'Purchase to Payment' - Process Efficiencies for SMEs

In these unrelenting times of austerity, it is SMEs who continue to suffer and have to make further cuts. However, savings can be made through improving efficiency of business processes in order to maximise budgets. One area which presents an opportunity to fine tune such processes is within the finance department itself.

While the majority of businesses have invested in implementing Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) over the years, this technology fails to virtualise and automate all processes – leaving finance departments with manual paperwork to be completed, often during the “purchase to payment” process.

Nearly 80% of all invoices are still delivered to a business on paper. And where an electronic method of delivery is implemented, invoices are still delivered as PDF files, presenting an unstructured document for the individual that cannot be read by the ERP program.

Few SMEs have the luxury of moving to a full Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) approach, which is often taken by many enterprises to standardise documents sent between recipients. In addition to this, with paper based files and PDFs likely to be maintained for years to come, SMEs need to consider solutions that will combat these issues and embrace unstructured documents.

 

SMEs opting for an invoice process solution that automates the accounts payable process will eliminate clerical tasks associated with filing and processing invoices through automation thus, reducing cost and resource spent. Furthermore, the system increases control and visibility across the company, and allows immediate and secure access to the data.

A business automation approach based on document capture, management and workflow can enhance existing business processes and compliment the investment in existing ERP systems. With costs of new generation document management and workflow systems, SMEs now have a viable option to transform their purchase processes that offers a compelling ROI. 

Click here to discover how Invu’s Invoice processing solution can benefit your business. 

Obama improves his Customer Service

In the directive issued by Barack Obama in May, a strategy has been set out to make services available via mobile devices in an effort to keep pace with the increase in smart phone use and improve the availability of government information via mobile to the American people.

Obama explains that until now, accessing government information has been a complex and painstakingly time consuming task, which has forced Americans to collate information from across government programs in order to identify exactly which services they require.  

The Obama administration is right to drive an improvement in its record keeping and consolidate information to enhance the accessibility with which individuals can navigate through government information. According to the Institute of Customer Service -  Good customer service is a critical component of business success and there is a direct link between high quality customer service and customer retention, business performance and – of most significance in this case – reputation.

Customers are increasingly demanding instant access to information and through enabling access through mobile devices is a sure-fire way to bring the knowledge and information as and when it is required.  Good customer service is not just applicable to Government, retail and other customer facing sectors, by focusing on customer needs and by creating efficiencies when managing problems, issues can be remedied quickly and efficiently.

The implementation of a mobile Government service is one means by which to increasing efficiencies and maintain a positive reputation – surely it is only a matter of time before other businesses adopt a similar approach.

Government Data Sharing

Cabinet Minister Francis Maude has recently unveiled his initiative to increase the ability for Government departments to share public data.

The plans, if passed, will make it easier for government and public sector organisations to share confidential public information. The plans will also make it possible to license the sharing of data where it is currently prohibited, subject to privacy safe guards.

According to the ICO, data sharing is currently seen as the disclosure of data from one or more organisations to a third party organisation or organisations, or the sharing of data between different parts of a single organisation, which can take many forms.

The initiative proposes to put in place  fixed guidelines which look set to aide good practice – enabling organisations to collect and share personal data in a way that is fair, transparent and in-line with the expectations of those whose information they are sharing.

Data sharing has been discussed in detail since 2007, with Tony Blair proposing amendments to the Data Protection Act to allow greater data sharing between departments within the government – but this was met by opposition from those who stated that this would affect data privacy.

Government departments, if they choose to data share, need to have a secure and reliable system in place with which to store sensitive information. Through removing the manual files and replacing the process with a secure, electronic system data protection is adhered to, and only those who are privy to reviewing certain information have access to it securely. This reduces the likelihood of sensitive information being lost, stolen or falling into the hands of those who should not have access to it.

We would be naive to believe that data sharing currently does not exist – what should be concerning is the way in which this sharing may occur. With many files being paper, surely the manual processes associated with sharing the information should be cause for alarm?

NHS Trust fined £90,000 for serious data breach

A recent news story has highlighted how a Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trust has been fined £90,000 after a serious breach of the Data Protection Act.

