There are a number of reasons why sustainability matters. First, the obvious demand for corporate social responsibility – continuing concerns over power use and global warming mean firms cannot afford to put profits before principles, especially if they want to create a positive perception of their brand.

Secondly, choosing to ignore sustainability concerns does not mean they will slip silently away. The UK government is increasingly keen to place green at the top of the legislative agenda for businesses, and organisations will soon find that they need to report carbon emissions in the same way as they file financial figures at year-end.

However, many firms are badly prepared for such inevitability. The Carbon Trust reports that just 59% of blue-chip companies have robust carbon aims, despite the British government’s decision to set a legally binding target on greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020.

Much work needs to be done. Smart executives will turn to technology to help monitor carbon use, making the demands of compliance and reporting as painless as possible.

A good example of such technology is Advanced Business Solutions’ Carbon Accounting solution, a comprehensive and sophisticated tracking product. The product is integrated with Advanced’s OpenAccounts financial management system and enables businesses to quickly measure and then budget effectively for emissions.

High quality reporting tools capture carbon emissions data automatically and provide information on-demand to executives. The result is instant transparency, while simultaneously cutting the time-consuming processing associated with manual data entry and manipulation.

Which brings us nicely to the final reason why sustainability matters – going green does not have to be a costly activity. In fact, sustainable technology projects can also help increase business efficiency while slashing operational costs. Going green and operating more efficiently often go hand in hand.

In short, being green might have slipped down the corporate priority list during the downturn but pushing sustainability back to the top of the business agenda will mean your organisation is better prepared for a brighter, better future.

Don’t let the green agenda keep slipping down the priority list is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

While sustainable credentials can prove a hit with some customers, especially those in the public sector, many organisations believe that there is little point concentrating on environmental matters when revenue is falling off a cliff. Sustainable business practices quickly moved from the next business necessity to a nice-to-have.

But it does not have to be this way; going green is by no means exclusive from economic efficiency. Implemented in the right way, sustainable business practices can help your firm to increase its effectiveness, cut costs and reduce its environmental impact.

This fact is recognised by the financial professionals who were recently surveyed by document management provider, Version One. 90% of respondents stated that going green is still a key consideration within their organisations’ current buying process. 18% actually suggest that the concern is now more important than ever.

Yet in a constrained economic environment, what will be the incentive of going green? The answers, according to the Version One survey, revolve around economics and governance.

As much as 39% of respondents believe financial incentives are most likely to persuade their organisations to become more environmentally conscious. And just under a third (32%) suggest that new environmental legislation, combined with penalties for non-conformance, would influence their organisation to become greener.

While concern for compliance is significant, going green should never be treated as a tick box. While compliance can provide a compelling reason to act, organisations must not lose sight of the important business benefits that can be garnered by pushing the green agenda.

Going green does not need to be an expensive exercise and key systems, such as document management, also make smart business sense. While helping to reduce paper consumption and carbon emissions, document management technology can cut costs and improve efficiency by giving executives automated access to key documents at the right time.

Such systems mark an important step in the right direction. However there is still much to be done with as many as 66% of senior finance professionals suggesting to Version One that they are still concerned about the negative impact of their company on the environment. The sooner that organisations recognise that going greener and operating cost-effectively should not be viewed in isolation, the better!

What will persuade your organisation to go green? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

The central role of IT in modern business means it would surely be incomprehensible not to have a business continuity plan. But do you know if your plan is suitable? More specifically, do you have one?

Take problems caused by the volcanic ash cloud in 2010. As much as 20 per cent of businesses reported major disruption, according to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Yet the research also shows that more than half of private sector organisations don’t have a business continuity plan in place.

There can be no doubting that such an oversight is a considerable concern. Almost three quarters of executives responding to the CMI research suggested that loss of IT would be the disruption that would have the most impact on their business.

So, while your organisation might think it is prepared for every eventuality, the reality – at least in terms of business continuity plans – is very different. This situation is particularly concerning when you consider the breadth of ever-growing threats, such as terrorism, natural disaster and subterfuge caused by individuals wounded by the economic downturn.

IT chiefs, then, must ensure that critical issues such as uptime guarantees, security and disaster recovery are addressed in business continuity contracts. Moving to the cloud should, in theory, help. On-demand users will be able to back-up information to multiple locations and retrieve as-required.

But just because an external provider is an expert in information management doesn’t mean they won’t experience outages, too. Take the high profile issues with Amazon’s EC2 data centres earlier this year, which caused problems for cloud customers dependent on accessing their information on-demand.

And although the combination of cloud provision and well-managed IT plans provides a key element of business continuity, it is by no means the only area of consideration. Executives must remember that the safe storage of business documents is a vital part of an organisation’s continuity plan.

What would happen if you lost all those files of paper in the corner of the office? The right document management and archiving system must be tightly integrated into your accounting and ERP systems, allowing inbound and outbound paper documents to be scanned and bar-coded.

