience and understanding of 

migration guidelines and best practices, 

that include relevant SAP notes. 

More info: www.proceedgroup.com 




11

Dm EVENT PREVIEW: AIIM FORUM EUROPE 

A pivotal year for Digital Transformation 

With less than six months until AIIM Forum Europe returns to London's Grand 

Connaught Rooms, 2021 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year for the Digital 

Transformation agenda 

Organisations that were forced to 

pivot by the pandemic are now 

faced with some key decisions as 

the world starts to bounce back from a 

major shockwave: do they try to return 

to the 'old normal' or do they capitalise 

on the experiences of the past 18 

months to permanently embrace more 

agile ways of working? 

For most this will be an entirely rhetorical 

question, putting intelligent information 

management (IIM) firmly at the heart of a 

new business paradigm. There is lots to talk 

about! And after two postponements, AIIM 

Europe can't wait to bring the IM 

community's favourite event back to the 

real world, with a wealth of thought 

leadership, practical advice and longawaited 

opportunities to learn and network 

face-to-face. 

In just one information-packed day, you 

can get up to speed with all the key 

challenges that underpin the Digital 

Transformation agenda, via the latest 

insights, ideas and best practice from both 

sides of the Atlantic. Inspirational content 

will be moderated by AIIM's visionary 

programme committee, with each session 

facilitated by industry leaders for maximum 

engagement and delegate benefit. 

Current topics include: 

Your Mission: Transforming business 

processes in a post-Covid world 

The Lockdown Legacy: Remote working 

goes mainstream 

Information Anywhere: Facilitating & 

controlling the new norm 

The Future of Intelligent IM: 

Technologies, trends and analytics 

Governance & Compliance Automation 

across the distributed enterprise 

Transformation Toolkit: Evaluating, 

selecting & implementing new 

technologies 

Intelligent Data Capture: Did the 

paperless office finally become reality in 

2020? 

Implementing a 'Digital-First' Strategy 

for Information-Intensive Processes 

Extracting Intelligence from Information 

Brexit Impact: Cross-Border Data Flows 

& the future of 'UK GDPR' 

IM Career Strategies: Skillsets, career 

paths & building influence in the 

enterprise 

AIIM Forum Europe brings together a 

unique set of practitioners and providers 

who all value information as their most 

important asset. It builds on thirty years of 

serving the world's largest community of 

information management professionals, 

with a unique global perspective that helps 

organisations of all shapes and sizes to 

work more collaboratively and to challenge 

convention as they tackle the most 

important information management issues 

of our times. 

The event also helps delegates to 

understand and appraise the key 

technologies that underpin the Digital 

Transformation agenda, by demonstrating 

new innovations from participants such as 

AODocs, Scan2x, Nuxeo, OASIS Group, 

Paper Plus, Qaixen, Repstor and many more 

in a co-located showcase area. 

Event Director Deborah Ward-Johnstone 

comments: "The past year has certainly 

been a strange one but we are now seeing 

a huge appetite for real-life events to help 

kickstart the economic recovery. On the 

back of an incredible vaccine rollout in the 

UK - and some fantastic results from recent 

pilot events - business conferences are back 

with a bang this autumn, with AIIM Forum 

Europe playing a key role in bringing the IM 

community together in a highly productive 

and Covid-secure environment." 

Push forward the Digital Transformation 

agenda in your organisation by registering 

today at the Early Bird rate. Places start at 

just £75 +VAT and include access to 

roundtables, keynotes, the solutions 

lounge, breakfast, lunch and refreshments. 

AIIM Forum Europe takes place on 18th 

November 2021 at the Grand Connaught 

Rooms, London. 

More info: www.aiimforumeurope.com 

12 




Dm MANAGEMENT: CLOUD SERVICES 

The new role of post-pandemic IT 

Covid-19 has driven many organisations to integrate cloud platforms in order to 

cope with the pressures of remote working. One result, argues Herbert Lörch of M- 

Files, is the need to tackle the risks caused by the proliferation of information over 

multiple platforms and outside services 

Proactively or reactively, many 

organisations have experienced a 

tremendous digital transformation 

in the past few months. Within a few 

days or weeks of the global pandemic 

starting, most employees have found 

themselves switching to remote work. 

Working from outside the office is the 

new normal. For many organisations, 

platforms such as Microsoft Office 365 or 

Google G Suite have been the means of 

choice. They are, without question, ideally 

suited to bring together distributed teams 

and enable collaborative work on 

documents and processes. 

Of course, not everything has gone 

smoothly, and many employees in IT 

departments and at service providers 

have had to work under incredible 

pressure, but on the whole, most 

companies were surprised at how quickly 

they have been able to adapt. In 

retrospect, the pandemic might be seen 

as the necessary shock and catalyst for 

fast digitisation. 

Since then, many employees have felt 

inspired by new possibilities and have 

eagerly used the wide range of features 

and apps offered in Microsoft Teams as 

an example. What's the point in 

returning to regular on-premises work if 

you can also work remotely in the cloud? 

Why not use the vast array of new cloud 

apps instead of waiting for tedious IT 

projects? This genie is out of the bottle, 

and that's a good thing. Diversity 

enriches, flexibility makes agile - and the 

new role of IT is not to get the genie 

back in the bottle but to control it in 

such a way that maximum benefit and 

security is achieved. 

FIRST THE PARTY, THEN THE 

HANGOVER 

But as with every great party, the first 

ones to it can be left with the biggest 

hangover. As flexible, modern, and userfriendly 

as the new cloud wizards are, 

they often offer little in the way of 

information governance and compliance - 

at least out of the box. 

This can be quickly explained using 

Microsoft Teams as an example. Teams is 

ideally suited for quick coordination and 

easy collaboration. However, it is a 

nightmare for the management of files 

and documents: with every new team 

created, an isolated SharePoint site with 

one directory per channel is created in 

the background to hold the files. Since 

changes - such as the renaming of 

channels - are not consistently 

propagated throughout, these structures 

inevitably diverge. Inconsistencies and 

duplicates are therefore preprogrammed. 

Not to mention that 

countless individual SharePoint sites with 

their own default rights and user 

structures can cause major issues in 

themselves regarding Governance, Risk & 

Compliance (GRC). 

Uniform rules for retention periods and 

archiving, audit trails with complete 

proof of access and changes, and 

automatic content classification are also 

missing. Of course, Microsoft also offers 

mechanisms here that would allow at 

least a rudimentary form of control. But 

they require a consistently planned 

procedure with clearly defined structures, 

rules, and roles - something for which 

there was simply no time at the peak of 

the lockdown. 

What has been described here for 

Microsoft Teams applies in a similar way 

to other popular new cloud services such 

as Microsoft OneDrive, Google G Suite, 

Google Drive, Dropbox etc. All these new 

platforms now enrich the existing mix of 

storage in file systems, archives or 

DMS/ECM and ERP, CRM and SCM 

applications. In the new normality, the 

number of potential storage locations has 

suddenly multiplied massively. Control 

and GRC will certainly not become easier. 

If data protection and IT security officers 

were able to look the other way at the 

beginning of the crisis or, in case of 

doubt, weigh up in favour of maintaining 

business operations, they will clearly not 

be able to accept this as a permanent 

state of affairs. 