The breach occurred in March 2011, following on from patient lists being faxed to the wrong recipient, around 45 faxes over a three month period. The lists had contained sensitive personal data relating to 59 individuals.

An investigation from the ICO into the data breach found that neither member of staff involved with the breach had received data protection training and that the organisation did not have adequate checks in place when sending information.

The handling of public data has been a popular news topic recently with various government officials being penalised for not providing the necessary care in handling such information. But surely all organisations handling such data should be putting vigorous processes and robust systems in place to manage all corporate information, especially that of a sensitive nature, if not because of the media furore that ensues after a breach is found then certainly for operational reasons?

Through the use – and regular review – of such processes and systems, fines such as those imposed by the ICO can be avoided.

This case has highlighted that organisations are not only failing to protect their clients’ or patients’ data, but are also failing to protect themselves when it comes to the data which they handle and the systems which support them.

By not having a reliable system in place – both in terms of IT infrastructure and internal practises – organisations are letting down their clients, customers and indeed anyone whose information that they hold, and ultimately undermining their own long-term stability. 

Business Process Management – Not just for the enterprise

A recent study has been carried out by IBM on attitudes to business process management (BPM). The survey, conducted by YouGov, spoke to 650 senior business decision makers from small, medium and large UK firms. One of the most significant findings was the difference in attitudes to BPM between small and large firms. The survey found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the larger the business, the more likely they were to have plans in place to update their business processes in the next two to three years – demonstrated by 70% of those businesses with 250+ employees having BPM plans in place, compared with only 31% of those with less than 50 employees.

BPM is centred on making processes efficient and flexible in response to the company’s expansion. The implementation of faster and more effective business processes aligns all aspects of the company and, as such, usually results in improved client services. 85% of the senior business decision makers identified ‘line of sight’, ‘visibility into work occurring across your organisation’ and ‘clear understanding into how your business is performing’ as key to a business’s success. However, despite the majority believing this, very few SMEs practise what they preach as they are under the impression that they cannot afford to implement systems that aid in BPM.

Document management systems however are one means by which to create a transparent, streamlined business – a major pre-requisite for effective BPM. By consolidating all documents electronically into one central system, employees are able to access client information that would otherwise be difficult to lay hands on, and therefore deal with any queries directly. Time spent on manual processes is dramatically reduced with companies often seeing a return on their investment after the first year – challenging the wide belief that BPM solutions are only affordable to the enterprise and demonstrating real value for companies of all sizes. 

The impact of the proposed EU data reforms

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), a UK business lobbying organisation, has shared its concerns over the proposed changes to the EU data protection regulations; specifically, the potential financial impact on businesses as well as the risk of data compliance restrictions stifling innovation.

The CBI argues that many innovative business models, citing advertising and the music industry as examples, rely on data-sharing to generate revenue and ensure they are providing a tailored user experience and suggests that proposed reforms would restrict businesses’ ability to do this.

In addition to implementing data-sharing restrictions, the CBI highlights the financial consequence of complying with the reforms. The European Commission claims that its proposals will save businesses €2.3 billion a year, across all EU countries, by creating a coherent and streamlined approval process for organisations working across EU states. However, the CBI believes that this is an overestimation of the business benefits and overlooks compliance costs such as changing IT systems, re-training staff, implementing call centres to handle data compliance issues and, in some cases, appointing a Data Protection Officer. While costs are likely to be incurred in order to comply, businesses need to carefully consider the potential cost should they suffer a data breach.

Businesses could potentially face fines of up to two percent of their revenues should they fail to report a breach in the 24 hour time period and the cost to brand reputation should not be overlooked either, as recently demonstrated in the news reports surrounding Global Payments’ data breach.

Those that choose to implement a document management system mitigate the risk of suffering a data breach and incurring huge fines as their documents containing sensitive data are stored in a central, secure system. Other cost burdens that the CBI highlight, such as re-training and IT refresh, would also be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, as the document system is integrated with existing IT infrastructure, improving ease of use.

Click here to find out more about how a document management system could help improve your data protection processes. 

