Back in 2006, the mathematician, Clive Humby, made the observation, “Data is the new oil[1],” thus spawning a seemingly endless debate, which should have been considered settled when the Economist observed in 2017 that data has overtaken oil as the world’s most valuable resource.[2] But what Humby said next has never been disputed. Like oil, he pointed out, data must be refined in order to be made useful. Specifically, Humby was referring to data “analysis,” although it seems unlikely he meant to exclude the other forms of refinement that together comprise what we now know as “Enterprise Information Management” (EIM).

Here’s a round-up of some of those “refinements” that can help turn your data into the Digital Age-equivalent of “black gold”:

Data unification

Data comes in many forms, but most falls into the categories of structured versus unstructured data. Structured data is highly organized into discrete fields and is easily recognized, digested, searched, and otherwise utilized by machines. Unstructured data, which refers to information that doesn’t exist in machine-ready form, is pretty much everything else (think: photos, handwriting, social media, the contents of emails). Unifying data that currently exists in multiple forms is critical to EIM. One way we accomplish this at Exela is through cognitive automation, including RPA (robotic process automation), which helps reduce error and otherwise streamlines the process, and which we invite you to read about here in the context of billing and receivables and here in the context of legal discovery

Data centralization

Data silos are separate sets of data that aren’t integrated enterprise-wide. Sometimes the result of legacy IT systems or pre-existing corporate culture predating the adoption of EIM, silos are a common obstacle to effective data management, resulting in internal inconsistencies, redundancies, and other inefficiencies. Although limited segmentation of information may be called for in certain circumstances, enabling a common information source for the enterprise is a far more useful starting point. For example, a “single source of truth” can be critical to accurate and effective financial reporting. In sales and marketing, that “single source” can mean the difference between your customers receiving the same communication once versus multiple times.

Federated Search

In those cases where a central data hub is either not possible, not desirable, or not required, it may nevertheless make good sense to adopt federated search capabilities for easy information retrieval. Federated search allows for information in disparate systems to be pulled via a single query. Here’s an example of how and why federated search can streamline your company’s compliance with KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations.

Data analytics

Analytics and modeling engines can extract deep insights from your data sets, enabling you to discover patterns, identify correlating factors, and utilize predictive modeling to anticipate future trends. Imagine, for example, a hospital emergency room that used patient-traffic analytics to predict which times of the week, and which times of day, require heavier staffing. Or what if your information were “assetized” to the point where you received automated triggers on an integrated dashboard to notify you that it’s time to make an equipment lease payment or time to file a required regulatory disclosure.

Data visualization

Even the most insightful data analysis loses its worth if the critical information uncovered can’t be displayed in a way that people can understand. Integrated visualization tools are an aspect of EIM that permit users to easily create intuitive charts, reports, and other comparative visualizations.

Quality control

What’s the value of data that isn’t accurate? Rhetorical question, of course. A comprehensive EIM program requires quality controls to sustain data fidelity and usability. As with data unification and other aspects of EIM, the use of cognitive automation can reduce error and streamline the process.

Ultimately, there’s a harsh truth at work here, which is that just like digital transformation, implementing EIM isn’t really an option so much as a mandate. But like digital transformation, implementing EIM need not overwhelm your business’s resources, particularly if you enlist the help of the right technology partner—one who’s experienced at “refining” data for enterprises of your size in your industry and is committed to guiding through the process of defining and executing your overall data strategy.

Stay tuned for future installments in our EIM series, including Best Practices for Implementing EIM.

[1]https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/7/data-science-data-can-be-toxic

[2]https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data

Information is in abundance, and it’s only becoming more so. The availability of information presents opportunities to create new value and optimize experience for both customers and employees. But leveraging information as an asset presents challenges and risks, including:

• The sheer volume at which data, and especially unstructured (data not easily parsed by basic algorithms) is entering organizations, which volume is only accelerating
• Inconsistent data sources
• Data duplication
• Data inaccuracy, including data that was, at one time, accurate, but no longer is
• Data content inconsistencies
• Data security
• Data privacy
• Compliance with global regulations and industry standards.

The good news is these challenges and risks can be met via “Enterprise Information Management” (EIM), which is also known as “Enterprise Data Management” and “Master Data Management.” EIM is an aspect of Information Governance (IG), which is also known as Data Governance and refers to a business’s overarching policy for handling all information in any form, received from any source or generated by the enterprise, with the end game being the optimization of that information (i.e. maximizing value while mitigating risk associated with the information). You can learn more about IG here.

How is EIM different from IG?

IG addresses an enterprise’s overarching policies and strategies with regard to information. EIM addresses how those policies and strategies are carried out within the enterprise.

So what is EIM?