14 




MANAGEMENT: CLOUD SERVICES Dm 

"ALL THESE NEW PLATFORMS NOW ENRICH THE EXISTING MIX OF STORAGE IN FILE 

SYSTEMS, ARCHIVES OR DMS/ECM AND ERP, CRM AND SCM APPLICATIONS… 

CONTROL AND GRC WILL CERTAINLY NOT BECOME EASIER. IF DATA PROTECTION AND 

I.T. SECURITY OFFICERS WERE ABLE TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY AT THE BEGINNING OF 

THE CRISIS OR, IN CASE OF DOUBT, WEIGH UP IN FAVOUR OF MAINTAINING BUSINESS 

OPERATIONS, THEY WILL CLEARLY NOT BE ABLE TO ACCEPT THIS AS A PERMANENT 

STATE OF AFFAIRS." 

SOMEONE HAS TO CLEAN UP 

Things will not be able to remain as they 

are - but cleaning up is not very popular, 

and who wants to clean up when even 

unintentionally, new chaos is constantly 

being created? The solution is intelligent 

content services, which take over this task 

automatically or, even better, ensure in 

the background that no mess is created in 

the first place or that it can be ignored. To 

do this, they have to have two essential 

capabilities: flexibility in terms of the 

platforms used and artificial intelligence 

as the basis for automation. 

Within our M-Files platform, for 

example, it makes no difference whether 

a file is stored in the file system, in 

SharePoint, Dropbox or in our own 

repository, since there are standard 

connectors for each of these platforms. 

M-Files can use AI to automatically 

analyse the contents of the file, classify it 

and enrich it with metadata. For example, 

if M-Files determines that the information 

is confidential, it can transfer the file to its 

own repository and restrict access. 

Documents that must be retained can be 

archived accordingly. Duplicates are 

reliably recognised during storage and the 

user is notified accordingly. Versioning 

and check-in/check-out are also possible 

where the original storage does not 

provide for this. 

Figuratively speaking, M-Files cleans up 

after the party without the participants 

needing to do anything. This means that 

users can use a wide range of storage 

locations, from the familiar file system to 

new cloud services, and the Content 

Services ensure uniform handling of the 

files and documents stored there. Users 

can use the file as they wish via cloud 

services, for example, even if it is located 

on-premises, and IT retains transparent 

control over the information assets. 

CONTEXT CREATES ADDED VALUE 

But intelligent content services can do 

much more. They are the key to truly 

intelligent information management. Any 

information becomes more valuable if it 

can be used in the right context. A project 

contract in itself is interesting, but it 

becomes much more valuable when it is 

linked to contextual information about 

the project content, the project team, the 

customer or similar projects. This is 

precisely what intelligent content services 

do automatically. Using AI techniques 

such as content analytics and natural 

language understanding, the content of 

documents is unlocked, and a context is 

created in the form of classification and 

links to other information. 

Due to the cross-platform approach, this 

context can also extend beyond system 

boundaries. For example, the sales 

department can work with Salesforce and 

the project team with Microsoft Teams 

and automatically exchange information. 

All of this is mainly done automatically 

without any programming by universal 

mechanisms. Modern content services can 

be seamlessly embedded in a wide range 

of applications and cloud services and 

offer the user context, metadata and even 

comprehensive processes and workflows - 

without the users having to leave their 

favoured work environments. 

CLOUD'S BRAVE NEW WORLD 

The automated production of context is 

like the super glue that holds all 

information together, even if distributed 

over many different systems. In this 

way, intelligent content services enable 

users to maintain an overview and 

recognise context in the brave new 

world of cloud services. 

The enormous impact of the Covid-19 

crisis on digitisation must now be directed 

into the right channels. Freed from system 

constraints, users can access the cloud 

services that enable them to do their jobs 

in the best way possible. In the 

background, intelligent cloud services 

ensure that uniform rules for handling 

information are observed concerning 

governance, information security and 

compliance. The opportunity is there, let's 

make something of it. 

More info: www.m-files.com 




15

Dm CASE STUDY: ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST 

Revolutionising clinical trials 

A new collaboration between a London NHS Trust and 

software provider Hyland is set to radically alter how 

research bodies manage clinical trials 

Paperwork-heavy clinical trial 

management is set to be 

revolutionised by a unique 

collaboration between Hyland content 

services provider and researchers at 

specialist cancer hospital The Royal 

Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. 

The Royal Marsden was the world's 

first hospital dedicated to cancer 

diagnosis, treatment, research and 

education. Today, together with its 

academic partner, The Institute of 

Cancer Research, it is the largest and 

most comprehensive cancer centre in 

Europe seeing and treating over 59,000 

NHS and private patients every year. It 

is a centre of excellence with an 

international reputation for groundbreaking 

research and pioneering the 

very latest in cancer treatments and 

technologies. 

This is Hyland's first customer 

innovation partnership outside the U.S, 

and the first of its kind for The Royal 

Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. 

Together the two organisations have 

produced an affordable and effective 

solution suitable not just for The Royal 

Marsden but for any other NHS 

provider involved in clinical research. 

Accelerated by the Covid-19 

pandemic, which posed difficulties for 

researchers who needed to access trial 

information currently kept in hard copy, 

it will enable agile working, fit for the 

21st century and allow pharmaceutical 

companies who need to check 

governance for the trials they sponsor 

to do so remotely. It will also free up 

physical space used to store huge 

volumes of paper copies. 

In The Royal Marsden's upcoming Oak 

Cancer Centre, a brand new treatment 

and research facility which will house 

over 400 researchers under the same 

roof as patients, having paperless trial 

management will enable the Trust to 

maximise space for research. 

Jane Lawrence, Director of Research 

Operations at The Royal Marsden NHS 

Foundation Trust commented on the 

collaboration: "What is so exciting 

about what we have produced with 

Hyland is that it is scalable; any NHS 

organisation with even small amounts 

of research can use this and where 

some pharma solutions would be costprohibitive, 

this is an affordable option 

whether a hospital runs many large 

multi-centre trials or participates in 

small tissue studies. 

"As a specialist provider, The Royal 

Marsden has a responsibility to 

innovate and ensure that it can act as a 

test bed of best practice for the NHS. 

The Trust has a history of trialling new 

technology in clinic and we are proud 

that as a large research institution we 

can also innovate new technology for 

research data management that others 

in the NHS can take forward." 

Lisa Emery, Chief Information Officer 

at The Royal Marsden, added: "We were 

already using Hyland's OnBase 

enterprise information platform for 

patient record management, as are 

many other NHS and private hospitals 

and clinics, but until now all trial 

governance still had to be in hard copy 

and stored in a records office. Our 

researchers worked closely with 

Hyland's developers to build on what 

we already had in place with OnBase 

and produce a paperless solution fit for 

researchers and pharmaceutical 

organisations" 

Having invested resources into 

creating the Hyland Clinical Trials 

Management solution, The Royal 

Marsden will receive commission on 

certain onward sales, with the proceeds 

being reinvested into clinical trial 

administration and legal costs. 

Ed McQuiston, Hyland’s Executive 

Vice President and Chief Commercial 

Officer, said: "We are thrilled to extend 

our partnership with The Royal 

Marsden NHS Foundation Trust 

providing an agile and scalable digital 

data management solution to help 

manage clinical trial information access 

and governance remotely. The Hyland 

Clinical Trials Management solution will 

help NHS trusts evolve their clinical 

data management processes to ensure 

continuity for healthcare research 

providers." 