Housing Associations open spending data

Housing Minister, Grant Shapps seems to be making progress with his campaign to push for Housing Associations to make spending data public knowledge – with at least two housing associations, Hertfordshire Housing and Viridian Housing agreeing to open up spending data from next month.

Hertfordshire Housing and Viridian Housing are responsible for around 5,300 and 16,000 properties respectively, with the associations expected to publish the details of all spending which is above £500, and of any salaries which are over £50,000.

The call for greater visibility of spending data follows pressure to expose how public monies are being spent – organisations which receive money from the tax payer should now expect to come under greater scrutiny and be willing to explain financial decisions openly and honestly.

The ability to be able to share this data however will require housing associations to have in place a system which will ensure that all monies spent are being accounted for and accessible – with information being able to be readily accessed.

Although not public bodies, the housing sector in particular takes in money from taxpayers – the majority of which is invested in social housing, with this in mind surely it is only reasonable to share how this investment is being spent? Other public sector areas should beware, with the growing trend of openness and honesty with public spending it is only a matter of time before they too will have to review the systems which they have in place.

Compliance headaches and inefficiencies

Regulatory burdens have always been in evidence. However, the landscape has changed greatly in recent years. The banking crisis, Enron et al and increasingly sophisticated, technically savvy and organised fraudsters are all high profile wake-up calls demanding a support network. That comes in the shape of legislation, regulation from professional and overseeing bodies and peer pressure for better practice.

Anti-Money Laundering, KYC, Suitability, FATCA etc mean that brokers, wealth managers and IFAs are exposed to a range of potentially threatening issues. With massive consequences for failure there’s increasing operational effort and expense needed to keep on top. Working practices evolve but, more often than not, they generate increased operational workload. As the burden compounds then you can be sure that the potential penalties for exceptions will also be rising. It’s no surprise that the numbers of compliance-facing staff therefore continue to rise. Against an economic backdrop where efficiency and cost savings are more important than ever this is a recipe for greater overheads with no appreciable return.

This latest Invu white paper examines a selction of issues faced by businesses in the finance sector, in particular the broking and wealth management communities. It’s not exhaustive but it does pick up some of the significant issues faced on a daily basis and some that are on the way. Many of these issues are burdens which IFAs, insurers, mortgage advisors and even accountants in practice face. Whilst setting these out we also identify the role of technology in mitigating them, most notably, of coure, via document based solutions.

Find out what role document solutions can play in mitigating the risks and reducing the day-to-day compliance impact and download the “Wealth Management – the case for eDM” from our resources section at www.invu.net

Coutts AML penalty – how come?

Coutts private bank, a division of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has been fined £8.75m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for not displaying adequate measures to prevent money laundering. After reviewing 103 high-risk customer files the FSA found deficiencies in at least 73 of them.

The bank has received the largest fine of its sort for breaching anti money laundering (AML) rules, after three years of ‘systemic’ problems in handling client affairs vulnerable to corruption because of customers’ political links.

The FSA found, after an industry-wide review in October 2010, that the bank was not conducting robust enough checks, nor were they monitoring relationships with high-risk customers to a satisfactory degree or verifying origins of deposits being made. Therefore, any suspicious funds being laundered through the account were not being highlighted.

The failings displayed by Coutts have been labelled as ‘significant, widespread and unacceptable’ with its conduct falling well below the standards expected. The fine which has been awarded to Coutts demonstrates the severity with which the FSA is regarding anti money laundering and should serve as a sharp reminder to other major players in the industry.

But surely avoidance of such fines is simple? Banks should surely have in place a system with which to manage and track any irregular activities which could highlight money laundering or suspicious behaviour around customer accounts. Inherently manual in part, AML relies largely on clients providing physical evidence of identity. Through automating the processes involved in the manual collection of data, a client can be identified and then linked into an online data provider to perform the necessary checks automatically. The processes, infrastructure and technology are all available, so why was this allowed to happen?

Electronic data management not only brings a joined-up process to AML, but also reduces the time taken to perform previously onerous checks. It turns a time consuming task, prone to error, into a background function taking minutes. Our work in the wealth management space proves that compliance can be joined up and effective.

