WHITE PAPER Esker

DOCUMENT PROCESS TRANSFORMING INBOUND DOCUMENT PROCESSING

Into a Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation

www.esker.com TRANSFORMING INBOUND DOCUMENT PROCESSING Into a Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Author...... 3

Introduction...... 4

More Paper, More Problems...... 5

The Basics of Dynamic Document Capture...... 6

Esker’s End-to-End Automation Solution...... 7

Customer Success Story: Pharmacorr...... 8

About Esker...... 9 Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 3

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Smith • U.S. Chief Operating Officer

As U.S. Chief Operating Officer at Esker, Steve Smith is responsible for all operations in North and Central America.

Steve joined Esker in 2003 after 17 years at Equitrac Corporation as the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and two years in sales at Pitney Bowes. Steve earned his bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Finance from the University of Wisconsin — Whitewater. Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 4

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INTRODUCTION: WHY OPTIMAL INBOUND DOCUMENT PROCESSING MATTERS

The exchange of documents is essential to how daily business activities are conducted. And the way an organization handles its communications can have a significant effect on its overall success. In fact, an organization’s ability — or inability — to optimize document processes directly impacts profitability.

A business’s internal document processes can impact financial success in several ways. For example, the more efficient your billing and cash collection methods are, the faster documents are handled, processed and tracked, which accelerates the flow of business cycles. However, when a business relies on traditional (i.e., paper-based) document processing methods, it limits the potential for these types of gains. Manual processing means paper, and paper means multiple manual touch points, a higher risk of error and lower process visibility. Businesses seeking to improve their document processing should first ask these questions: § How can we cost-effectively integrate incoming documents into our business process so they get to the right places/ people as quickly and efficiently as possible? § How can we remove human intervention and manual paper handling from document processes? § How can we improve the efficiency of our back-office operations and reduce human errors? § What are capabilities and tools we need to accomplish this?

Understanding the Technologies Needed

Many incoming documents are received by fax, email or in paper format which makes processing difficult. The ideal solution would be to utilize an automated tool that could capture incoming documents, put the information through a for validation, and automatically route to the appropriate location in order to extract the most value from inbound documents — all without forcing change on the sender. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is one way to make complex documents machine-readable, but human intervention may still be necessary for quality assurance purposes. Today, Dynamic Document Capture (DDC) technology improves recognition and accuracy for less structured documents and can help organizations eliminate traditional issues with managing different types of inbound business documents.

Purpose of This White Paper

The goal of this paper is to help CEOs and CIOs understand the variety of ways in which manual inbound document processing can negatively impact a business, and, more importantly, the value of using an intelligent automation solution for improving efficiency, reducing errors, maximizing profitability and gaining a competitive edge. Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 5

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MORE PAPER, MORE PROBLEMS: WHERE MANUAL INBOUND DOCUMENT PROCESSING HURTS

Documents handled manually involve a number of paper- and labor-intensive tasks that make for a slow, expensive process. Most of these bottlenecks occur when employees have to enter document information in by hand. Not only does this stifle efficiency and open the door for errors, documents are left sitting in piles on their desks which makes tracking virtually impossible.

This lack of visibility ultimately makes it harder to discover the source of an error and quickly correct it. The more manual touch points there are in the process, the more opportunities for lost documents or delayed document delivery. Limited process Printing Collecting, Sorting Verification & Resolving Manual data Retrieval & oversight can cause ambiguity in similar processes, such as order receptionDocuments and distribution,& Routing whichValidation can also slowExpectations down the cycle.entry Tracking

Where Does It Hurt?

Each manual touch point in an inbound document process can be painful to a company’s bottom line and overall efficiency. Some of the most time- consuming manual tasks include: Printing Collecting, Sorting Verification & § Printing documents § Resolving expectations Documents & Routing Validation § Collecting, sorting and routing § Manual data entry § Verification and validation § Document retrieval and tracking

Resolving Manual data Retrieval & Expectations entry Tracking Management Concerns

The struggles associated with manual processing affect a business at multiple levels — particularly at the managerial level. When document entry cycle times are long, managers cannot grow the business without adding staff. Additionally, there is no easy way to prioritize and monitor document entry, meaning high-priority and time-sensitive processing can be delayed. Document processing errors are also a common problem that cause a domino effect of issues for managers. Errors can lead to delays in fulfillment and cash collection, additional shipping costs, waste, and repetition. Furthermore, processing errors can cause returns which a business must pay off in credit notes, restocking or write-offs, even if a product can be resold. Finally, archiving poses a major concern for management. The cost of printing and the space to store documents, combined with the time it takes to file and retrieve records, can hold a company back. Customer Service Representatives (CSRs)are often unable to find documents to answer customer questions, and information is not readily accessible for auditing purposes.

Benchmarking and KPIs

When considering ways to improve your inbound document processing, it is important to choose benchmarks or key performance indicators (KPIs) as something to measure your progress against. If a business is not satisfied with its current standing, it could be time to consider an alternative like automation. Not only does automation help businesses achieve KPIs with more regularity, the high level of visibility into document processing makes it easier to track and measure KPIs in the first place.