More info: www.hyland.com 

16 




Fujitsu 

Scanning 

Solutions 

Fujitsu scanners have a well deserved reputation 

for being the most reliable and hard-wearing 

devices on the market, offering transparency, 

compliance, efficiencies and cost savings 

iX1400 – Beautifully simple, 

effortlessly efficient 

iX1500/iX1600 – Intuitive 

scanning at your 

fingertips 

S1100i 

iX100 – Ideal for 

community workers 

S1300i 

FREE 

12 month 

Adobe Pro DC 

license* 

fi-65F – Great for 

customer facing 

ID capture 

fi Series 

N7100 – Information 

sharing made easy 

SP-1120N / SP-1125N/ 

SP-1130N 

SP Series 

Day to day budget 

conscious scanning 

SV600 – Perfect 

for the classroom 

fi-7260 / fi-7280 

fi-7140 – Document 

management at it’s best 

fi-7460 / fi-7480 

fi-7600 – A local 

government 

workhorse 

fi-7030 – Ideal 

for GP surgeries 

fi-800R 

fi-7160 – Best selling 

scanner in the NHS 

fi-7300NX – Web based document 

capture and network scanning 

fi-7800/ fi-7900 – Ideal 

for heavy duty scanning 

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fi-7700 

*End-user offer, Terms and Conditions apply 

Fujitsu’s best-in-class scanner driver and document capturing software 

For more information please email us at 

scannersales@uk.fujitsu.com or visit emea.fujitsu.com/scanners

Dm OPINION: ARCHIVE MANAGEMENT 

Back to normal? 

Grace Schneider of Storetec suggests a number of ways that businesses can avoid 

any nasty shocks on returning to the office after pandemic restrictions are lifted 

With restrictions being lifted and 

lockdown coming to an end, 

many businesses are returning 

to working from the office this month. 

However, for companies that have been 

working from home since the first 

lockdown, returning to the office will 

come as a shock. 

Of course, life isn't back to normal just 

yet, and there are still restrictions in place, 

so businesses need to take the necessary 

measures to adhere to these for the 

foreseeable future. 

HOW ORGANISED ARE YOUR 

ARCHIVES? 

One concern many businesses have is 

returning to the office to an unorganised 

archive that needs managing. An 

efficient business depends on how well 

you manage your documents. If 

businesses are disorganised about how 

they handle their archive, it can lead to 

delays in daily operations, legal issues, 

and unhappy customers. 

A paper archive can easily get 

disorganised, especially when staff have 

been into the office quickly to grab a 

business-critical document, rummaged 

through the archive, and not returned it 

to its original location. 

If your business doesn't have time to 

manage its paper archive and is looking 

for a solution to manage it in the future, 

the answer is simple: a digital archive. 

Avoid the headache of an unorganised 

archive by getting your documents 

digitised and uploaded to a cloud-based 

document management system. Storetec 

can help you sort your documents in line 

with retention periods and even pack 

and collect the boxes before you return 

to the office. 

GET YOUR BUSINESS BACK ON 

TRACK 

According to Gartner, an average of 4 

weeks is lost each year waiting on 

misfiled, mislabelled, untracked, or lost 

documents. This won't have been 

improved by employees taking and not 

returning documents while working from 

home. By manually managing documents, 

businesses are costing themselves personhours 

that could be spent on businesscritical 

jobs. Digitising your active 

documents eliminates time-consuming 

searches through multiple filing cabinets 

for a document. An optical character 

recognition (OCR) application can be 

18 




OPINION: ARCHIVE MANAGEMENT Dm 

"IF BUSINESSES ARE DISORGANISED ABOUT HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR ARCHIVE, 

IT CAN LEAD TO DELAYS IN DAILY OPERATIONS, LEGAL ISSUES, AND UNHAPPY 

CUSTOMERS. A PAPER ARCHIVE CAN EASILY GET DISORGANISED, ESPECIALLY 

WHEN STAFF HAVE BEEN INTO THE OFFICE QUICKLY TO GRAB A BUSINESS- 

CRITICAL DOCUMENT, RUMMAGED THROUGH THE ARCHIVE, AND NOT 

RETURNED IT TO ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION." 

used, so your digitised files are fully text 

searchable. Documents will be just a click 

away rather than lost in a filing cabinet. 

Storetec's document management 

system, FreeDocs, can help to increase 

the working efficiency of your staff by 

organising your digital documents and 

making them easy to find and access. 

With quick, efficient access to paper 

documents, employees can focus 

resources on important business 

activities. In addition, documents can be 

accessed 24/7 worldwide by multiple 

different users simultaneously; this is 

perfect for the current Coronavirus 

situation as staff cannot mix and 

potentially contaminate documents. Also, 

if for any reason businesses have to 

return to working from home, employees 

will have access to all documents. So they 

won't have to keep returning to the office 

to get them, risking documents getting 

lost or misplaced. 

MORE OFFICE SPACE FOR SOCIAL 

DISTANCING 

The practice of social distancing is not 

going away any time soon. Employees 

may have sat in close proximity to each 

other prior to Covid, but since restrictions 

haven't fully been eased yet, social 

distancing still needs to be adhered to. 

Every 4-drawer cabinet holds around 

12,000 pages and occupies 

approximately 8 square feet of floor 

space. By digitising your archive, you can 

utilise this area and give more space for 

social distancing between desks. 

Do you need physical copies of your 

documents? For many businesses, it isn't 

feasible to have everything digitised. 

There are still certain documents required 

to be kept as hard copies in some 

instances, such as legal, medical or HR 

documents that companies could need 

for audit purposes. 

Storetec offers a document storage 

solution so you can save office space and 

give critical documents the best physical 

security. At many businesses the onsite 

archive is not well organised and requires 

sifting through filing cabinets to find 

business-critical documents. When 

documents are stored at Storetec's 

facilities, boxes are barcoded and tracked 

for quick accessibility and are promptly 

retrieved when needed. 

HIDDEN COST OF FILING CABINETS 

Cost-cutting is a strategy that many 

businesses have been undertaking to 

survive the Coronavirus pandemic. Sales 

have been slow during the pandemic, so 

cutting costs can help to keep cash flow 

positive while sales get back to normal. 

It's impossible to know the exact rent that 

businesses can be expected to pay for 

office space in every UK location. Still, for 

example, in London City, according to 

Statista 2020, it is around £72.50 per 

square foot annually. One 4-drawer 

cabinet occupies about 8 square feet of 

floor space; therefore, it will cost a 

business £580 per annum. How many 4- 

drawer cabinets do you have in your 

office, and how much are these costing 

you? Digital access to documents means 

you no longer have to pay ongoing 

storage fees to retain your paper archives. 

Let us take the hassle away and 

outsource your document scanning to 

Storetec. This will be more cost-efficient 

than investing in equipment, software, 

and workforce. Storetec uses a range of 

specialist scanning equipment that 

generate high-quality images and keep 

costs down due to their speed. 

Keeping a paper archive can also be 

expensive to ensure long-term document 

protection and preservation. Paper 

documents are especially vulnerable to 

permanent damage from fire and 

flooding. As a result, archiving should 

take place in a secure offsite facility. At 

Storetec, all files are stored on highdensity 

shelving units protecting them 

from dust and moisture. The warehouse 

is a climate-controlled environment and 

has fire detection and prevention 

systems, so you can be reassured that 

your archive is in good hands. 

More info: www.storetec.net 




19

Dm CASE STUDY: ACCOR GROUP 

Hotel group hits the suite spot with content services 

Hotel group Accor is able to provide partners with 24/7 access to a wide variety of 

corporate content via the Cloud 

Accor, one of the world's bestknown 

hotel groups, has 

implemented Hyland's Nuxeo 

platform to provide 24-hour access to 

thousands of documents and offer a 

centralised view of corporate information, 

irrespective of user location. 