And as if this time and cost saving wasn’t enough, there is then the small matter of avoiding crippling fines for failing to prevent data misuse, and all at the click of a button or two.

Stamping out business costs?

Ouch! There can’t be many of the day-to-day business staples that suddenly rise by in excess of 30% but that’s what’s happening to the humble stamp. For a standard letter size, first class stamps are to rise from 46p to 60p. and second class stamps from 36p to 50p. Then there’s the uplift for the bigger letters and packets too. Ofcom’s taken the brakes off so we’ll be getting used to postal service charges increasing as Royal Mail seeks to balance its books whilst simultaneously investing in major modernisation.

For those issuing paper invoices, contracts and correspondence or marketing literature then the franking machine will be costing you a lot more this year. For professional firms like accountants this is a particular headache. In these days of social networking, e-commerce and even old-fashioned email the continuing volumes of paper based documents can be a surprise. However, the fact is that post can be a significant cost for some businesses. This is another burden which makes it all the more difficult to keep a lid on costs.

Of course, dealing with documents electronically removes this. Storing and actioning all correspondence, invoices etc via document management solutions is a logical approach. When something simply has to go out by post then it should be the exception rather than the rule, email and e-commerce the norm. Secure portals and digital signing tools further cement the move away from post. We’re delighted that we’re on the cusp of launching a joint initiative to market with accountancy web and content specialists PracticeWEB to enable portal connectivity. Having security and immediate access in the office and for clients and suppliers joins up the way we work, without the inherent delay of post and without bumping up costs 30% at a time.

2012 Budget increases business costs – what else is in store?

Personal storage has been a growing business over the last 10 years. The likes of Big Yellow, Access, Loknstore, Safestore and a plethora of other smaller rivals have grown up to supplement local offerings. Of course, this phenomenon simply augments the existing business  requirement. This is a demand driven not just by spare bits of office furniture, exhibition materials and other detritus but also frequently by compliance with legislation and regulatory need. It’s also feared by paranoia about customer service and risk. We’re talking filing and paper records here – mountains and mountains of it. For many knowledge based businesses keeping records for 6 years and more is just part of day to day operations. For accountants, lawyers, architects, brokers and others there will be paper records which go back for years.

At a time when cash flow is king then it’s just one more piece of aggravation and cost to find that off-site storage will be on the rise. At least that’s what will happen if the Budget announcement to close a loophole which exempts storage from VAT becomes law on 1^st October as planned. Forecasters are already projecting a drop in profits for the big storage outlets. If you have your archives off site then be prepared to pay twice from October – the VAT you can reclaim back of course, but the underlying storage price is also likely to nudge north a little as the suppliers seek to claw back the revenues lost from the personal market.

None of this is an issue for those businesses with the foresight to take on board suitable systems. Document and content management is a core requirement for the professional firm nowadays. It’s not just the tangible enhancement in everyday efficiency, the client service improvements and the peace of mind. They know that they are in good shape when it comes to statutory and regulatory compliance. They get clear competitive advantage. Their firms run better and their costs are reduced. And in October they’ll see just one more advantage accrue.

Social Housing solutions for the smaller Housing Association

It’s easy to think of Housing Associations in terms of the big boys with high stock levels and major infrastructure projects supplied by the big system integrators. Of course it’s a fragmented “industry” with many small HAs. They face the same compliance and regulatory needs as the large players and need to get appropriate bang for their buck too. Getting efficient can sound a little trite. But it belies the fact that massive changes like welfare benefit reform and a dour economic backdrop mean that cost savings simply have to be top of decision makers’ minds.

This month’s Housing Technology includes an article about Shian Housing‘s adoption of Invu. There are approximately 320 small associations, with fewer than 1000 units, registered with the National Housing Federation and working in London. These form the G20 group, one of which is Shian.