Once in the electronic archive, stored documents can be retrieved by application or via a web browser. Such a set-up means that, even in the worst-case scenario, your documents are safe and your business can continue.

Further reading

http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/news.php?NID=8602&Title=Businesses+unprepared+for+ash+cloud+upheaval

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2072218/chiefs-warned-clouds-hidden-costs

Business continuity is much more than information back-up is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

But the bad news is that creditor fraud in local government remains a worrying issue, with reports of one authority falling victim to a £102,000 scam in 2010 (see further reading, below).

In June 2010, the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles instructed local authorities to publish details of all spending over £500 in full online, saying the move would unleash an army of armchair auditors (see further reading).

Such transparency and openness should have a positive effect, improving accountability and rooting out problems. So, six months on, what progress has been made towards that objective and what has been the impact of the publication of spending details?

Two months after Pickles’ deadline of January 2011,  reports suggest all but three councils have published their information (see further reading). Yet the transparency provided through the publication of spending details is far from an end in itself.

The availability of such data – whilst illustrating how money is actually spent – could provide another avenue for deception. Fraudsters could potentially adopt the identity of any of the listed suppliers.

Such adoption would lead the fraudster to notify the authority with a change in bank details. The hope is that the body would then change the information in their finance system and make payments to the fraudster’s bank account.

Public sector organisations, therefore, have no choice. They simply must take steps to ensure that technology is being used to safeguard financial information. And that technology must make use of fraud detection and prevention tools.

Business intelligence tools, such as spend analytics software, will help your organisation to identify spending patterns and potential weak spots that could provide a loophole for fraudsters. In addition, document management will provide an electronic audit trail that allows invoices, purchase orders and other financial documents to be securely stored.

Transparency is a good thing, but only if your technology systems can cope. The publication of spending details means now is the time to be certain.

Further reading:

http://www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs/news/creditor-scams.php

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2347:pickles-calls-on-councils-to-publish-details-of-p500-spending-but-shies-away-from-legal-requirement&catid=53:procurement-and-contracts-articles&q=&Itemid=21

http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/transparency/localgovernmentexpenditure/

Are you prepared for the threat of creditor fraud? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Unfortunately, for many businesses, this isn’t the case. A survey carried out by Advanced Business Solutions’ sister company, Version One, highlighted that over half of senior finance professionals in the UK have experienced disruption to their processes as a result of bad weather.

Anyone in business will tell you that the one thing you need to be certain of is cashflow. It doesn’t matter how many invoices you send out if the Royal Mail van carrying them is stuck in snow. Even worse, that same van may be carrying the cheques that customers are sending to you.

Similarly, if you’re not able to pay your suppliers on time this may affect your relationship with them going forward and could eventually lead to you being issued with late payment penalties.

An easy way to avoid all of this unnecessary stress is to remove paper from your processes. For example, utilising document management technology to create, approve and send invoices electronically means that you no longer have to be reliant on the postman, and, as they’re delivered to your customers almost immediately, the order-to-cash process speeds up dramatically.

As paper is so easily lost, damaged and destroyed, this raises important security, compliance and business continuity concerns. Document management systems provide the electronic and secure indexing, storage and retrieval of documents. Really effective ones also allow the electronic creation, automated delivery and electronic authorisation of documents so that the need to print, photocopy, post and file paper is eliminated – along with the considerable costs that accompany these time-consuming manual processes.

Having all of your documents stored electronically also means that they are backed up in a secure archive and can be retrieved in seconds. When you’re sitting in a warm, dry office this doesn’t seem too important. When you’re standing in a waterlogged office, staring at the soggy remains of the last three years’ invoices it’s a completely different matter.

Recent floods have shown how easy it is for adverse weather to ruin businesses and lives. An electronic document management system will not only help avoid disruption to your finance processes, but can play a vital role in preventing your business from becoming a statistic should the weather turn against you.

Could your Christmas dream turn into a New Year nightmare? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

With public sector organisations receiving ‘the toughest settlement in living memory’ and many in the private sector battling to survive there have, inevitably, been casualties.

However, while many have fallen, others have not only survived, but thrived in these challenging times. Why could this be?

It’s hard to argue against the idea that businesses that are more streamlined, efficient and cost-effective are more likely to survive. Just as government is making its quest to rid itself of waste and inefficiency, many private sector organisations have already put themselves under the microscope to see how – and if – their processes work.

The private organisations that are surviving are typically those that have identified inefficiencies and have implemented solutions to remedy these inefficient practices. For instance, instead of using valuable financial and human resources to carry out mundane admin tasks from consolidating numerous spreadsheets through to printing and posting payslips, such tasks are increasingly being automated.

Secure document management systems are some of the investments organisations have been making in 2010 to streamline their finance and HR processes, cut costs and free-up much needed document storage space. These systems are also providing vital back-up should the worst happen. With the economy still proving challenging, a disaster such as Buncefield or Boscastle could prove devastating for organisations that are not adequately prepared.

