Whether you work in financial services or in a law firm, you know that both of these industries are still paper-intensive, with mountains of details and an increasing number of rules and regulations. For either industry, organization and efficiency are essential to locate and process the correct information. This will ensure you meet your clients’ expectations and their satisfaction with your services.
Whether financial services or the practice of law, workflow automation can help you with the heavy lifting for your firm. Automation can reduce manual processes that eat up time and have major effects on your bottom line.
How workflow automation speeds manual processes for financial services and law firms
In the legal profession, workflow automation accelerates and simplifies document processing with Bates stamping, redaction, connectors to document management systems and more. And for financial services institutions, workflow automation allows you and your staff to capture, process and distribute important documents using advanced features such as barcode recognition, advanced optical character recognition (OCR) and others.
The reasons to add workflow automation to your operations are many and varied, based on the size of your firm and your areas of expertise. But overall, they allow you and your staff to:
Focus on higher-value vs. hands-on work throughout your organization
Paperwork involves manual labor. With most offices already short-staffed these days, the workflow automation you put in place can free your people from laborious processes so they can dedicate more time to activities that enhance your strategic growth and innovation – whether it’s balancing the books for your clients or preparing for court. By simplifying day-to-day operations with document processing functions to annotate, rename, watermark and more to your documents, you can drive productivity throughout your organization.
Easily integrate workflow automation with your existing operations
Automation software easily connects to popular document management systems such as Microsoft SharePoint®, OnBase by Hyland, NetDocuments, iManage and more. This integration then easily allows you to scan, index and upload your files to third-party systems directly from your multifunction printers, or streamline entire processes via an automated workflow that can be customized to meet your specific needs. By connecting advanced workflows to your existing processes, you have the flexibility to access and share documents – while also making sure they are secure.
Collaborate better with always-available documentation
Automated workflows facilitate better collaboration by ensuring your documents are available when and where your people need them, whether it’s in the office via your network or at a remote location, such as a client’s office, via the cloud. There’s no more wasted time searching paper files to put your hands on specific documents when you need them. This proves to your clients that your firm is always on point with the information they need, which enhances your abilities to solve problems, as well as your reputation. It also ensures your clients’ satisfaction with your services.
Work smarter by centralizing processes and making them secure
When it comes to indexing business-critical data and information – whether it’s for your firm or your clients – workflow automation provides easy-to-use solutions for invoices, HR forms, contracts and more, and locating them becomes as easy as doing a Google search. Security is enhanced through automation, too. Again, this is where manual processes and paperwork can prove disastrous, as they can open you up to potential data breaches. The sensitive documents that require security can be encrypted and password-protected so only the approved personnel within your firm have access to them. And with the increasing number of laws and regulations that apply to financial and legal information, this enables you to better meet compliance. Plus, as your business needs change, automation also allows you to scale your processes quickly and conveniently.
Reduce the potential for human error, 24/7
Hands-on work with documents increases the chance for mistakes that slow down entire jobs and can be very costly. Many financial services and law firms are also using multiple platforms and applications to track and file documents. Simplify it all and eliminate the risk for errors through automated document indexing and file organization so that your staff members can locate the information they need quickly and easily. By leveraging workflow automation to optimize document indexing, you can also ensure accuracy with automated OCR zonal data extraction, whether you pull information from data fields in an invoice, a tax filing, a client matter or court documents.
When it’s time to automate your workflow, get expert help for successful outcomes
Law firms bill by the hour, so time always equals money. Manual document processes simply slow you down, open you up to mistakes and stretch what is already limited staff. Workflow automation is the answer to making everyone more productive and your firm more profitable. Running at today’s speed of business also requires that your firm develop and implement a mobile management strategy that empowers your team and streamlines your workflows – all customized to your needs.
Examples of the workflows that Konica Minolta can help you automate include client on-boarding, document processing – including annotating, indexing and archiving. They can also help you secure and safeguard your clients’ valuable information with automated redaction, conversion to password-protected PDFs and much more. Konica Minolta’s Dispatcher Phoenix solution empowers customers to take control of the document workflows and automate time consuming and redundant business processes.
We offer document management system services, full IT support for financial institutions and law firms, applications sales and support, and cost-effective technology bundles. Konica Minolta can help you determine which automation solutions, like Dispatcher Phoenix, are right for your organization, along with the security protection you need. We’ve specialized in helping SMBs become more successful and profitable for more than two decades.
To work smarter and more profitably, learn more about how we can help you automate the workflows for your financial services institution or your law firm today.