Invu solutions have been implemented in many HAs and the trend is positive. Many of these have been in good sized and growing HAs, like Seren, Cosmopolitan, Adactus and Derwent. The solutions have been complex at times and the results hugely positive. We’re delighted to work on these projects and we hope that these customers are enjoying the benefits they set out to achieve - the fact that they are willing to provide great testimonials and case studies is certainly positive. But the Shians of this world show that careful husbandry, very well defined scope and a pragmatic sense of ambition can allow the smaller HAs to share many of these benefits.

Invu is delighted to work with all sizes of HAs. We’re at the NHF Housing Finance Conference and Exhibition at Warwick University and TAI 2012: The Housing Olympics in Cardiff this week. Next week  we’ll be at Hitex in Edinburgh. Come and ask us about Shian and our other customers experiences.

Pritchard's - A Lesson in Compliance

The recent case of Pritchard Stockbrokers using client money for its own expenses highlights the severity with which the FSA is now dealing with organisations that are breaching regulations.

The FSA issued a first supervisory notice to Pritchard, preventing it from taking part in further regulated activities, after being found guilty of using client money for its own expenses. In addition to breaching the golden rule of ring fencing client monies this also put client monies at risk – the firm’s assets were also frozen and clients were informed that Pritchard was no longer working for them.

The regulator said that it had come to the decision as it had ‘serious concerns’ – specifically that Pritchard had failed to arrange ‘adequate protection’ for client’s assets when it was responsible for them.

The impact for Pritchard’s is severe - all retail clients’ stock assets transferred to W. H. Ireland  and cash assets to  Reyker Securities plc, whilst Pritchards itself has now entered administration. W. H . Ireland’s £500,000 investment secures 8,000 new clients with non-cash assets of £400 million. This increases its private-client stockbroking client numbers by c.50% and total assets under management by c.25%. The cost of compliance cannot be under-estimated, nor, perhaps the potential benefits.

Pritchard’s actions raise several questions – not least how the stockbroker could go unnoticed using client money for internal expenses. This highlights the necessity for internal systems and processes which would record or flag abnormal activities regarding the movement of funds and fraudulent activity.

It also highlights how businesses at risk of legislation and compliance need to remain on ‘their toes’. Legislation doesn't generally go away; if anything the trend is for increased regulation  and firms must ensure they have sufficient processes in place to establish and maintain compliance. Failure to do so will inevitably result in warnings, as highlighted in the case of Pritchard’s, that have the potential to evolve into fatal penalties. 

RDR – how ready are you?

While Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will not be implemented until January 2013, both providers and financial advisers need to give serious thought to the implications of the changing regulatory climate. This new regulatory model is designed to improve confidence and trust in the financial services market with greater transparency to support the new fee based approach. At the heart of RDR is good client information: IFAs need not only to record and store all client information, including growing volumes of email based information, in an efficient manner but, critically, be able to rapidly search all those documents to respond to client demands.

So, will the RDR result in a major fall out in the industry? Are the demands for information transparency required to build trust and client confidence likely to result in massive consolidation by creating cost to serve that is simply unsustainable for smaller organisations in what will become a far more cost sensitive and competitive marketplace? Or could the RDR be an opportunity for switched on IFAs to drive through cultural change and exploit real time access to client information delivered by Document Management Systems (DMS) to reduce costs, automate RDR compliance and, critically, improve competitive position.

It is, of course, possible to meet the information retention requirements laid down by the FSA with a manual approach and strong processes for the storing of both paper based and electronic information, but it is hardly effective. And it is impossible to deliver the level of service that will be required when staff are spending so much of their working day simply searching for client information.

The only way that IFAs are going to be able to survive and compete in the new regulatory climate will be through far more effective and automated information storage and retrieval processes. Whilst growing volumes of client information are now provided via email – both secure and insecure – email remains unmanaged within the majority of IFA Businesses.

If the industry is to avoid major consolidation and widespread loss of individual IFAs, there is a need to achieve compliance to RDR without incurring an unsustainable operational overhead. More critically, IFAs need to change working practices to create a cost effective and competitive business model that improves productivity and minimises the administrative requirement.  Organisations that leverage DMS to store and retain all client information in a single, searchable resource will not only achieve RDR compliance but also reduce costs and create a far more scalable business model in an increasingly cost sensitive market. 

http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/professional-adviser/feature/2161783/tamper-proofing-fsa-bay

How are you handling electronic discovery for your documents for FATCA?

