Imaging & Business Workflow
SAP Business Workflow™ and Document Imaging
Paper documents are pervasive in all businesses, but handling, storing and generally keeping track of them is not only an onerous task for businesses, but a very expensive one on multiple levels.
In addition to the obvious storage costs for paper are the costs associated with manually processing, filing, finding documents that are misplaced, and tracking paper throughout various processes. Activities such as document copying and transport often account for more than 50% of the total process time. Quality and efficiency suffer from human error, not adhering to processing standards and time delays.
Many areas of the business are impacted; i.e., delays in purchase order processing affect production and warehouse management, payment discounts not being fully exploited due to inefficiencies in the accounts payable process impinge on the bottom line, and customer requests that are not completed in a timely manner generally have an effect on day-to-day business. Compliance with new retention requirements have also become an issue.
The result is that using SAP and paper-based processing with little or no automation significantly limits the benefits and business value gained from the system implementation.
Document imaging has emerged as the answer, and digital images are legally accepted for audits of all kinds. Coupled with automated SAP Business Workflow, productivity is almost always immediately increased, and the business process itself is accelerated. For companies using SAP, the return on investment from an integrated solution is significant.
