Capture and automated-workflow technologies are improving the payment process cycle by 50%, according to the Institute of Financial Operations. Here's how to go paper-free across the business, save money and boost productivity.

1. FIVE PAPER CUTS
FOR FINANCE…
…and six other places to tidy up the
paper trail across your organisation

2. Despite the ready availability of
simple scan-based processes,
such as employee expense
claims, 23% of organisations still
have no paper-free processes...
ASSOCIATION FOR INFORMATION
AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT (AIIM)

3. HOW AUTOMATION HELPS
THE FINANCE FUNCTION
– AND THE REST OF THE
ORGANISATION…
• Finance
• Reception and mailroom
• Marketing/
customer service
• Operations
• Management/
workforce
• HR
• Logistics/
supply chain

4. BETTER
FINANCE
PROCESSES
Information and
process visibility
• Get an end-to-end view of workflows
and approvals
• Find and fix the sticking points
- Rekeying documents
- Manual signatures
- Paper storage – time lost looking for documents
• Getting information flowing smoothly
- Share documents easily
- Enforce version control
- Simplify approvals – who’s holding things up?

5. 70% of organisations
struggle to find
supporting
documentation…
AIIM

6. BETTER FINANCE
PROCESSES
Accounts Receivable
• Faster payment cycle
• Fewer bad debts
• Invoice creation – create
invoices faster than ever
• Automate e-distribution
– reduce billing errors
• Reduce filing and storage

7. Capture and automated-
workflow technologies
are improving the payment
process cycle by 50%...
INSTITUTE OF FINANCIAL OPERATIONS

8. BETTER
FINANCE
PROCESSES
Purchase-to-Pay
• Cut invoice processing times
• Alerts for errors and inconsistencies
- Avoid over/under payment
• Reduce late payment penalties
• Avoid costly invoice disputes
• Better visibility of penalties
and discounts
• Easier cashflow management
• Mobile payment approvals

9. 75% of Finance
departments input invoice
line items manually into
the ERP system…
RS CONSULTING/CANON EUROPE

10. BETTER
FINANCE
PROCESSES
Compliance
• Protecting confidential documents
- Prevent opening/copying by
unauthorised users
• Secure storage, in line with
regulatory requirements
• Audit trails
- Replace complex paper processes with
quick, efficient digital audit trails, visible
from end to end
• Rapid archiving and retrieval
• Lower costs of compliance

11. 60% of companies say that
with digital mailroom,
mail traceability and
compliance is much better…
AIIM

12. BETTER FINANCE
PROCESSES
Archiving/storage
• Add indexes to documents for full-text
and meta-data search
• Assign access rights to view, edit, print
or distribute information
• Reduce costs by storing documents
electronically

13. Something has to be done
about content accumulation.
For 29% of organisations, the
response to the information
deluge is ‘buy more discs’…
AIIM

14. SIX OTHER
PLACES TO
TIDY UP THE
PAPER TRAIL

15. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
In the mailroom and
at reception
• Better management and sharing
of information
• Fast scanning of letters, invoices,
and other documents
• Route them faster to the right people
• Automate entry of digital documents
into different systems

16. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
In marketing and
customer service
• Scan paper forms and automate entry
of digital forms
• Automate customer onboarding –
registrations, membership applications,
contracts, pricelists
• Improve response times to increase
customer satisfaction
• Print and despatch high-quality
customer communications in-house

17. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
In operations
• Automate information flows
• Better productivity
• Accelerate request and
approval workflows
• Reduce floor space wasted on
paper storage
• Find things faster

18. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
Among management
and the workforce
• Consolidate and centralise storage and
access to documents
• Timely, accurate management reports
• Better collaboration and file sharing

19. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
In HR
• Scan and archive policies,
contracts, holiday forms,
sickness forms
• Find them again easily
• Cut down manual entry
and processing
• Secure storage of
confidential documents
• Reduced paper storage

20. WHERE
ELSE TO
LOOK
In logistics and in
the supply chain
• Scan and store delivery notes,
despatch notes, returns documents
• Faster updates and status reports
• Store less paper, spend less time
searching and auditing
• More time on the road, less time
filling forms

21. WHAT TO
DO NEXT
canon.co.uk/for_work
Speak to Melanie Willis on 01235 433 493
or email melanie.willis@cuk.canon.co.uk