§ Is the volume of documents weighing the § Are approval and workflow managed effectively? company down? § Can the business remain competitive and § Is paper overload making indexing and archiving profitable? nearly impossible? § What level of visibility is there into the process? § Does inaccurate data due to manual data entry § Does the business comply with regulations? slow down processing? § How is the organization managing its reporting and metrics evaluation? Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 6

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THE BASICS OF DYNAMIC DOCUMENT CAPTURE

Dynamic Document Capture (DDC) capabilities allow for the seamless and automatic processing of electronic or scanned semi-structured documents. DDC recognizes and captures data residing in these documents and makes them readily available in ERP applications regardless of their format.

Captured data 2 is accurate based Operator/Manager can teach in predefined a new rule online through generic rule Document Manager New specific rule created, better recognition of 1 Capture upcoming documents Content Analysis If captured data is Data not accurate for a Workflow Validation Teaching Semi-Structured specific document documents (e.g purchase orders, Content Formatting invoices) Delivery Document is reprocessed Operator validates 3 or sends documents Document is made available to be validated by to operator for validation manager

Capture

Data from incoming business documents can be caputured from faxes, scanned images, EDI, email attachments, web or other formats and media.

Read

Relevant document header, footer and line item information can be extracted regardless of document layout or number of pages. The extracted data is automatically validated by crosschecking with predefined scenarios and company databases when necessary. The additional intelligence and logic ensures that accuracy of capture does not rely on OCR technology to manage documents such as scanned or faxed images.

Verify / Approve

After the data is automatically captured, users are presented with a simple interface to double-check that data recognition is correct. Users can compare data extraction against the displayed image of the original document. Additionally, the interface displays warnings and error messages next to the captured fields when necessary to notify a user of identified or potential issues. For example, when a new customer has been detected or if a possible duplicate document has been identified, the system alerts users to the potential problem. When this stage is complete, the user will have the choice to save the document for late processing, approve or reject it, or even forward the validation to another user.

Load Data and Document

Once the information is correct, it can be used to fill in other applications — together with the original document image — and to create new business documents if necessary. Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 7

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ESKER’S END-TO-END AUTOMATION SOLUTION

Esker is the first vendor to offer a single automation platform free of technological restrictions for use within document-intensive business processes. At the core of Esker’s platform is a shared group of technologies that works in accord with all necessary business process solutions — regardless of the interaction with customers or suppliers — creating a truly unified and paperless environment.

One Shared Platform for Any Document Process

Utilizing DDC and Esker’s patented automation technology, along with a suite of automation solutions that span the entire order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles, organizations can easily control all their document process improvement efforts in one shared and collaborative platform. Consolidating your automated processes into one system with a single set of business rules gives you the power to: § Automate any process as needed in multiple formats and through multiple channels § Eliminate the need for various products or costly components § Unify customer and supplier communications, and free up IT and CS departments § Simplify user adoption with a similar user interface for all processes

Key Benefits of Automation

§ Free your business from slow and costly paper-based § Simplify document search and retrieval with electronic workflow archiving § Increase data entry accuracy by eliminating manual § Support and enhance regulatory compliances in a cost- data entry effective manner § Improve process efficiency based on KPIs, which become easier to measure Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 8

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CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY:

PharmaCorr, a subsidiary of Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (CMS), has been providing pharmacy services, clinical pharmacy analysis and educational programs to correctional facilities for over a decade, operating out of two pharmacies in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis.

The Challenge

PharmaCorr receives over 120,000 prescription orders via fax from correctional facilities each month, while dispensing an average of 16,000 prescriptions per day. For each order, a number of factors must be determined (e.g., what facility the order is from, when it was received, special restrictions, etc.). Up to the point of dispensing, the process was completely manual and paper-based and came with a number of challenges: § Error-prone process with multiple touch points - New orders were separated from refills, copied and stapled - Staff would enter new orders, print out patient labels, and clip them to both copies - Order would go to a pharmacist for approval § Resource intensive - Process required paper handling by no less than 6 people before filing - 4 high-volume fax machines and 4 inbound fax lines § Memory limitations of fax machines - Led to occasional information loss when faxes jammed - Required staff to come in on holidays and reload the machine

The Solution

PharmaCorr leveraged the Esker DeliveryWare automation platform to streamline its entire high-volume process. Now, using Document Manager, employees can see exactly how many pages are received and processed each day which helps PharmaCorr allocate resources more effectively while improving productivity and avoiding errors. The Esker DeliveryWare platform, which uses OCR, bar code recognition, and caller ID, also helps PharmaCorr identify the order type and cost center for routing to the appropriate technician or pharmacist based on business rules that determine what users can see within the Document Manager interface as well as document processing workflow corresponding with different classes of users. The solution also generates a unique sheet ID, which is used to link the image to the prescription number in the company’s pharmacy application for easy retrieval.

The Results § Quick and easy access to current orders § Visibility into how many pages are received/ processed each day § Faster access to archived orders § Savings of $3,000 per month on paper and toner § Significant cost reductions within the shipping process § Increased monthly page volume without adding headcount Transforming Inbound Document Processing Into A Paper-Free and Value-Added Operation | 9

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ABOUT ESKER

Esker is an industry leader in document process automation solutions, helping organizations of all sizes Quit Paper™ and improve how their business information is processed and exchanged via one unified and integrated automation platform. Esker’s suite of automation solutions, offered on-demand or on- premises, help customers around the world reduce processing time and costs, increase their competitive advantage, gain significant operational efficiencies, and realize measurable ROI in as little as three to six months.

Global Expertise

Founded in 1985, Esker has more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker operates in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

World Headquarters: U.S. Headquarters: Lyon, France Madison, Wisconsin WHITE PAPER Esker

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