5 Reasons You Need Mobile At The Point Of Origination
By Bruce Orcutt, senior director, Product Marketing at Kofax
Point of Origination™ information capture is a proven winner for businesses seeking to accelerate revenue, reduce costs, increase efficiency and better serve constituents. When information is captured as early as possible in the process, it initiates business processes faster and with greater accuracy, meaning fewer costly problems down the line. Now, the proliferation of mobile devices is poised to push the Point of Origination out even further—right into a customer’s or employee’s pocket. Mobile capture enables customers to use cameras in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to capture images of documents, photographs and data and then deliver it into the enterprise. This streamlines the flow of business critical information, reducing the time organizations require to understand, decide and act.
Here are the top five reasons why you should be thinking about taking capture mobile today:
#1: Mobile capture accelerates revenue. In a recent survey conducted by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), “Distributed and Mobile Capture: Moving the Process Closer to the Customer,” key findings revealed that 14 percent of respondents felt mobile capture is “a game changer,” with 32 percent considering it “very valuable.” Why? Customers today are savvier than ever and expect a higher level of customer service. Additionally, social media makes it easy for customers to report on good service or post a bad review. To stay competitive, businesses need ways to interact with their customers faster and resolve issues quickly.
Mobile devices facilitate better customer service by extending processes directly to the customer using their smartphone or tablet. Compare a mortgage lender who requests that customers come into the office with the stack of trailing documents necessary for completing a loan to the lender who can service a customer in their homes, using a mobile device. It’s clear who is more likely retain a customer, close business quickly and even garner referrals.
#2: Mobile capture saves money. In that same AIIM report, 51 percent of mobile capture users reported a payback period of 18 months or less, with 71 percent seeing a return within two years. Capturing information at the Point of Origination enables organizations to instantly and automatically deliver high-quality, purified information into applications, repositories and workflows, across the entire enterprise. The costly errors associated with manual input are dramatically reduced, and staff time and other resources are freed up to focus on higher value activities, all of which provide a fast, measurable return on investment.
#3: Customers want mobile capture. A YouGov survey conducted in March 2012 on more than 2,000 consumers on how they interact with businesses such as banks, insurers and retailer, found that more than a third of 25-to-34-year-olds prefer to communicate via smartphones than through traditional telephone or face-to-face interactions. The survey also found that 35 percent of respondents stopped using a business within the last year due to poor levels of customer service. Mobile capture provides businesses with the capability to allow their customers to initiate critical processes from their own devices. It also enables organizations to improve customer service by accelerating response times. With mobile capture, not only can businesses appeal a broader range of customers, they can better retain their existing ones, strengthening a competitive advantage.
#4: Employees want mobile capture. Mobile devices have infiltrated the enterprise. The AIIM report, “A Process Revolution,” stated that 33 percent of survey respondents believe that in five years’ time, more than half of their employees will be using iPads, tablets or digital clipboards for completing forms, compared to only two percent now. Employers that get ahead of that trend and facilitate mobile technology to help employees perform better are likely to see improvements in productivity as well as in retaining top talent.
#5: Competitors are thinking about mobile capture, if they’re not already using it. AIIM also found that 32 percent of respondents surveyed have evaluated mobile for some of their business processes, but have not made a move—yet. Companies who embrace mobile capture will have a competitive advantage over competitors that are slower to adapt to the way consumers and employees behave.
So what are you waiting for? By using mobile capture in front of your information intensive you can streamline operations, increase productivity and better engage with your customer, ultimately netting you a stronger competitive advantage and more growth.
Bruce Orcutt is a senior director of product marketing for Mobile at Kofax where he is driving market awareness of the benefits of engaging with customers and capturing information at the Point of Origination™. Contact Bruce at bruce.orcutt@kofax with comments and for information about Kofax Mobile Capture.