EIM is an integrative discipline for structuring, describing, and governing information assets across organizational and technological boundaries to improve efficiency, promote transparency and enable business insight. In other words, it’s not any one thing, and it can’t be achieved through the “plugging in” of any one solution or platform. EIM may be best understood as the following four pillars that support the structure of your business:

• Enterprise Content Management (ECM), which is a system for managing information flows across a business, from ingestion to archiving and disposition. Included within ECM is content digitization. Content digitization addresses, among other things, the challenge presented by inconsistent data sources and unstructured data. Also included within ECM is content organization and storage, which establishes rules for storing, sharing, securing, and culling information for use in business analytics and process automation. Exela’s ECM solutions leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), among other tools, for establishment and carrying out of such rules.
• Business Process Management (BPM), which is a system for routing your content-managed information into day-to-day processes, working across information siloes while maintaining data privacy as required by government regulation and business standards. The end goal of BPM is optimizing business efficiency while reducing enterprise risk. Exela’s BPM solutions make use of AI and ML, among other tools, to optimize employee experience at both the front-office and the back.
• Customer Experience Management (CEM), which sets up a process for culling your managed content to track and gain insight into customer interactions, make predictions, and optimize each part of the customer experience journey, from business generation to end-user-experience. Powered by AI and ML, among other tools, Exela’s CEM solutions help businesses to optimize customer experience, including by identifying and addressing customer needs and maximizing reach.
• Business Intelligence (BI), which refers to turning information into actionable insight leading to better decision-making and then making that insight work for you through consolidation, visualization, alerts, and search capabilities. Exela’s BI solutions include AI-powered information management and consolidation/centralization of search capabilities.

We’ll be discussing more about EIM and how best to implement EIM in future blogs so stay tuned to the Exela Blog. In the meantime, don’t miss this insightful thought leadership article from Exela’s President, Suresh Yannamani on how healthcare organizations can use EIM to prevent fraud

Records management is critical to maintaining productivity and efficient functioning within any company. As the business keeps growing, managing records can become more and more difficult. Having a scalable records management system in place supports business intelligence and benefits decision making for management.

With multiple sources of information, be it paper-based or digital, developing a strategy for cataloging, storing, and accessing everything is essential.

So how can one streamline record management? Here are some practical steps to consider:

Digitize Documents

Managing and storing physical files can be difficult and costly. A single sheet of paper may not seem like it takes up much space, but storage space for physical documents can stack up very quickly. When you include the space necessary to open them to access the contents, a standard 4-drawer filing cabinet takes up about 17 square feet. That space costs money.

An organization with 500 employees can save an average of $4k annually in file cabinet real estate space by digitizing paper documents. Physical records don’t just occupy more space, but they’re also more vulnerable to getting lost, misfiled, or damaged in natural disasters or accidents.

Another big benefit to opting for a digital records management system is that the majority of documents created today start off in digital form. Still, some important records, especially historical and archival records, may only exist as physical paper documents.

Digitizing with Exela's Document Digitization solution can help you quickly transform physical records into complete digital assets - not just simple scans. Today, when every organization is exploring digital transformation, high-speed scanning can play a foundational role. Exela's solution delivers accurate and dependable document digitization for incoming and archival information assets.

Similarly, Exela’s Digital Mailroom solution puts advanced scanning technology to work digitizing incoming mail items (or other documents) for fast and easy distribution to remote workers via an electronic medium. This not only facilitates better communication, but also easily integrates with digital records management systems for a more streamlined process.

Categorize Information

A study by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) found that, on average, 62% of the information that must be managed in an organization is unstructured. That makes this information much more difficult to find, let alone quantify or put to proper use. In order to effectively manage this unstructured information, it first needs to be classified and categorized.

There are a number of ways to classify records, and many will likely fall into multiple categories or tags. Documents can be categorized based on function, specific client or project, file type, security level, among many others. Effective record classification allows for clear and efficient filing, retrieval, archiving, and even, when necessary, destruction of documents.

This can be a daunting and potentially time-consuming process, especially if you have a large backlog of uncategorized documents to organize. However, digitization and automation technology exist that is capable of significantly reducing this burden. Optical character recognition (OCR) and intelligent character recognition (ICR) technology allow scanners to capture data from the document as it’s being scanned, allowing the system to automate categorization, aggregation, and routing quickly and accurately.

With OpenBox, the often laborious manual identification of document types and pre-sorting of documents before scanning are avoided, providing efficiencies over manual tasks that are otherwise time-consuming and error-prone. OpenBox can handle structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents and avoid costly integration with specialized platforms for specific document types.

Organizing Electronic Storage

Reorganizing your network workspaces can have a huge impact on how efficiently you’re managing your digital documents and records. Work with team leaders and your IT department to develop a shared network of folders that follows a logical hierarchy and structure designed to best meet your business’s workflows. Having a company-wide standard for how files and folders are grouped is a critical foundation for successful long-term digital records management.

Often, file organizational file structures will be built from the top down. This can start by categorizing files based on the year they were created, the department from which they originated, or the purpose they served. IT professionals are often great resources for determining which of the various existing directory structures would best suit your business. For some industries and record types, there are also regulations and compliance requirements that must be taken into consideration as well.

Implement Naming Conventions

Keeping documents organized and easy to find and identify becomes so much easier when you implement and strictly enforce company-wide document naming conventions. The chief identifier of any document is its name, and when done effectively, you can actually include a great deal of information within the names of your documents.

Naming conventions stipulate what information should be included in the filename, as well as the order and format for each piece of information. Information like the date the document was created, project identification number, and descriptive keywords for the document’s content can all be included, making the purpose of the document clear without even opening it.

You can even include version numbers in the title, though, as anyone in creative services will tell you, adding “Final” to a document’s name is just asking for more revisions.

Going Digital with Records Management

Disorganization and inefficiency can be extremely costly for any business. A solid records management system can go a long way toward maintaining the order and structure necessary for your business to grow and thrive. And thanks to digital technology, records management can be handled with less effort, improved efficiency, and greater peace of mind.

Find out more about how Exela technologies can help you get a handle on managing your records and documents.