The U.S Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) comes into effect on January 1^st 2013 to combat offshore tax abuse. Those caught by FATCA may be swiped with a 30% withholding tax on U.S investment income. For understatements on undisclosed foreign (ie non US) assets there’s a further 10% to add to this.

Foreign entities can avoid FATCA’s swingeing withholding tax as they enter the FATCA regime – after entering into a binding agreement with the IRS to identify U.S persons and to report certain information about them to the IRS. This information is then used to identify potential instances of under-reporting as well as fraud.

But how is such information collected? FFIs must retain all paper and electronic documentary evidence establishing the identity of account holders for 10 years. As is to be expected records must be accurate, up to date, consistent, retained for specific periods of time, and readily available for certification and auditing purposes. And this latter point is the key – all documents must be electronically searchable. The IRS will want to be able to run some sophisticated data collection, recognition and analysis tools over high volumes of data. No more hefty physical files of information or, if you do persist with these, then they will need to be digitised. 

Because of these requirements firms will need to adapt their systems and operational processes of January 2013 – this is a significant undertaking for many organisations, least of all those with multiple customer platforms. FATCA will be applicable for all types of financial institutions – the operational system needs to be in a position to detect U.S clients at the moment when an account is opened, as well as the entire lifecycle of a client through monitoring.

The efforts needed to fulfil these obligations can be substantial for a financial institution and can require specialist knowledge and assistance – knowledge which can be aided by a supplier of such a system with an understanding of the Act itself. Some firms are even taking the view that they will no longer broker for US citizens.

Getting parochial for a moment, it is essential that organisations caught by FATCA review all their internal systems. Much of this should be in train already, but the disclosure elements and, in particular, electronic searchability/ discovery means that how firms handle, store and retrieve documents will be at the heart of this.  Discussions with a document or content management provider should be high on the immediate agenda. A good provider will be able to call on a strong understanding the act, and be able to guide the organisation through the requirements and suggest any changes which may be needed to current systems in order to meet FATCA and other compliance requirements. 

Compliance pressures mount for wealth managers

The compliance issues surrounding Wealth Management firms could hardly have passed those in the industry by. The importance of Know Your Customer information remains paramount to industry guidelines in order to ensure the consistent suitability of client portfolios. But a simple pre-requisite of this is that customer files must be managed effectively – an area which has seen numerous and continuous failings over the past year.

Despite the fact that there are clear guidelines in place from industry bodies, regulators and the wider industry community, many Wealth Management firms have been found to be holding inaccurate, out-of-date and even incomplete records about their clients. In December last year, a review by the FSA highlighted significant and widespread failings of many firms in keeping records that meet the required standards – a pattern that may well be echoed across the industry and is a concerning prospect for industry bodies and clients alike.

Firms are experiencing greater and greater compliance pressures - FATCA, Suitability, Anti Money Laundering and other pressing legislative and best practice imperatives continue to crowd in.  Processes, systems and structures must be in place even if companies already have this information. But there is a question of accuracy and completeness – are these records kept up to date? – and are they secure? – can they be accessed? The quality of records is imperative to the appropriateness of client portfolios and activities. After all, as the FSA found, without accurate records in place, there are often discrepancies between portfolios sand clients’ attitude to risk and their investment objectives.

Complacency is not an option when the consequence of failing to comply can be huge – e.g. a fine of up to £5,000,000, as well as the potentially calamitous reputational fall out. In order to avoid such stings, Wealth Managers need to have a system in place whereby firms can update their records quickly and accurately, as well as providing ready access should this be necessary to meet regulatory requirements.

Could Churchill & Direct Line’s £2.17m FSA fine have been avoided with better systems? Oh yes…

 ‘FSA imposes £2.17 million fine for failure by Direct Line and Churchill to conduct their businesses with due skill, care and diligence’
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2012/003.shtml

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has imposed a fine of £2.17 million for failings by Direct Line Insurance Plc and Churchill Insurance Company to prevent files that the FSA had requested from being improperly altered.

