Almost a third of chief financial officers in Ireland have said that improving the quality of information management is a key business challenge between now and the end of 2007, according to recent research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
In addition, findings from the enterprise content management (ECM) association AIIM show that 40pc of end users considered their return on investment in document management and forms-scanning projects as “better” or “much better” than other IT investments. A further 47pc considered returns to be consistent with other projects.
“As organisations develop their ECM strategy to gain control of document processes, they find that significant amounts of paper are still swimming around,” commented John Mancini, president of AIIM. “Capturing these documents and forms to digital and re-engineering the subsequent processes is producing significant productivity improvements, with the added bonus of ongoing control of records for compliance.”
Ciaran Kelly, a partner with PwC, added that investments in information management need to translate into improved organisational performance, better strategic decision making and assist in the provision of enhanced customer service. “Effective information management projects are as much about managing the ‘people’ or ‘change’ element as they are about the technology,” he said. “Business leaders need to recognise this if they are to execute information management projects successfully.”
To dovetail with these issues, AIIM has announced that the theme of this year’s Info Ireland event will be ‘unravelling document processes’. The conference, which will take place at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel on 12 and 13 September, is organised by AIIM in association with PwC. The event will include keynote presentations, roundtable workshops and case studies as well as an exhibition.
Speakers at the event include: Cecil Ryan, DMK Services; Gerry Walker, Central Statistics Office; Paul Lavery, McCann FitzGerald; Ciaran Kelly and Justin Scanlan, PwC. Roundtable discussions are set to cover areas such as formulating a business case, developing an information management strategy, how to link information management to improved customer service and a business process view of document management. More details and registration can be located at www.infoireland.net.
By Gordon Smith