With 4,800 hotels in 100 countries, 

including hotel brands such as ibis, Raffles 

and Novotel, Accor requires support 

during the construction, maintenance and 

renovation of these hotels. The company 

required a tool to make all relevant 

information available to its partners - 

interior designers, franchisees, graphic 

designers, architects, marketers - needed 

for the smooth running of such phases of 

construction or renovation of hotels. 

After a rigorous selection process, 

Accor selected Hyland's Nuxeo Platform 

as its content services platform, making 

it available to all of the company's teams 

all over the world. The platform contains 

all the necessary technical documents 

(construction guides, design briefs), 

marketing and administration and keeps 

them fully secure. The Nuxeo Platform 

also allows the localisation of guidelines 

to meet the specific requirements of 

each country. 

"Given the number of selection criteria we 

had, the choice was not difficult. Indeed, 

few players on the market could respond 

so exhaustively," commented Damien 

Perrot, SVP Global Design at Accor. 

Accor is using a wide variety of media, 

including traditional files and documents 

as well as photos, videos and more 

modern content. As documents evolve 

constantly, Hyland's Nuxeo Platform 

guarantees access to the very latest version 

for all 3,000 internal and external users. 

THE RIGHT VIEW 

Based on an open and agile content 

management system architecture, 

Hyland's Nuxeo Platform is a content 

management platform that provides a 

centralised view of all corporate 

information wherever it is. 

Many criteria were taken into account 

during Accor's selection process, including: 

Durability: Accor wanted a solution 

that met 95% of its standard 

requirements and required few 

specific developments 

Integration: the new tool had to 

integrate fully within the IT global 

group environment to meet all 

constraints, including technical and 

security 

Mobility: the solution had to offer 

multi-device mobility, to meet the 

requirements of its user 

Ergonomics of the tool: it needed to 

be flexible enough to it quickly and 

easily without specific developments 

Meeting user requirements: all users 

required the ability to view and 

manage all types of file, the ability to 

manage large volumes and also the 

ability to edit offline 

Taking place in two stages, the 

deployment lasted six months and since 

the implementation of Hyland's Nuxeo 

Platform, the volumes processed have 

been multiplied three-fold. 

Accor has several further changes 

planned, including the improvement of its 

data management to better visualise, 

manage and optimise its information 

management. Accor is also looking into 

integrating automatic document 

compression so that content can be 

accessed more quickly via the web. 

More info: www.nuxeo.com 

20 




OPINION: AI Dm 

AI is just a means to an end 

Software vendors have a duty not to agree to or promise something that isn't right 

for the task, argues Max Kelleher, COO at Generis 

These days, without really 

understanding how or why, 

enterprise customers seem 

convinced they must ask for an AI 

capability in just about any software 

system they procure - almost as though 

they might be called to account if they 

fail to include it in their RFP. 

Yet it's incumbent on the software 

industry to select and use the 

appropriate technologies for a business 

solution, and not to promise more than 

can be delivered. 

In time, smart automation and 

painstakingly-trained machine learning 

tools will open up all sorts of new 

opportunities for doing things more 

efficiently. But if we over-sell AI now, 

customers will continue to feel let down 

when they discover its accuracy isn't 

immediately perfect, nor the results as 

exciting or as transformational as they'd 

been expecting. 

Yet still the requests come in - for cool 

chatbots or NLP plans. But rarely are 

these capabilities linked to a business 

need - something you just wouldn't find 

in any other context. Recent examples of 

non-outcome related requests include: 

"The system will provide voice-to-data 

capabilities using AI." (No mention of 

why, or of the scenarios in which this 

will help users.) 

"The system should leverage the 

latest in AI, e.g. to classify, structure 

and relate objects." (Interpretation: 

'Please give us the latest AI stuff - 

here are some things we suppose it 

might do.') 

"AI/ML should support the user in 

determining the complexity of a case 

and in selecting the appropriate 

workflow to manage the case." (This 

assumes, for no apparent reason, that 

'AI/ML' is the best way to achieve 

these automations.) 

SETTING US UP FOR 

DISAPPOINTMENT 

Put simply, companies are now making 

random requests for fancy Python scripts 

rather than asking for the best solutions 

to their problems. And of course the 

temptation for vendors preparing their 

proposals is to make lofty claims about 

their AI roadmaps in response to this 

non-specific appetite for the technology. 

And so the cycle becomes a downward 

spiral. The customer demands a specific 

technology or method that may not be 

the best solution; the vendor then 

implements this solution the way it has 

been demanded - and the customer is 

disappointed by the result. In the best 

case scenario the customer loses faith in 

the vendor; in the worst case scenario the 

customer loses faith in 'all of AI', without 

ever really understanding it. 

The point here is that, while we - and a 

lot of other vendors - can and should 

support using AI techniques to address 

specific business problems, we shouldn't 

be proposing or agreeing to include AI or 

ML unless it's quite clearly the best path 

to the delivering what the business needs 

- just as we wouldn't use other tools or 

techniques that aren't the best fit for any 

challenge at hand. 

AI ISN'T A TICKET TO THE FUTURE 

Of course, when AI or machine learning 

does solve a real problem, the results can 

be fantastic. iPhone's Face ID and Siri 

recommendations are transformational 

features because they save time, provide 

strong security, and help users to do what 

they want to do. But people typically 

don't go out looking for smartphones that 

'have AI'. All they care about is the 

improved experience it enables. 

What AI isn't is a silver bullet that will 

guarantee an investment is 'futureproof', 

and seeing it as such sets false expectations 

- something developers as well as clients 

need to accept and stand by. 

More info: www.generiscorp.com 




21

Dm PRODUCT FOCUS 

Yooz 

When we first reviewed the 

Yooz cloud-based invoice 

processing solution six years 

ago, it had around 1000 customers, 

almost all in France, and was looking 

to build awareness further afield. Fast 

forward to 2021 and the product now 

has over 200,000 users in 30+ 

countries worldwide. 

It is used by the likes of Deloitte, EY, 

PWC, KPMG and most of the major 

accountancy firms in the market. At 

the same time it has interfaces with 

pretty much every major 

accounting/finance and ERP system 

from Oracle and Microsoft to Sage and 

Quickbooks. The company works 

closely with partners to make sure 

connections to payment solutions or 

even HR/expenses systems are smooth 

and seamless. 

While a cloud P2P approach has a 

particular and obvious appeal for 

SMBs, there is no doubt Yooz can be 

deployed by businesses of any size, 

capable as it is of processing anywhere 

from 100+ to hundreds of thousands 

of invoices per month. While most 

users will initially be attracted by its 

intuitive and straightforward invoice 

handling, the system is a true 'purchase 

to pay' offering that includes a slick 

and simple purchase requisition 

solution if required. 

Most organisations will have seen an 

increase in electronically received 

invoices since Covid-19, and Yooz will 

comfortably process invoices in 

whatever format you might care to 

throw at it whether email, EDI, scans or 

from mobile devices. 

The product's AI-based recognition 

technology means that there is no need 

for prior teaching or templates as in so 

many invoice automation tools, as the 

Yooz system will learn from each new 

invoice coming in where to find the key 

fields, and even match up with vendor 

databases and POs to do validation 

checking. The company's SmartSplit 

technology ensures that 100% of 

documents coming in to the system are 

separated correctly prior to processing. 

