Digital Transformation guide for growing your business: workflows

What is Digital Transformation? It is a process, first of all cultural and technological, in which essentially work flows and environments are transformed to improve the efficiency and productivity of Companies.

“It is time for SMEs to invest in innovative technologies and solutions to increase business productivity and meet the new demands of the business world.” Brother.it

Digital Transformation basically answers these 2 questions:

1. 1. How to improve the way of working within SMEs?
   2. How to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving the desired results?

Digital Transformation allied to your Business

Digital Transformation acts by directing professional dynamics and people’s lifestyles toward better management of experience, operational efficiency, customer experience, and product and service innovation through technologies that address workflow in its entirety, cloud, data security, analytics, and sustainability.

A trend that, by now, dominates and influences everyone’s lives; from Machine Learning toArtificial Intelligence to the issue of Data Management and Cybersecurity, the ongoing transformation affects the entire society and politics, in a world dominated by digital.

Knowing the phenomenon means equipping oneself with the appropriate tools for change, those that can provide employees, customers/users with the ideal environment to achieve the appropriate Business results.

That’s why if you haven’t already done so, you should start rethinking your Business in terms of Digital Transformation.

Learn about the technologies at the heart of Digital innovation

The Report

A recent Report conducted by Brother together with Savanta, highlighted how Digital Transformation is now the coefficient of the economic and social turn of the 21st century, through the adjustment of business technologies and the mindset associated with work.

How the Report was made

The Brother report was based on 893 online surveys with business and IT decision makers working in SMEs with between 10 and 499 employees in several Western European markets.

Field research was conducted in 2019 and early 2020. The surveys were equally divided between business decision makers (448) and business IT decision makers (445) both at the strategic level.

Sectors surveyed: Health care-Retail sales-Logistics-Hotel, restaurant and hospitality enterprises-Transportation and storage-Professional services-Production-Financial services-Education-51 Construction and additional surveys were conducted in other sectors, including energy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, defense, property and real estate, sports and entertainment.

Keyword: digital workflow management

A fundamental prerequisite for a complete transformation of professional activity aimed at obtaining satisfactory, competitive results in line with the needs expressed by the modern market is the management of digital workflows.

Brother’s 4 detailed reports guide us in discovering the opportunities and importance of becoming part of the ongoing Digital Transformation, in the first instance through transforming (and improving) workflows.

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Digital Workflows to Improve Your Company’s Dynamics

The goal of every company for achieving the results projected at the beginning of the year is to become increasingly efficient and consequently, achieve greater profitability.

Workflow management is at the heart of the efficiency issue, as much of SMEs’ obstacles stem from the latter.

Through best practices, case studies, and knowledge of appropriate technologies, you will discover how to streamline bureaucratic activities that slow down business processes and gain competitive advantages with the right investments.

• Discover operational rental to get the technologies for your business with a small, scalable monthly payment.

In fact, the Report found that “a high percentage of SMEs face digital technology issues that hinder the achievement of their business goals.”

Top 5 obstacles in business priorities:

1. Difficulty keeping up to date with current norms (62%);
2. Difficulty in ensuring data security (65%);
3. Manual Processes to be Digitized (66%);
4. Loss of time due to duplication of work between systems (63%);
5. Lack of necessary skills within the Company (64%).

Italy and Digital Transformation: key process for 2/3 of Companies

In Italy, 68 percent, about two-thirds, of companies say they have digitized their workflows, losing sight, however, of the true potential of digitization: slow and inefficient document sorting and scanning.

Documents also include medical records, legal documents, and mail, which are often sorted manually and which Companies would like to have sorted automatically.

Sixty percent of companies waste time on administrative tasks such as “capturing, identifying and storing data that could be automated with smart solutions in the workplace”; solutions that, for 65 percent of Enterprises, would make it easier to work on multiple systems, on which, in fact, duplicate efforts.

A real obstacle to the growth of corporate profits and productivity.

Smart solutions for Digital Transformation: the “all-purpose” printers

Making workflows smarter, smoother and faster is possible with some technologies such as multifunction printers and scanners that integrate:

• Complete customization of the visual layout on the touchscreen of the device;
• Adding custom backgrounds and icons for branding and identification;
• Creation of tailored workflows, including customized “scan-to” destinations.

This is possible thanks to solutions that contemplate in a single application 4 Fundamental technologies for SMEs such as:

1. Automatic identification and storage of scanned documents;
2. Introduction of automated rule-based scenarios (e.g., executions based on the occurrence of conditions) that can be continuously improved through Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence;
3. Character recognition of scanned text to create editable files;
4. Integrated systems developed by third parties such as digital assistants.

• Do you want to know more? Contact us to request free expert advice and immediately improve workflows with better printing technologies.

What SMEs want to invest in: to recap.

The goal of all SMEs surveyed is to speed up workflows through automated rules that offer, for example, automatic identification and storage of scanned documents.

This is made possible by Machine Learning and artificial intelligence acting through character recognition and digital assistants.

The Custom UI, essential for optimizing workflows

Brother develops the Custom UI a control tool (in Italian) that makes it quick and easy to customize the touchscreen control panel of Brother multifunction printers and scanners.

What does the Custom UI do

Improve workflow, reduce errors and speed up printing and scanning procedures with the dedicated touchscreen panel customization solution.

4 Case Studies of Digital Transformation

1. Efficiency of Post with Simplified Workflow.

Problem: The need of a postal and mail forwarding company was to increase operational speed.

Solution: UsingBrother’s customized interface , the company was able to pre-configure an automatic sending system for scanned documents, leading it to increased revenue due to greater efficiency.

2. Case Study: simplification and customization of the Workflow.

Problem: A public agency needed to streamline workflow and improve user productivity.

