Paper still rules business processes despite ERP

Serious business process inefficiencies still remain in most large companies, in spite of a decade of large scale ERP investments supposed to streamline them, according to a survey of financial directors. A full 72% of FDs with comprehensive ERP systems admitted that many of their core business processes were heavily paper-intensive. Half also agreed that many of these, such as accounts payable, accounts receivable and credit control, remain far too labour-intensive. And 30% complained that they still spend too much time on low-value operational activities. Astonishingly, lowering transaction processing costs is still seen as a key priority by around 60% of companies for the next 12 to 18 months. Where have you heard that before? And, a further 38% also highlight printing and postage as significant costs they want to see cut. The survey was conducted among 50 finance directors for electronic document management firm Macro-4. Its findings are clear: most ERP systems have still failed to stem the tide of paper. Although a perhaps surprisingly high number (86%) say their ERP investments have significantly improved productivity, they also say it’s happened at the expense of documentation that has to be managed by business users. Lynda Kershaw, marketing manager at Macro 4, reckonbs the conclusions are obvious. “Both paper and electronic documents remain an essential part of virtually all business processes. Companies should consider document management and delivery as an integral part of their ERP strategy, otherwise the efficiency gains from their ERP investments are likely to fall short of their full potential.” She gives the example of a simple delivery note, which might drive many different business processes. “If the document goes astray at any point it could have significant business repercussions – just imagine the chaos if a delivery note fails to print at the warehouse, and lorries are backed up, unable to make a delivery. Or if there’s a payment dispute, and the credit control department can’t locate the signed delivery note. “These types of problems can only be avoided if all documents are tightly controlled, tracked and managed throughout the business process,” she says.