AI and RPA systems are used in the 

invoice process itself so that - Yooz 

claim - around 80% of invoices can be 

processed entirely automatically. 

The whole interface is extremely welldesigned 

to reflect the way that A/P 

staff manage their processes, with 

intuitive buttons and obvious 

workflows from input through 

checking, approval and payment (or 

return if necessary). A single click 

allows a user to, for instance, block an 

invoice, attach a file (a contract, for 

example), or add a comment for the 

Approver to see. The Search function is 

particularly impressive in its 

sophistication. Overall the users' Tasks 

page operates like a dashboard of all 

their current work and what needs 

attention, and makes it simple to see 

exactly where every invoice currently is 

in the system. 

Yooz will export to over 250 finance 

systems, sending CSV or other data to 

a BACS file or ERP workflow as 

necessary. The monthly subscription 

covers all the costs for an unlimited 

number of users or managed 

companies. The cloud model means 

that users can access and work on their 

Accounts Payable workloads from any 

browser on any device. 

More info: www.getyooz.com 

VERDICT 

Back in 2015 we called Yooz 'hugely feature rich' and a powerful yet cost-effective SaaS offering. In the intervening 

years the product has got even smarter and more intuitive to manage and to use - simplifying the workload of A/P 

staff even further. 


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solutions

Dm ROUNDTABLE: LEGAL 

The legal debate 

The senior directors of two mid-sized UK law firms come together with legal 

market advisor Derek Southall and Sheila Gormley of Repstor to debate rising 

trends among law firms - including IT consolidation; the rise of Microsoft 365; 

dispersed operating models; and the appetite to increase knowledge re-use, 

operational intelligence and process automation 

Derek Southall (DS): There are a 

number of trends which are 

influencing the way law firms think 

about and plan for their IT now, which have 

been compounded by more than a year in 

lockdown: first is IT consolidation. Big 

businesses have already questioned the 

sense of running 200 discrete applications, 

when they could consolidate and simplify 

operations across fewer, core platforms. 

They're now saying, "We've got to be SAP for 

finance; Microsoft 365 for everything 

operational; and Salesforce for sales and 

marketing." I think this consolidation is 

coming to law firms now too. 

Then there are the cost/value paradigms - 

many firms are renewing the quest for value 

from existing IT investments. Designated 

'legal technology' tends to be more 

expensive than more generic solutions, 

which often isn't justified. The 'best of breed' 

approach also means dealing with multiple 

vendors which can be costly and complex. 

And the meteoric rise of Microsoft 365 has 

come right in the midst of all this. As firms 

standardise on the online/cloud-based 

versions of the Microsoft suite, they're 

seeing potential to work more flexibly using 

familiar, interlinked applications. Added to 

this is the realisation that Microsoft 365 

offers everything from digital dictation to 

smart process automation and reporting, 

Teams to intranet templates, and much 

more. Microsoft is investing everything in 

the latest functionality too, including AI - 

important for automating processes, and 

delivering new insights. So betting on the 

platform feels very futureproof. 

Digital collaboration has become 

widespread during the pandemic, boosted 

by the intuitive ease and ready availability 

of facilities like Teams for keeping everyone 

in contact. It's been so effortless to 

maintain relationships remotely over the 

last year that people are questioning 

THE PANELLISTS: 

Derek Southall, founder and CEO of Hyperscale Group, is a legal market watcher, advisor and IT specialist 

Tom Hall is COO at leading Kent-based law firm, Brachers, which recently celebrated its 125th year 

Ed Cooke is CEO of Conexus Law, an 18-month old legal startup which provides legal advice to businesses operating at 

the intersection of the built environment, technology and people 

Sheila Gormley, one of the co-founders of Repstor, looks after its legal software business globally 


ROUNDTABLE: LEGAL Dm 

"WE FAVOUR MICROSOFT BECAUSE ITS PRODUCTS ARE ALREADY SO 

INTEGRAL TO LAWYERS' WORK - SO OUR VIEW WAS WHY NOT LEVERAGE 

THE LICENCES WE'RE ALREADY PAYING FOR. AND MICROSOFT IS POURING 

MONEY INTO DEVELOPMENT AT A RATE THAT OTHER MOST TECH 

PROVIDERS COULDN'T EVEN CONTEMPLATE. MICROSOFT POWER BI GIVES 

US THE ABILITY TO INTERPRET DATA IN WAYS WE'VE NEVER THOUGHT 

ABOUT BEFORE - DATA THAT'S REFRESHED EVERY TWO HOURS, AND 

REPSTOR GIVES US THE LEGAL LAYER ON TOP - ALLOWING OUR LAWYERS 

TO INTERACT WITH THEIR DMS FROM OUTLOOK AND FROM MICROSOFT 

TEAMS, WHICH IS REVOLUTIONARY." - TOM HALL, BRACHERS 

whether things will ever revert to how they 

were, especially when virtual meetings 

save clients time and money. 

Together, all of these factors are driving 

law firms to reassess their legacy IT setups. 

I'll let Tom and Ed tell their own stories 

about how the pandemic has intensified 

their transformation ambitions. 

Tom Hall (TH): Brachers has offices in 

Maidstone and Canterbury, but our work 

is international. When I joined in 2018 

the firm had traditional legacy legal 

applications, but an appetite to be 

different. Before the pandemic, we'd 

already addressed the business continuity 

implications of people not being able to 

go to the office - not just to support 

home-working but also for lawyers at 

court needing access to financial data or 

legal documents. We ripped out legacy 

legal systems in favour of cloud and SaaS 

applications, and implemented a mobilefirst 

strategy, giving every lawyer a tablet. 

When Covid hit, people simply took their 

devices home and picked up where they 

left off. 

Ed Cooke (EC): Conexus Law works 

internationally and our operations are 

quite distributed: we've got a central office 

in London but have a team that works all 

over the place. This put us in a great 

position when we when the pandemic hit 

because we were already set up for 

working remotely. 

In building Conexus Law from scratch, we 

chose a cloud-first strategy. As a distributed 

firm we needed everyone to have instant 

access to the most up-to-date versions of 

everything, and felt that this route would 

enable us to do more with data. We have a 

Microsoft 365 stack primarily, with a 

SharePoint Online repository so there's just 

one system to manage and secure. 

We chose Repstor as our document 

management system, on top of Microsoft 

365, because in its native form SharePoint 

didn't really offer us the kind of experience 

we needed. We also have a practice 

management system which integrates 

readily with Microsoft 365. Otherwise we 

use the Microsoft Office suite including 

Teams and Power Automate. 

By joining all of our systems together, 

we're honing our knowledge management. 

We work with clients who are pushing the 

boundaries so we have to do the same. As 

well as our chosen systems for this, we find 

Microsoft OneNote very useful and we 

have a very flexible SharePoint knowledge 

hub: essentially a SharePoint wiki and 

internet site. 

TH: Brachers is a multidisciplinary, fullservice 

firm with lots of diverse needs. We 

favour Microsoft because its products are 

already so integral to lawyers' work - so our 

view was why not leverage the licences 

we're already paying for. And Microsoft is 

pouring money into development at a rate 

that other most tech providers couldn't 

even contemplate. 

Microsoft Power BI gives us the ability to 

interpret data in ways we've never thought 

about before - data that's refreshed every 

two hours, and Repstor gives us the legal 

layer on top - allowing our lawyers to 

interact with their DMS from Outlook and 

from Microsoft Teams, which is 

revolutionary. The fact that Repstor can give 

us client portals in all different forms - 

something clients are beginning to ask for - 

is transformational too. 

