Many businesses are already feeling the pinch as the cost-of-living crisis worsens. With the substantial rise seen in gas and oil prices, increased energy bills, inflationary pressures and further hikes expected, it’s a worrying time for both individuals and businesses.
For many organisations, data management offers an opportunity to achieve cost savings whilst minimising the impact upon the services a business provides. Reducing costs and improving productivity is something that we are all exploring and continuously working hard to achieve, but in the current climate of uncertainty, these initiatives take on greater importance.
A recession has been on the cards for several months, with the economy growing by just 0.4% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022 and then just 0.2% in Q2, according to the Office for National Statistics.
What’s more, the Bank of England has predicted that the UK will enter a recession in late 2022, expecting to see a decline in the economy, with it set to shrink in every quarter in 2023, which could see little to no economic growth in the UK for the next three years.
So, what does all this have to do with data management?
It’s All About Productivity
Reducing costs and improving productivity is the first step, something we continuously work hard on achieving anyway. But it may be time to consider whether we have been focusing our cost saving ideas into the wrong areas of our business.
Many businesses assume that taking on more tasks internally, and that hiring temporary staff to carry out more tedious tasks rather than implementing new systems will reduce costs, but statistics prove otherwise. With reports showing that on average, a typical worker will spend 1.8 hours a day looking for information, meaning over the course of a week a full working day is spent sifting through records, it’s no wonder more businesses are choosing to outsource their document management processes.
And there’s not just the loss in working hours that is alarming when discussing document management, with increased costs on rent, insurance, utilities, and fuel, having to control the costs of additional space to manage your archiving from can be extensive and unnecessary.
Almost every business is keeping documents they shouldn’t. Once a document reaches the end of its retention cycle, it can be securely shredded safely and legally. So why doesn’t this happen?
Put simply, most businesses don’t know this data is there. Document storage facilities can often be full of “legacy” data. That is, documents produced in a time when the appreciation of the importance of good data governance was lacking.
The two factors above combine to create the conditions for the real problem most businesses face: Productivity.
By reducing the time wasted by staff engaged in less productive activity, as well as the sunk costs of retaining dead files in document storage, businesses can achieve large increases in productivity.
A Digital Future
Reducing headcounts and shredding documents can only get you so far though.
The temptation in a recession is to cut investment and “batten down the hatches”. This can often magnify the problems within business processes and can compound inefficiencies in data management processes.
Outsourcing your document management also allows you to have access to modern storage technologies and expertise without the cost of acquiring hardware, software, and staff, as well as positively impacting the security and compliance of your business.
All this can often be achieved with little capital outlay and is usually scalable as your business grows (or shrinks).
In particular, digitising the most crucial parts of your processes is a great way of becoming more efficient. Scanning documents which have previously been in paper form is an efficient way of handling complex processes and can vastly reduce long-term storage costs.
Document management software and process automation can also drive greater digital benefits across your business, helping you engage with employees, customers and other stakeholders more quickly and efficiently.
In a recession, customer retention becomes very important, and scanning and digitisation of your documents can help improve customer service workflows. After all, retaining and developing your existing customers is much cheaper than attracting new ones.
Brighter Times Ahead
Recessions do end, eventually resulting in economic growth and recovery, which is why it is so important to understand how an economic downturn may affect your company or business now, ensuring it doesn’t become one of the casualties of the next recession, and sees it through to growth and recovery period that will follow.
Investments made in good data management practice will provide a lean framework to allow your business to take advantage when economic growth returns.
If you are ready to discover more ways Chaffinch’s document management, digital transformation and automation solutions can help to save costs and improve productivity in your business, it’s time to get in touch.