Attendees Share Operations Tips

By Mark Brousseau

During an interactive networking luncheon at TAWPI’s Capture Conference in Ft. Lauderdale today, attendees were challenged to provide the best strategies they’ve implemented in the past year for improving their operations. Below is a sampling of the best strategies:

1. Eliminate manual reporting and move to automated real time reporting. This will help you meet your service level agreements.
2. Implement 2D barcode capabilities. The State of Georgia Department of Revenue was able to save $1 million in three months by implementing 2D barcoding.
3. Incorporate auto-classification into the capture process as early as possible.
4. Start designing your business processes with the end game in mind. Understand where you want to go, and white board it out.
5. Don't price the solution until you are done with due diligence and requirements are defined.
6. Don't just automate a manual process – upon closer inspection, you might decide to re-engineer or completely eliminate the process.
7. Design your black and white forms with a color gray that drops out on certain scanners.
8. Evaluate your processes every six months to make sure they still make sense – or haven’t morphed!
9. Use an abacus (don’t ask!).
10. Approach automation projects in phases, starting with getting buy-in.
11. Look for ways to automate exceptions processing with image technology.
12. Don't be intimated by offshore key entry.
13. Implement OCR for T&E forms and P-card forms. This saves time, money and labor.
14. Before rushing out to buy a solution, see if you can’t get significant benefits by re-engineering your processes.

What do you think? Post your comments below.