We started our transition last summer, 

gradually moving our 'ecosystem' to one 

that will revolve around Microsoft as our 

operational platform. Now that working 

from home has been robustly tried and 

tested, there's no reason why our people, 

our client base couldn't be more 

widespread. The Internet is now the place 

where they interact with us in the main - 

especially with digital signatures. 

DS: What is Repstor hearing from other 

law firm clients about how they want to 

leverage Microsoft 365? 

Sheila Gormley (SG): A lot of it is about 

achieving that legal DMS scenario. The 

biggest thing for us is surfacing the power 

of the SharePoint DMS through the 

Outlook or Teams user experience. In fact, 

the number one thing that law firms are 

asking us for today is functionality around 

Microsoft Teams. During the pandemic, 




25

Dm ROUNDTABLE: LEGAL 

"DURING THE PANDEMIC, MANY FIRMS HAVE OPENED UP MICROSOFT TEAMS TO 

KEEP COLLEAGUES CONNECTED. THEN PEOPLE STARTED COLLABORATING USING 

CHAT WINDOWS, UPLOADING CONTENT TO IT AND SO ON. BUT THIS BRINGS A 

RISK THAT ACTIVITY COULD DEVIATE FROM THE CORE DMS, WITH IMPLICATIONS 

FOR CONTENT GOVERNANCE AND SAFEGUARDS. RESTORING THESE CONTROLS 

IS PART OF THE SOLUTION THAT WE BRING - MAKING THE FIRM'S PREFERRED 

SYSTEM OF RECORD THE DEFAULT PLACE TO KEEP EVERYTHING." 

- SHEILA GORMLEY, REPSTOR 

many firms have opened up Microsoft 

Teams to keep colleagues connected. Then 

people started collaborating using chat 

windows, uploading content to it and so 

on. But this brings a risk that activity could 

deviate from the core DMS, with 

implications for content governance and 

safeguards. Restoring these controls is part 

of the solution that we bring - making the 

firm's preferred system of record the default 

place to keep everything. 

Collaboration with clients is another 

common requirement. Microsoft will 

continue to improve Teams functionality so 

that it becomes the gold standard for client 

collaboration. But there's also the 

possibility to do more traditional and client 

portal-like collaboration in Microsoft 365 

and we bring additional capability around 

that for legal use. 

The IT consolidation trend generally is 

raising questions about how to get the most 

out of the Microsoft 365 platform. Power 

Automate offers fantastic potential, for 

example, but firms want to understand how 

to pull it all together. I sense an appetite for 

more turnkey solutions that leverage M365, 

so that smaller or mid-tier law firms don't 

have to build the capabilities themselves. 

DS: Are there any activities law firms 

wouldn't want to attempt in Microsoft 365, 

and what's next? 

EC: As things currently stand we wouldn't 

use it for our central practice management 

system (PMS); we're always going to need 

that interface between that and M365. 

As to what's next, we're looking at how 

we might deploy AI or at least machine 

learning within some of our systems. We 

undertook an exercise looking at force 

majeure clauses, for example, which 

primarily we have had to manage manually. 

The challenge is around having sufficient 

volumes of information ingested into the 

system for it to learn from. That's tricky for 

law firms. Certainly we'll be looking very 

closely at Microsoft's Project Cortex and 

SharePoint Syntax activities and hoping that 

some kind of legally-focused, AI-based 

product might emerge fairly quickly. 

TH: We also accept that Microsoft can't be 

everything to everyone: we've already got a 

top PMS which is ideal for what we need; 

nor do we need to look to Microsoft for 

risk, compliance, nor CRM. For us, it's the 

integration between preferred systems 

that's key: that's what Microsoft and 

Repstor make so easy. 

DS: What's the latest news from Microsoft 

in terms of specific legal capabilities? 

SG: There's a new initiative that Microsoft 

has launched in collaboration with ILTA. It's 

an acknowledgement that perhaps it hasn't 

given enough attention to the legal sector 

up to now, and it recognises some of the 

particular requirements of legal teams - 

especially around security. One of the first 

things they've been doing is to release a 

'blueprint' for the deployment of Teams 

within law firms, addressing security, data 

labelling and data loss prevention. 

DS: Finally, it's accepted you should never 

buy technology based on price, but for 

long-term capability. To what extent will 

Microsoft 365 alter what law firms spend 

on technology? And will it help reset the 

pricing of some other products, freeing up 

budget for other things? 

EC: I don't know what it will do in terms of 

the final price, but in terms of cash flow it 

turns everything into a subscription model. 

TH: The SaaS model is meant to make it 

easier to predict costs, and flex what you 

use and pay for. During the peak of the 

pandemic we were able to reduce licences 

for individuals who were furloughed. 

I actually think our bill for tech is going up, 

but we are realising savings in other ways. If 

I can save a lawyer five minutes so that they 

can finish on time which is good for their 

mental wellbeing, that's really important to 

us right now. Or, if they can do something 

themselves that saves them dictating and 

asking a secretary to do it, there's a resource 

saving there, or there's a beneficial effect on 

chargeable time. That's really where our 

investment into technology is focused - on 

driving efficiencies, making life simple, 

having a single pane of glass, and so on, 

achieved by integrating everything back into 

our Microsoft platform. 

More info: www.repstor.com 


AIIM FORUM EUROPE 

INTELLIGENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 

18TH NOVEMBER 2021 

GRAND CONNAUGHT ROOMS, LONDON 

Join the AIIM 

Tribe in London 

Join us on 18th November in London for an unmissable 

day of interactive and curated Keynotes, Roundtables, 

Advisory Seminars and Fireside Chats – showing best 

practice in action at organisations just like yours. 

Here is what our attendees and Partners think of AIIM Forum Europe: 

Early Bird Rates 

Available 

Places start at just 

£75 + VAT! 

Attending AIIM Forum Europe is a must for 

industry professionals who are interested in 

capturing the latest market insights, delving 

into discussions about complex issues, 

sharing common pains and exploring new 

opportunities. I know I am joined by many 

of the delegates who agreed that this year’s 

Forum was one of the best 

This year’s event was very interesting in 

updating about privacy, new technologies, 

and future management systems, and 

importantly about raising the awareness 

about this important area within our 

organisations 

Excellent opportunity to meet the 

great and the good in information 

management, great vendors and good 

people working within the sector that 

are very happy to help and share best 

practice solutions 

Very positive feedback overall - we were 

really happy with our roundtable session 

- great attendance and lots of good 

conversations for us after the session. 

AIIM Partner and Session Host 

Our stand was busier than ever, thanks 

to the AIIM team for all your support in 

making the event a huge success for us. 

AIIM Partner 

For more information and to register visit: www.aiimforumeurope.com 

OUR EVENT PARTNERS INCLUDE SOME OF EUROPE’S LEADING VENDOR’S IN INFORMATION 

MANAGEMENT, GET IN TOUCH TO JOIN THEM: 

Deborah Ward-Johnstone | 01892 820936 | deborah@revolution-events.com 

AIIM Preferred Providers receive a discount on package rates

Dm HEALTHCARE: EREFERRALS 

Delivering the benefits of eReferrals: why EPR 

integration is essential 

NHS initiatives towards a paperless healthcare system are well intentioned but too 

often there remain gaps in trusts' electronic capabilities, hampering overall process 

transformation. eReferrals are a prime example, says Jason Scholes, CTO at SynApps 

The idea of NHS electronic referrals 

(eReferrals) is to streamline the 

transition of patients from primary 

into specialist secondary care, from the 

traditional situation of manual 

correspondence which could be drawn 

out over several weeks. Managing 

referrals electronically is supposed to 

speed up that process, while giving 

healthcare professionals instant access 

to all associated notes. 

