Process Improvement Blog

There's a big scary word in the accounting world, that usually results in allocating resources and lost time - audit.

CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 12, 2015 -- After reviewing months of market feedback and working though the design iterations, iDatix has released the most recent version of their signature document management and workflow automation software.

Small businesses often get the short end of the stick compared to their big business counterparts. What they don’t have in bargaining power and influence they make up for in agility—but being better able to duck and dodge amidst shifting economies, new technologies and endless industry stop-and-go doesn’t pay the bills. And getting paid on invoices—quickly and reliably—is key to every small...

The work that goes into manufacturing even the simplest of products is a mystery to most people. The fact that a can opener is on the store shelf when they need it is good enough. But industry insiders know more.

Executive strategy meetings, boardroom presentations and quarterly investor calls aren’t always on the “looking forward to” list for top-level management. These front line execs bear an incredible burden for making the kinds of decisions that can greatly impact employee performance, revenue, financial markets and more.  That said, a green light for building an AP automation system isn’t given...

When people hear the concept, “Accounts Payable Automation” they take it either one of two ways: they understand its depth and complexity completely, or the phrase vaguely references “that expensive thing the big companies just started doing” or “that option for businesses without a proven accounts payable process already nailed down.”

Ever anticipate paying full price at the register only to be informed the item is on sale? Ever reached into a cereal box and pull out two prizes instead of one? Making future-proof business decisions isn’t easy. The end-goal is finding at least the one prize you expect. The obvious prize for investing in document management technology is a reduction in paper and associated costs. A plus you...

Just a quick browse of the latest top ten lists, LinkedIn user stories and employee relations headlines and today’s employee expectations become very clear. Aside from the usual bit about money, power and fame, employees lean heavily towards jobs that can satisfy their own sense of self and reflect their core values.

Beginning a business on day 1 with the perfect business process in place is an impossible task. Though best practices approaches can provide a good framework, processes are often defined and redefined by trial and error, the passing of time and the introduction of new business theory and technologies. As you have experienced or can imagine, things can get a little messy in terms of manually...

One mandate on every budget-conscious business’ collective mind is: get more done by spending less. In short, these businesses strive to be more productive and get more return on their investments without incurring additional debt like adding extra employees to manage an increasing workload, paying overtime or spending inordinate amounts of time in efficiency meetings. Is this really...

Service with a smile, hot coffee and the occasional lollipop for the kiddos was once considered the height of creating a good customer experience in the banking industry. The banking process itself—the lines, the forms, the back-and-forth of showing ID and signing names was accepted as sometimes arduous but necessary. Technology, however, has impacted the ease and speed at which business is...

Tracking a purchase order, managing inventory or maintaining a list of lender rates isn’t terribly hard to do when it is approached in an organized fashion and kept up with consistency. But what happens when that purchase order, SKU number or lender rate is only part of a larger, more complicated business-critical document? It would be a labor-intensive, ineffective effort to manage, process...

Regardless of the size of your company or how you structure your accounts payable department (a team, a bookkeeper, an individual company owner), the following two guiding principles for establishing successful accounts payable (AP) processes are universal:

We have long relied on paper documents to understand the world before our time.  Cultures, world events, even our own family lineages can be understood and examined as if they were happening right in front of us because of the ability to record ideas, events and entire world histories onto everything from early fibers to today’s modern paper choices. 

Twenty years ago, customer retention strategies in the insurance business included doing fairly simple things like sending holiday cards or tucking a customer survey into an invoice. Fast forward five years and you were ahead of the game if you used email to make these same connections (bonus if you could personalize these engagements in any way). Today, improving customer loyalty and market...

As of February 2015, there were 784,626 healthcare providers in United States^*. That’s a lot of tongue depressors and cotton swabs—not to mention all the paperwork! From pharmaceutical inventory and lead lists, to patient records and vital signs, there’s an enormous amount of data walking through and within those doors. Healthcare providers much like other industry operators, struggle to...

The pace and complexity of today’s manufacturing processes makes Henry Ford’s automobile factory floor looks like child’s play. While today’s production metrics are measured in milliseconds, his assembly workers lined up and waited on a crude system of ropes and winches to pull the next Model-T across the line. Ford’s operation certainly wouldn’t win any awards for efficiency compared to...

One look at a post from CNN Money’s "500-page mortgage applications are the new normal" is a reminder that things aren’t how they used to be in the mortgage industry. Sure, there was always a lot of paperwork, but 500 pages? Even loans requiring considerably less paperwork still rely on the efforts of multiple people successfully completing multiple processes for a loan to be closed. Every...

No one has an eye on money more than those in the financial industry, regardless of whether they are an executive or someone who plays a supporting role.  Watch insurance rates flip direction or the Dow drop ten points, and the industry is suddenly abuzz with adjustment.

The Wall Street Journal called Discovery’s Science Channel series How it’s Made “TV’s quietest hit.” And it’s no wonder. For those who have never walked a manufacturing floor, a behind-the-scenes look at the production of everything from exotic cars and computer parts to baseball bats and chewing gum is both incredulous and intriguing.  If you’ve taken part in the manufacturing process, you...

Within the insurance world, the term “risk” gets thrown around daily. In fact, the industry itself is comprised of a complicated web of professionals with titles like risk manager, risk analyst and others whose job it is to financially protect people, businesses and property against loss while keeping their own “exposure” to these risks as low as possible for the best financial outcomes.

Watch any pre-1980s era movie or show and inevitably you’ll hear a detective, an advertising executive, or a doctor saying with much authority: “bring me the file on Smith” (or whatever name given to the criminal, company or patient).

Automation is a wonderful thing.  Waking up to a fresh brewed pot of coffee, for example, comes to mind. Automation makes things easier and faster by removing the human element from a repetitive, mundane task or process - while the coffee pot is brewing coffee for you, what else could you being doing with that time? 

We’ve all found ourselves staring at a new employee packet at least once in our careers. Depending on the size and organization of the company, it may have consisted of several stapled sheets of paper (a welcome letter and a list of internal resources with a W-9 thrown in) or an impressive binder with everything from branding guidelines and the latest quarterly magazine to a full-color...

Everyone involved in the purchase of a home knows that seeing a mortgage loan through to the finish line feels more like a marathon than a sprint. The sheer number of individuals and institutions that participate in the process makes it very complicated and time-consuming. But with today’s technology, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 6 steps lenders can take to simplify and speed up...