Solution: With a user-friendly solution based on the Custom UI, it was possible to automatically process any document within the workflow according to business needs.

3. Case study: saving money through automation

Problem: A transportation company’s need was to link its logistics documentation with SAP software by allowing each document to be connected to a specific process.

Solution: With Brother’s Barcode Utility, the company simplified the process to the point of saving up to 15000 euros a year in logistics costs.

4. Case study: maximum efficiency in production

Problem: Backlog of accumulated work and wasted time of a manufacturing company lacking an efficient system to scan work sheets.

Solution: With the Brother ADS -2800W wireless desktop scanner integrated with Barcode Utility software, the process has become faster, more accurate and efficient.

Results that led to the company having a faster ROI (Return on Investment), immediate savings of two working days per month, and a much more streamlined workflow.

What is possible with the Barcode Utility

The Barcode Utility is a technology that enables:

• Address scanned data to relevant organizational folders and processes;
• Renaming files automatically using the information in the barcode;
• Automatically save scanned documents in a structured archive.

How technology is changing the way we work

Among the most significant innovations related to the current way of working is character recognition. The latter enables multifunction printers and scanners to generate editable scans that staff can easily act on.

This reduces duplication of work activities while increasing productivity.

Among the most issue-sensitive professions are those in the health care and legal sectors with about two-thirds investing in these technologies and 56 percent of the entire business landscape planning to do so in the near future.

The actors at play in workflow optimization: AI and Machine Learning

Technologies integrated into the printing process and workflow optimization include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.

These are emerging fields of innovation that directly support the automatic identification and storage of scanned documents.

Underlying this is IFTTT (If This Then That: executions based on the occurrence of conditions) technology that enables all applications to connect with each other by automating manual processes in Enterprises.

Machine Learning is integrated with digital assistants, which offer practical help in optimizing workflows with intuitive solutions based on helpful instructions and suggestions on actions to be taken at the appropriate time.

These are solutions that allow you to focus on the productive part of your work, simplifying and speeding up processes, and are increasingly used by companies that want to stay ahead of the curve.

• Do you want to quickly get perfect solutions for your Company? Contact us for a free consultation.
• Also find out how to get the right technologies with unique savings through operational rental.

Once upon a time, manual scanning…

A thing of the past, or nearly so, since with evolving workplaces and smart printing systems, cutting-edge companies are adopting the most efficient solutions to digitize workflows.

The main aspects of the issue are twofold: having the right technology available and personnel trained in this regard who know how to properly use all applications and related devices.

Workflows for remote staff

On average, the 30% of the staff employed in SMEs today work remotely; a trend that will not drop by much, since it is a mode that has brought several advantages: from saving money to the possibility for companies to hire talent that would otherwise be excluded from the selection process.

Benefits also include less absenteeism among employees and more free time, but these are compromised by the lack of technology solutions suited to the new work reality.

These are issues that cause the loss of valuable time otherwise spent more productively.

In the face of these failures, based on the interviews conducted with SMEs, it appears that some of the workers find themselves forced to resort to alternative solutions to get the job done, jeopardizing company security.

That is why it is critical for Enterprises to equip themselves with high-performance printing, scanning and data storage systems, enabling their employees to access printing devices wherever they are and ensuring high standards of security.

• Participate immediately in the change. Request the right technologies and know-how for your Company.

Printing issues at the heart of workflows

As mentioned above, not to be underestimated, indeed a central component of workflows are the issues involved in printing. In fact, 94 percent of companies reported a negative impact on the company’s operations precisely because of printing and scanning issues, especially with regard to remote work.

Eight out of 10 SMEs say they have difficulty connecting personal devices to corporate printers, but not only that.

43% find it difficult to perform or access printing and scanning tasks away from the office, 40% are unable to print from their mobile device.

How to solve printing problems with the “At your side” approach

Today’s approach to the printing issues underlying workflows are supported with “At your side,” strategies such as that of the Brother Group, with which Fastbrain Engineering Srl is a Certified Commercial Partner.

A partnership that allows us to:

• Helping our Clients find the solutions that best meet their needs;
• Resell Brother products as reliably as possible;
• Offer expertise and advice on all products and customized solutions.

Experience in solving the problems of clients who want to perfect the path inherent in Digital Transformation are the strengths from which we start to assist SMEs with:

• Scalable solutions set to the concrete needs of companies, from the smallest to the largest;
• Simple and advantageous business arrangements with minimal bureaucracy, assistance and guarantee
• Strategic consulting for optimization of printing infrastructure and environmental adaptation (e.g., offices, smart working, warehouses, stores, logistics, etc.).
• Learn about the Operational Rental formula.
• Contact us now and improve your company’s workflows.

Document management what it is

The premise is that manual processes, along with duplication of activities, as highlighted by the Brother – Savanta Report, result in large losses of employee time, slowing down workflows and business profitability.

For this reason, it is essential to solve this with an intelligent printing system that can automate printing processes, through a document management system , while also offering excellent performance remotely in terms of speed, simplicity and print quality.

Smart printing to optimize workflows

One aspect that has been and still is in the spotlight, in the midst of the Covid -19 pandemic, that of equipping oneself with more efficient and “smarter” printing systems.

Smart working, which is no longer a novelty but a commonly accepted and practiced way of working, needs technologies that are equally “smart,” intelligent, that is, capable of making workflows fluid and efficient; this is possible with optical character recognition and the use of artificial intelligence to scan and store documents.

Today’s printing solutions are 100% connected to the Internet, working in synergy with all the players at hand: from AI, as mentioned, to Machine Learning, to enterprise data security, ensuring process sustainability and productivity maximization, also very important aspects to grow the SME Business we are going to to elaborate in future articles.

Renew your SME's technologies now and make it competitive again