The tangible benefits of ECM

White Electrical Construction Company wanted to replace a paper-based accounting system that was impairing productivity and reliable services. For decades, the firm, which has 500 employees and $65 million in annual revenue, had managed its accounting documents and other important information on paper, leading to long retrieval times and overflowing storage.

Accounting supervisor Fern Evans says, "Storage was not a pretty place. Boxes were labeled, but they were stacked to the ceiling … Retrieving files became the office punishment."

IT director Brien Abbott adds, "The amount of archived paperwork was phenomenal. And the amount of labor needed to go through it was incredible."

When a branch office flooded in 2005, CFO Marshall Combs knew it was time for the company to implement an electronic solution that would provide rapid information access and built-in disaster recovery. White Electrical ultimately chose PaperVision Enterprise from Digitech Systems as its enterprise content management (ECM) system. The company chose the solution for a number of reasons, including ease of implementation, scalability and integration capabilities, according to a report from Digitech Systems.

Evans says, "We quickly implemented it for the accounts receivable and HR departments, and we will keep going until we get every department on board."According to Digitech Systems, its solution has led to the following benefits at White Electrical:

• $80,000 in savings on paper handling,
• 1,600 hours of productivity regained annually,
• paper storage space reduction of 60 percent,
• proven disaster relief, and
• remote information access for branch offices.