Document Management’s Place in Digital Transformation

Document management strategies have matured significantly throughout the past several years, driven by other trends in the IT market and the more widespread use of electronic, digitized filing systems in business.

Companies that do not change with the times, embracing digital transformation every step of the way, will be inherently less likely to excel and reach the top of their respective markets, and such adjustments would be impossible without modernized document management.

The systems in place to handle information governance and data management will act as the foundation of corporate IT for the foreseeable future, especially as so many technologies continue to be developed and released with the specific goal of improving accessibility and control.

Two of the more obvious areas of digital transformation that rely heavily upon optimized and digitized document management systems are big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Tricks of the trade

The IoT is still largely in its infancy, but is also growing and diversifying more quickly than many analysts could have ever imagined. Once it truly gains traction and matures in the marketplace, the opportunities it will present to companies from an information access and sharing standpoint will be unfathomable.

Smartwatches and other wearables are already beginning to enter the workplace in high numbers, being used for business purposes.

Leaders will need to ensure that their document and workflow management solutions are prepared to support devices that fall into the IoT, and this begins with understanding which are going to be the most popular.

Gartner recently argued that the service providers and technology vendors reaching the top of the IoT market early include those that fit three core characteristics: innovative, impactful and intriguing.

“Up until now, the results of the digital revolution have been varied. In some cases, such as with IoT, advancements have caused great shifts in both technology and business, while in others, it has caused more struggles to emerge,” Gartner Vice President and Fellow Darryl Plummer explained.

He added, “For example, with all of the new customer data being generated and collected, organizations are striving to find the line between a personalized customer experience and one that customers feel violates their privacy.”

Businesses will likely want to start small and grow their strategies for new gadget implementation with patience, as this will help to mitigate the risk of outages and disruption down the road.

The big data angle

Firms that have not modernized their document management strategies will not be likely to have a strong analytics program in place, and this can be a major oversight given the burgeoning popularity of the technology.

International Data Corporation recently forecast big data investments to increase by roughly 47 percent between last year and 2019, at which point $187 billion will be spent annually around the globe.

“Organizations able to take advantage of the new generation of business analytics solutions can leverage digital transformation to adapt to disruptive changes and to create competitive differentiation in their markets,” Dan Vesset, IDC Analytics and Information Management group vice president, affirmed.

“These organizations don’t just automate existing processes—they treat data and information as they would any valued asset by using a focused approach to extracting and developing the value and utility of information,” he added.

No matter the size of the company, leaders need to focus on optimizing their document management systems and embracing digital transformation as soon as possible.