Yet there remains a digital disconnect. 

Referrals may be coming into trusts 

electronically now, but too often these 

are being printed out for circulation 

with patient records, or re-input 

manually into clinical or patient record 

systems. This not only creates extra 

work for those involved; it also 

generates new scope for risk if errors 

are made or printouts go astray - the 

very eventualities eReferrals were 

designed to avoid. 

The problem is that there is no 

inherent way for trusts to connect 

incoming electronic referrals to their 

existing clinical or patient record 

systems, to streamline the onward 

workflow or accelerate clinical 

pathways. 

Ultimately, the NHS e-Referral Service 

(e-RS) really only provides a user 

interface through which hospitals 

retrieve electronic referrals. What 

happens after that is down to each trust 

to figure out. There are third-party tools 

out there which 'screen scrape' the 

information from incoming referrals and 

use robotic process automation (RPA) 

technology to interpret and capture it, 

but until now there has been nothing 

that works natively with the NHS e-RS to 

capture content and metadata directly 

into hospital systems. 

What's really needed is real-time 

integration and information capture 

directly into a trust's preferred systems - 

whether an EPR or other existing clinical 

system (for instance one holding 

medical imaging records). These could 

be based on Alfresco, Documentum or 

some other electronic content 

management platform - the brand or 

format of system shouldn't matter. 

A FULLER SOLUTION 

We deal with NHS trusts all the time, 

and it's through these close connections 

that we've found a way to solve this 

problem for hospitals, allowing e- 

Referrals content to be stored and 

accessed digitally alongside electronic 

patient records. 

Without this facility, the digital benefits 

of eReferrals stop at the hospital 

threshold. And, once the content is 

transferred onto paper, it carries the 

same risks of the notes going astray, or 

not being readily accessible, as have 

traditionally been the case with written 

or faxed referrals. 

The idea of extending the impact of 

eReferrals end to end across a trust is to 

give clinicians seamless, immediate and 

concurrent access to everything they 

need - on demand - as part of a broader 

workflow. This will ensure that trusts 

process referrals reliably and effectively, 

and are paid promptly and accurately 

for their work. With the need to clear 

referral backlogs following the 

pandemic adding to the impetus to 

streamline their handling across trusts, 

demand for a joined-up solution has 

never been more acute. 

More info: www.synapps-solutions.com 

28 




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Dm CASE STUDY: EUROTECH 

Barcode utility boosts efficiency 

for PCB manufacturer 

The combination of a scanner and an innovative 

barcode scanning utility is saving two working days 

every month as Eurotech seeks to simplify workflow 

EuroTech Group is a British 

manufacturer operating at the 

cutting edge of technology. Since 

1991, the Devon-based business has 

been manufacturing printed circuit 

boards for customers in sectors 

including transport, defence, medical 

and more. Today it is an £18 million 

turnover company with 150 staff, 

which exports its products across 

Europe. But when the firm identified an 

inefficiency in its manufacturing 

process, it turned to Brother technology 

for the solution. 

OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE 

Every batch of circuit boards progressed 

through the factory is accompanied by 

a job card, used to record each stage of 

the manufacturing process. Previously, 

when the order was complete, the job 

card was scanned to create a digital 

document for EuroTech's records. The 

process was awkward and inefficient, 

requiring a member of staff to create a 

PDF file, save it, rename it and then 

move it to the right folder so it could 

be retrieved if needed. This quickly led 

to a backlog building up, while also 

leaving them exposed to mistakes 

through human error. 

EuroTech approached its IT supplier to 

find a solution, and Brother's ADS- 

2800W desktop scanner and Barcode 

Utility software was quickly identified. 

Using the new solution, each job card 

can now be scanned into the Brother 

device, which reads the barcode and 

automatically saves it to the right place. 

A SMARTER SOLUTION 

"The solution fit the bill perfectly. The 

integration was painless and it was 

excellent value for money, so it paid for 

itself very quickly," explained Paul 

Langham, IT Manager, EuroTech Group. 

Paul estimates that the device saves the 

equivalent of two working days every 

month, freeing up that colleague for 

other tasks, as well as improving 

accuracy. 

How EuroTech uses Barcode Utility 

scanning software to automatically 

route documents: 

1. Identify each job with a unique 

barcode 

Every order of circuit boards that 

EuroTech produces comes with a job 

card. Workers on the production line 

scan a unique barcode on the job card 

after each stage of assembly. This 

creates a record of the manufacturing 

process for quality assurance purposes. 

2. Scan the barcode for instant 

recognition 

Once the order is ready to be 

despatched to the customer, the job 

card is scanned again using a Brother 

ADS-2800W desktop scanner. Brother's 

Barcode Utility software automatically 

creates and names a document 

containing a full record of the order. 

3. Barcode is analysed and 

automatically saved 

The document is automatically saved to 

the right folder on the EuroTech 

network every time, streamlining 

workflow and ensuring total accuracy. 

Brother's Barcode Utility software 

allows documents that have a barcode 

to be scanned and processed at speed 

while also eliminating the opportunity 

for human error. Using advanced 

document routing technology, files are 

automatically saved to the required 

folder on your network. All this can be 

done directly from a scanner such as 

Brother's desktop-friendly ADS-2800W, 

which can scan two-sided documents 

at up to 40 pages per minute. 

More info: 

www.brother.co.uk/businesssolutions/scanning-solutions 

30 




Dm STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

Digital processes for continuous business 

The number one business imperative in 2021 has to be Digital Transformation, 

argues Dan Wajzner, MD of Document Logistix 

2020 saw Digital Transformation 

become the top priority for the 

majority of businesses, and we saw 

an acceleration in the adoption of digital 

processes. The drivers for change 

included the accommodation of remote 

working, alongside traditional 

commercial objectives such as workflow 

efficiency, reduced operating costs and 

regulatory compliance. 

However, lockdowns highlighted the 

fact that centralised data and secure 

remote access are today's urgent business 

imperatives. Organisations in all 

industries are holistically integrating IT 

solutions, and this trend in Digital 

Transformation is opening up immense 

opportunities that change the established 

rules of commerce. 

According to an update from research 

firm Gartner, IT spending will hit $3.9 

trillion in 2021, with the COVID-19 

pandemic acting as a catalyst for Digital 

Transformation in every major industry. 

FUTURE-PROOFED RESILIENCE 

If there's one lesson for businesses to 

take from a turbulent period, it's that 

change happens fast, which is not to say 

an organisation can't adapt. An 

innovative business that embraces digital 

processes is better prepared for change. 

