Stay Alive With Strategic Planning

By helping to plan your organization's document strategy, you can create a strong future for your in-plant.

Creating a document strategy is a popular topic at seminars and trade shows these days. But what, exactly, is a document strategy? And why should you have one?

Basically, a document strategy defines an organization's method of capturing, storing, managing and distributing documents. It may exist on either a departmental or enterprise-wide basis.

Not having a document strategy presupposes that operations will continue in a linear fashion. Though copying or printing a document and mailing it may be the way things have been done in the past, a glance at the future indicates that additional distribution methods are not far away.

If your organization doesn't have a document strategy, take it upon yourself to help develop one. If your organization is developing a document strategy, get involved in the process. Why? Because it's an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the in-plant's ability to support and promote new distribution technologies.

An in-plant that is not part of a document's distribution path is going to experience a significant decrease in volume and could eventually be outsourced. An in-plant that plays an integral role in drafting and fulfilling a company's document strategy can be expected to not only survive, but to succeed.

Get Customer Feedback

Creating the distribution section of the strategy involves talking to your customers, finding out how they would like to send and receive documents, and helping to design and implement these delivery systems. Since the strategy also covers document capture, storage and management, it represents an opportunity for in-plants to expand their services. Most modern printer platforms support integration of document capture and storage technologies, so many in-plants will already have the tools to take on these additional responsibilities.

Document Capture Capabilities

Many of the documents received by an organization could be more efficiently shared if they were available electronically. During the development of the document strategy, departmental managers can work together to identify the types of documents with the greatest need for electronic access. Some or all of those documents could be routed to an in-plant for scanning.

Some printer platforms already support the ability to store scanned images on electronic servers, in addition to queuing them for immediate print output. If the volume of scanned documents is substantial, an in-plant could consider adding a production-volume scanner to its network. As document production moves from copiers to printers, in-plants can expect to achieve greater operator productivity. Document scanning is an excellent way to utilize excess labor capacity for a task that benefits the entire organization. In the future, many documents will also be scanned decentrally and transmitted to a central network server for access.

Electronic production methods are the first step to electronic distribution. In-plant managers need to quickly become Internet-savvy, since the Net is expected to be one of the predominant pathways for communication in the next decade. In-plants need to make it their business to understand the needs of Internet viewers and learn how to design documents specifically for the Web.

You might want to hire a Web consultant to train your staff or perhaps create a part-time position for a college student who is Net-smart.

Universal Format

Universal access demands a universal format, which is adeptly handled by Adobe's portable document format (PDF). In-plants need to champion the case for PDF within the organization because this format facilitates the sharing of documents. First, it allows users with different computing platforms and application programs to view each others' files. PDF also preserves the appearance of the document while permitting widespread circulation on electronic formats, like intranets and the Internet, as well as paper and CDs.

In-plants can add value to their organizations in the future by correctly managing these document distribution options. A marketing manager, for example, might request 10,000 sales sheets for a new product. An in-plant manager might recommend instead that a PDF file be posted on the organization's Web page and that 2,000 handouts be printed on demand. Recommendations like this can save companies thousands of dollars a year.

While PDF is still in its infancy, third-party applications programs that help in-plants manage production and distribution of documents are already available. One program allows in-plants to make last-minute corrections to a PDF file by editing individual text or graphics, while preserving the format. Another allows in-plants to distribute PDF documents over an intranet or Internet using a Web-based browser.

Expanded Role

The in-plant has traditionally been the last department to touch a document before it goes to a customer or prospect. In-plants can expand their role to include more detailed research on which formats customers prefer and which aspects of a document's appearance or content motivate the customer to take action. In the past, this type of research was a gargantuan effort undertaken by specialized departments. Today, the Internet makes it possible to quickly view documents created by others and collect and monitor access to your own documents as well.

In-plants can, for example, place a sniffer on the web that downloads documents that meet defined requirements. Most in-plants will want to monitor documents posted by competing organizations as well as non-competing companies that share the same consumer market. In-plant managers can use these documents to query customers, uncover their likes and dislikes and incorporate desired trends into their company's document strategy.

Companies with document strategies report that their plan guides capital investments, system and process integration, and intranet and Internet participation. Decisions in each of these areas affect in-plant operations, either directly or indirectly.

You wouldn't drive in an unfamiliar city without a map or directions. A document strategy is the map to successful document management. In-plants can ensure that they retain their vital role in the process of document production and distribution by acting as the mapmakers.

Richard A. Quinn is manager, marketing communications for Danka/Americas. He is a Certified Electronic Document and Printing Professional (EDPP) and past chairman of Xplor International's Document Strategies Conference.

An in-plant that plays an integral role in drafting and fulfilling a company's document strategy can be expected to not only survive, but to succeed.