In collecting the 50 complaint files for review, the FSA found 27 of the files were altered before submission, due to the firms failing to act with due skill, care and diligence. 

The failing for which these insurance firms are being penalised is clearly inappropriately enabling staff to alter files. This kind of alteration can largely only occur when files are stored without sufficient versioning control. In itself, this is a huge downfall, more so when an audit trail is required. For legally admissibility purposes document and content management applications make this impossible. 

Manually archived documents are not afforded the same security as those which are electronically available. For a long time, we have been professing that a document management system provides an indisputable record for files and as such a key element, and typical requirement, of this system is immutability – once an item is entered into the system it cannot be altered under any circumstance, and it seems that those within Direct Line and Churchill would have done well to have implemented such a system. 

Working with previous clients in the Financial Services arena has given us a full appreciation of the variety of needs that such organisations have. The main requirement is usually the ability to provide a clear audit trail of every single document – essential in order to comply with FSA requirements. Through using a document management system, the software enables all of the business content to be rigorously controlled and yet also easily shared, with the ability to administer security controls of various strength determined by the document itself. 

The main point associated with it is that once in the system, documents simply cannot be altered. This in itself that would have saved these two insurers a lot of trouble, and cash.

Customer service – is it really so important?

We think so.... with the proliferation of feedback sites, “your view counts” widgets and review pieces available on the web, the old adage that the customer is king has never been more true. Do right by the customer and your advocates will directly impact not only your reputation but also the health and future of your organisation. There’s research which measures and proves just how important this link is and intrinsic to this is customer service. This is of interest to Invu simply because in the course of the last two years or so we’ve been assiduously taking soundings from our customers in the shape of case studies and testimonials. We deliver document management based business solutions and in many, many cases the most striking benefit we hear is the genuine improvement in service to customers, clients and suppliers. And it’s across a range of sectors – from professional firms to manufacturers to social housing providers amongst others.

It’s this background which has made us consider the importance of customer service. Our latest whitepaper is dedicated to the topic and the background research has thrown up some compelling information – sure, some of it is a little long in the tooth, but if anything, with today’s more canny customers and greater access to information, aren’t the principles more likely to be exacerbated.

We’ve highlighted a number of areas where what we do correlates with those customer service actions which directly deliver ROI and business growth. This is terrific validation and we’re delighted to see the overlap. More widely though, for all business it does shine a light on the need to be competitive and to do right by your customers. Is your organisation able to deliver great service, to create a “wow” and to see things from the customer’s viewpoint? According to the Harvard Business School and the Institute of Customer Service anything which contributes to your ability to do so will deliver reputational, brand and financial benefits.  

There’s more detailed in the whitepaper - “The importance of customer service to your organisation’s future” – download it here 

We hope it gives you food for thought. 

FOI and Housing Associations

The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) came into force in 2005 and demands that individuals have the right to information, the right to confidentiality and the right to effective administration.

As such the act means that members of the public can demand information at any given time and it must be readily accessible. Considering today’s government is planning to consult on extending the FOI still further, this should give those Housing Associations with limited grip on their documents serious cause for concern.

A housing association typically holds vast amounts of information about each resident – past and present – and each property, making management of the sheer number of documents a trial in itself. It is therefore critical that a system and a set of robust processes are in place to manage such information, allowing administrators easy access to relevant material as requests are made.

Many housing associations are not however sufficiently equipped to easily produce information as requested, and are falling short when it is being demanded. Not being able to produce such information sends out the clear message that Housing Associations are not forward looking, not up to date and are simply inefficient when it comes to the management of documents. Above this, the simple time cost of manually trawling through documents in order to satisfy an FOI request can be enormous.

Housing Associations must realise that it isn’t difficult, costly or disruptive to manage information in such a way that enables ready compliance with the Act – even if the legislation is extended. Culturally it doesn’t have to be difficult either – in a society when information is readily available (the Google Corporation is after all now a verb), it will be nothing short of an anachronism that any organisation cannot access the right information immediately.