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought 

into sharp focus many digital issues that 

organisations can no longer ignore. At 

Document Logistix we have seen our 

long-term customers look to enhance 

their digital infrastructure by increasing 

workflow automation and reinforcing 

32 




STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Dm 

"IN DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT, THE INTRODUCTION OF DIGITAL PROCESSES ENABLES COMPANIES TO EMBED 

BEST PRACTICE BY CAPTURING AND ASSIGNING PAPER AND ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS TO DESIGNATED 

WORKFLOWS AS THEY ENTER THE BUSINESS. DATA IN ALL ITS FORMATS - EMAIL, PDF, VIDEO AND PHOTOS - CAN 

BE MANAGED FROM ONE SECURE DATA HUB. ONCE CENTRALISED, DOCUMENTS ARE WORKFLOWED WITH 

THRESHOLD ALERTS AND FULL MANAGEMENT VISIBILITY. ENCRYPTED DOCUMENTS ARE INSTANTLY ACCESSIBLE 

THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFECYCLE, THROUGH TO AUTOMATED DELETION IN COMPLIANCE WITH INDUSTRY 

REGULATION TIMESCALES." 

compliance measures. We have also 

seen digital practices expanding to 

every department. For example, HR 

departments have accelerated digital 

programmes to manage large volumes 

of complex documents and to ensure 

that systems users have secure, 

auditable access, regardless of location. 

Digital business processes improve 

operational efficiency, collaboration, 

data protection, intelligence and, 

ultimately, provide competitive 

advantage. The great news is that 

organisations that have introduced 

digital processes, even where none 

existed previously, have been able to 

reap rapid rewards. System users 

appreciate the personal benefits and 

the company benefits, and 

management enjoys more control. 

EMBEDDING BEST PRACTICE 

In document management, the 

introduction of digital processes 

enables companies to embed best 

practice by capturing and assigning 

paper and electronic documents to 

designated workflows as they enter 

the business. 

Data in all its formats - email, PDF, 

video and photos - can be managed 

from one secure data hub. Once 

centralised, documents are workflowed 

with threshold alerts and full 

management visibility. Encrypted 

documents are instantly accessible 

throughout their lifecycle, through to 

automated deletion in compliance with 

industry regulation timescales. 

TRANSFORMATION AND CULTURE 

CHANGE 

Daisy-chained systems are not 

sustainable. Digital document 

management captures and stores one 

version of an asset (document, image, 

etc.). All activity is recorded and timestamped, 

which eliminates the worry 

and high costs associated with audits. 

Digital Transformation involves using 

technologies to create new business 

processes, cultures, and staff and 

customer experiences to adapt to 

changing business environments. 

For traditionally office-based 

businesses - for example, accountants, 

professional services, banking, 

finance, legal, research, consultants, 

health, housing and property (it's a 

long list) - systems review is required 

at a fundamental level. However, 

when an organisation has the will, 

change can be brought about in a 

relatively short period. 

DIGITAL AGILITY FOR NEW MARKET 

CONDITIONS 

There are new drivers as the commercial 

world re-opens; businesses seek new 

agility, while some historically officebased 

staff seek more flexibility in terms 

of location and hours. 

Only a digital solution provides the 

workflow efficiency, security and 

management control required to evolve 

your business with complete 

confidence. 

More info: www.documentlogistix.com/2021 




33

Dm RESEARCH: STRATEGIES 

Weathering the pandemic 

New research suggests that digitisation and workflow 

technologies will be crucial to the recovery of small and 

medium businesses in the aftermath of COVID-19 

"SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF THE 

ECONOMY AND ARE CRITICAL FOR SUSTAINED ECONOMIC GROWTH. THEY 

NEED TECHNOLOGIES DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM WITH LOCAL 

SERVICE AND SUPPORT FROM EXPERTS WHO UNDERSTAND THEIR UNIQUE 

BUSINESS NEEDS." 

specifically for them with local service and 

support from experts who understand 

their unique business needs." 

Xerox offers a suite of solutions targeted 

at SMBs that address key technology 

requirements for collaboration, 

communication, remote IT support, 

security, and automation. These include: 

One year after the pandemic hit 

many small and medium-sized 

businesses hard, one new global 

survey shows 80 percent of these 

companies consider the ability to 

automate tasks and processes key to 

surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. 85 

percent were more reliant than ever 

before on communication technologies, 

remote IT support, and security hardware 

and software. 

The Xerox 'State and Fate of Small and 

Medium Business' survey conducted by 

Morning Consult polled 1,200 business 

decision makers from companies with 

25 to 1,000 employees in the U.K., U.S 

and Canada. 

Other key findings included: 

82 percent say digitising paperwork is 

important to their survival 

75 percent are more reliant on 

workflow technologies, compared 

with their pre-pandemic setups 

88 percent view security software and 

hardware that protects business 

information as core to their longevity, 

with 75 percent likely to upgrade 

current solutions this year 

65 percent said remote IT support 

was a substantial pain point - and 74 

percent are likely to invest in better 

solutions this year 

POSITIVE OUTLOOK 

Survey respondents overall were - perhaps 

surprisingly - optimistic: almost twothirds 

(64 percent) anticipate emerging 

from the pandemic stronger. 81 percent 

acknowledge the health crisis has made 

them more reliant on technology - and 

they clearly see that reliance continuing in 

order to support and secure a distributed 

workforce. Compared to last year, 75 

percent have increased their technology 

budgets by an average of 34 percent. 

"Small and medium businesses are the 

foundation of the economy and are 

critical for sustained economic growth," 

said Joanne Collins Smee (pictured), Chief 

Commercial, SMB and Channels Officer at 

Xerox. "They need technologies designed 

Xerox Content Hub is a secure creative 

platform for distributed employees to 

independently access professional 

document templates, customise, and 

print locally or use digitally 

IT Services can manage, maintain and 

support a hybrid IT infrastructure, 

ensuring that security solutions map 

to SMBs' identified business risks 

Robotic process automation (RPA) 

deploys a bot workforce that 

increases productivity across key 

business processes such as customer 

billing, financial close, and accounts 

payable 

The white paper 'The State and Fate of 

Small and Medium Business' is available 

for download at 

https://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/e 

n/small-business/white-paper/smb- 

innovation-weathering-the-pandemic- 

ENUS.pdf. 

More info: www.xerox.co.uk/en-gb/smallbusiness 

34 




IRMS Conference 

Will you be joining us at the go-to event in 

the calendar for information professionals? 

Birmingham 2021 

Taking place from Sunday 28th – 

Tuesday 30th November at the 

Hilton Birmingham Metropole 

(NEC). The theme is Information 

and Data – The Heart of Your 

Organisation, incorporating the 

role of Information, People, 

Technology and Regulation in 

ensuring effective business 

processes that meet the 

demands of a changing world. 

INFORMATION & DATA: 

THE HEART OF YOUR ORGANISATION 

The Hilton Birmingham Metropole (NEC) 

28th-30th November 2021 

Glasgow 2022 

Glasgow – Doubletree by Hilton 

15th – 17th May 2022 

Visiting Glasgow on Sunday 15th 

– Tuesday 17th May, our theme 

is Resilience Recovery Renewal 

- recognising the phases of 

individuals' and organisations' 

response to the effects of the 

global pandemic, and the critical 

role of information and records 

management in enabling and 

supporting business continuity. 

www.irmsconference.org.uk

Turn your paper 

documents into a 

digital archive! 

Our expert services include: 

Document Scanning 

Document Storage 

FreeDocs Document Management 

Microfilm & Microfiche Scanning 

Records Management Services 

Discover the easy, hassle-free way to 

go paperless and protect your documents. 

Call 0800 612 4065 

or email sales@storetec.net 

www.storetec.net 

BPO/Outsourcing, Bureau Business of the Year 2020, 2018, 

2017, 2015, 2014 & 2013 

Compliance Product of the Year 2020 

Product of the Year 2019 

London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Hull.

DM May-Jun 2021

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