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36
The automated
movement of
information
helps to
develop
trust among
employees
and make such
practices a
habit
DNB, Norway’s largest financial-
services group, provides investment,
banking, asset management and
leasing services to private individuals
and business clients in 19 countries.
Our remit in the Quality and Process
Management Department is to oversee
improvements to the efficiency of
operational processes and to ensure high
quality information management with
minimal consumption of time and paper.
These goals are definitely not easy
or quickly achievable, but the results are
worth the effort – helping DNB to save
thousands of euros and staff to spend less
time managing documents and more time
serving customers.
It is more than 10 years since we
implemented a DocLogix document and
process management system and in that
time our investment has yielded a return
on investment (ROI) of not hundreds but
thousands of per cent.
So far, each euro invested in the system
has produced a return of
€
57 from time
saved on operational processes (automation
and optimisation) and a reduction in the
direct costs of printing and paper.
Below, I share some observations
that I hope will encourage those who are
considering acquiring a document and
process management system to take their
first steps.
1
Make clever investments and put
your purchases to work
Investing in IT solutions that help simplify
information and document management
is a standard practice in most companies.
However, without further actions, installing
a solution is a dead end. You do not
grow muscles by simply purchasing costly
training equipment. Tangible benefits
become visible when you make the system
work at its optimal level by adapting it to
the needs of your company and transferring
document and information management
processes from paper to the system. This
can be achieved only if people commit to
it. Do not expect the system to break even
straightaway: it will take a few years, but
the return on investment will be higher if
you can first identify the processes that
consume the most time and paper, and only
then integrate them into the system.
2
Use of the system: managed by
one for the benefit of many
To improve processes must be the goal
not just of one division or project but of
everybody within an organisation. Making it
part of an enterprise’s global and strategic
approach towards operations is the best
way to involve staff. Appointing a person
or division to take responsibility for these
matters is essential for a successful outcome,
because then everyone will know who to
contact and whose duty it is to assess the
benefits of any initiative.
3
An independently configured
system means freedom of action
You will need the help of a specialist (or
even an entire team) to make optimal
use of the system. We have installed a
platform with extensive opportunities
for configuration, making us almost
independent of the system manufacturer.
All we require is occasional consultations
to help us in the development of complex
processes. The main purpose of all these
changes is to establish a system that can
‘think’ in place of the user. Doing this
presents a major challenge, but, speaking
from my own experience, I can assure you
that it is definitely achievable.
4
Start small, but don’t stop there
Small steps are a perfect way to move
forward. We started by automating several
processes at a time, generally the least
popular ones in the organisation. Once
they were systematised, we were able to
show clear benefits to users and win their
trust, thus preparing ourselves for the
next step. After processes are integrated
into the system, your staff will quickly feel
the benefits. The automated movement of
information helps to develop trust among
employees and make such practices a habit.
Process management:
clever investment returns millions
5
Benefits are not emotions,
but facts
If you wish to change the attitudes of staff,
good intentions alone will not suffice.
Instead, you need concrete facts to motivate
employees to move forward and discover
other possibilities that the system offers.
To see improvements, you need to measure
your situation prior to the document
managed system implementation and
process automation. For a simple example,
consider the business trip documentation
process we have integrated with our
DocLogix system.
The tables to the left and above show
that doing this has cut the process time
from 8 hours to 6 minutes. To calculate the
financial benefits, the net working time an
employee saved during this process needs
to be counted. In this case, the net working
time was reduced from 16 to 6 minutes,
representing a saving of 10 minutes of one
employee’s working time. As the business
trip documentation process is repeated
3,800 times a year, this adds up to a
total saving of 633 working hours, or 79
business days. Add in costs for paper and
administration, and total savings come to
€
13,000 every year – from automating
just one process. Clearly, the more
processes you can automate, the greater
the financial benefit.
Steps in the business-trip
documentation process
Before
After
Application
2 mins
1 min
Transfer
2 h
–
Approval
2 mins
1 min
Transfer
2 h
–
Registration in staff department
2 mins
1 min
Archiving
2 mins
–
Expense substantiation
2 mins
1 min
Transfer
2 h
–
Management of accounting records
2 mins
2 mins
Archiving
2 mins
–
Search
2 h
2 mins
Total working time
16 mins
6 mins
Total duration
8 h
6 mins
Jurgita Juskeviciene offers advice to organisations planning to invest in a document and process management system,
based on her experience at DNB, where each euro invested in its system has produced a return of
€
57.
˙
ˆ
ˆ
Jurgita Juskeviciene,
Head of the Quality &
Process Management
Department,
DNB Bank
˙
ˆ
ˆ