Housing Associations must therefore evaluate their processes ahead of more stringent requirements coming into force. The question is not just whether or not the FOI is appropriate to Housing Associations. In a way this doesn’t matter – from an operational and forward-looking perspective, the ability to comply should be a given. 

Further Reading:

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/blogs/data-overload/6519921.article 

The Invu solution for Housing Associations - Adactus

The latest edition of Housing Technology has picked up on Adactus Housing and its use of Invu. (Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/Adactus-in-HT.)   This Housing Association has over 12,000 housing stock in the North West and recognised a compelling need to improve value for money, improved service and control amongst other issues.  Remedying these issues revolved around document processing and with Invu’s growing reputation and adoption in the HA sector Invu was selected. Adactus pinpointed the Finance department as the first port of call for a multi-staged project across the group. It’s much more than a simple secure repository – automated workflows, intelligent content extraction and integration with the finance system make this a pro-active solution. The Invu deployment has been a close engagement and a genuine collaboration to ensure deliver of a solution which fits the Adactus ambitions.

The finance process has been streamlined to the point where authorisation is quicker and matching against the finance system (QLf) is straightforward. There’s no measures yet on how much more speedy authorisation is but the level of control on exposure levels is much firmer now and this is a major step forward. There’s more details in the Adactus case study and we’re delighted that the Adactus solution is attracting the interest of other HAs in similar circumstances. It’s a project which has created a pattern which other HAs have now taken up and these are now being rolled out. Others have been keen to follow and we hope to see many more.  

If you’re interested in finding out how the Adactus solution might work for you then please get in touch: http://www.invu.net/about-us.aspx 

The Mortgage Market Review & You

As the governance, risk and compliance bandwagon rolls on, and the ongoing need to evidence suitable ‘Know Your Customer’-oriented processes, so the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) consultation paper arrived in late December.

But for the typical IFA, what does it mean to day-to-day processes and workflows? Following the MMR, the ability to build and assess a full and complete profile of a potential borrower in order to ascertain the risk to the lender becomes a necessity. And rightly so.

After all, squeezing interest rates and deposit thresholds in order to mitigate against the damage caused by unexpected losses will only get the lender so far in the current economic climate.

Know Your Customer is increasingly being about understanding the risk of potential customer’s appetites. However, lenders should be aware that when MMR legislation is blended with Anti-Money Laundering legislation will surely mean that it is only a matter of time before there is a high profile case where the lender is seen to be misleading borrowers. As a result, the manner in which documents are created, edited, stored and presented is absolutely crucial – in fact, business critical.

Brokers, wealth managers and other investment houses are increasingly putting systems in place to ensure that relevant checks are not only being made with regard to records, content and document management, but that also provide financial organisations with security against auditors and any potential customer complaints.

As with much of corporate best practice, it is considered a nice-to-have until legislation insists upon it. Well, in the case of IFAs and best practice document processing, that time has surely arrived.

Document & Content Management for Housing Associations: A White Paper

Most of the white papers we’ve produced to date have been generic in kind – that’s not to say that they’ve not had focus, but they’ve been as applicable to a manufacturer as to a constructor or a charity. We’re taking a slightly different tack with the latest off the production line. This is sector specific , notably Housing Associations and other Social Housing providers. That’s not to say that some of the points we make aren’t valid elsewhere of course, but the focus is on a group of organisations which is of increasing importance to Invu. The number of HAs that we deal with continues to rise and rise.

The Social Housing sector faces all manner of pressures, from keeping costs down to service levels to financial control. Document and content management can play their part in alleviating these pressures by acting as so much more than simple passive repositories. This is mature technology which can be optimised to deliver even more value and this paper sets out to explore the options. It’s borne out of our experience to date and, in particular, where we’ve been back to existing customers to explore how they can benefit from work we’ve done for other HAs with the latest versions and technologies at our disposal. For example, the Adactus invoice processing, workflow and QLF integration project has delivered a solution which is of genuine interest to many other HAs. Great news and those customers taking the solution on board will see real benefits, from ROI, service level improvements and that critical financial control.  

Why not download the whitepaper http://www.invu.net/info/whitepapers.aspx and see if your organisation can reap the benefits too?