I
PRESENTER
BY ERNIE CRAWFORD
NORMALIZING THE SPAGHETTI BOWL OF DOCUMENT PROCESSING TOOLS How to navigate the complexities of modern workflows with ease 14
summer.2024 DOCUMENTmedia.com
n today’s fast-paced business environment, the future of efficiency and productivity is automation. As we move toward more automated workflows, the management of documents and data becomes increasingly crucial. However, the complexity of document processing tools often resembles a tangled spaghetti bowl of disparate systems and processes. Imagine a scenario where you have multiple document processing tools, each serving a specific purpose in your workflow. The concept of a “white paper factory” in which various workflows converge into a single output medium, minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency, sounds ideal. However, achieving this seamless integration can be challenging. Without proper normalization — otherwise known as standardization — organizations face disorganization and possible chaos. Multiple job steps for similar tasks increase manual labor and costs. Separate workflows create bottlenecks and errors, impacting productivity and profitability. Disparate processing environments compound these issues, leading to costly setups and redundant processes. The struggle for many organizations is that each composition solution creates a different output and was acquired at a different time and for a specific purpose. New billing systems create a very different output than new cloudbased marketing solutions, whereas legacy systems may still use older data streams like AFP or Metacode or LCDS. Combining these into a centralized workflow may seem impossible to someone who is not familiar with workflow de-siloing. Advancements in AI technology and data processing tools have enabled newer solutions to extract content and information about each specific document page and embed it in the print file as intelligent, usable information for smart ADF solutions. Workflow normalization enables the print file to intelligently drive post-production equipment.