And IT solutions are not only being used to improve efficiencies. 2010 has seen continued investment into business intelligence solutions, which are providing forward thinking organisations with essential organisation-wide insight, helping them to craft their business strategies for the future.

While nobody is under the impression that 2011 is the end of the hard times, as many organisations are proving, having effective IT solutions in place are giving organisations a fighting chance of survival, with some even thriving. With 2011 promising to be another tough year – for the public sector in particular – perhaps public sector organisations need to take a leaf out of the private sector’s book and put its own processes under the proverbial microscope.

Tightening our belts to keep on fighting is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

However, there is going to be little choice in the matter for most technology chiefs. Organisations are under considerable pressure to meet sustainability targets with increasing rules and regulations around sustainable working.

Reports suggest that there are about 70 national indicators supporting UK government sustainable development strategy (see further reading). More broadly, the government intends to reduce carbon emissions by 30% through 2020 relative to 1999/2000 levels.

There is, then, much work to be done. But most technology workers are nowhere near prepared. Research from Version One highlights that 86% of senior IT professionals are still reliant on paper records, with over half (51%) stating that they are very reliant.

So, how many technology workers have their houses in order? Barely anyone, according to the Version Once research – just 1% of respondents state that they hardly ever rely on paper records.

It is time for a wake up call. Organisations simply must monitor and ultimately reduce their negative environmental impact. And, thankfully, there are tools that help monitor, measure and manage sustainability.

Electronic document management (EDM) should be your first stop, a system that can help IT managers to reduce the amount of paper being produced by the organisation and to automate processes such as purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash. Surely it’s a ‘no brainer’?

However, almost half (48%) of respondents to the Version One survey said that need to be convinced to move to EDM. If they were assured of document security, customer service, sustainability and legal admissibility then they would be more likely to invest in this technology. And here is the thing – EDM automatically helps with all these areas.

From document delivery and document imaging through to document retrieval, EDM provides the basic building blocks for a sustainable, efficient and secure approach to document management. For cost-pressured IT managers struggling to cope with environmental compliance, what’s not to like?

Further reading:

http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=59803

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/sustainability_targets.pdf

Document management makes both environmental and business sense is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

For HR and payroll professionals, the answer is almost everything. The people department is a complex collection of payslips, contracts and records. The potential exposure of such information could be catastrophic for both an individual’s and a company’s reputation.

There are, therefore, good reasons to stop relying on the printed word. As well as the sensible sustainability angle, there are crucial legislative reasons why HR and payroll should not rely on paper copies – and such concerns surround constraint, cost and control.

First, constraint; your business will be legally required to keep up-to-date records that cover key staffing areas, such as pay and sickness rates. Many records will need to be kept for a minimum period of time and context added through support documents, such as contact details and employment conditions.

Keeping such records in paper format alone is simply insufficient. Paper can easily be lost or destroyed, and searching through files to locate a single record can be a mission impossible. Electronic document management technology can ensure records are electronically stored and are instantly accessible to authorised staff.

When it comes to cost and control, the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 stipulates how employment data must be accurate, up-to-date and kept for no longer than necessary. Recently introduced powers mean organisations can receive a £500,000 fine for each deliberate or negligent data breach that causes damage or distress. 

The electronic storage of documents can ensure records are securely saved and don’t fall into the wrong hands. The right system will provide self-service, allowing employees to access and update records to ensure information is kept up-to-date. It will also quickly identify which documents need wiping after a certain period of time, in accordance with the DPA, ensuring you have full control over employee records.

Adding electronic workflow to your document management system adds additional controls to HR processes. For instance, employees now have a legal right to make a request in relation to training, such as time off work to study. To be compliant, organisations need to respond to such requests in writing in a timely fashion. With electronic workflow, training requests can be forwarded to the relevant managers for their consideration and the system can automatically prompt the managers if they have failed to take action within a specified time frame. This ensures HR is keeping control with minimal effort.

The bottom line – failure to implement suitable paperless systems that address the legislative areas of constraint, cost and control, could leave your business exposed. Perhaps a move to paperless HR is worth considering after all?

Constraint, cost and control – three legislative reasons for paperless HR is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Now, following a couple of years of economic recession, green computing has gone off the radar somewhat. New business realities mean projects that provide sustainable benefits have been pushed from must-have to nice-to-have.

Such a strategy is misguided. The risk to the environment from errant technology and power use has not diminished.

Estimates suggest that IT accounts for between two and five per cent of total global carbon emissions, more than the airline industry. Analyst Gartner, meanwhile, estimates that data centres account for 23 per cent of IT emissions, a significant and ever-increasing figure (see further reading, below).

But it is not just the need to deal with emissions that shows businesses must think green. With new regulations and continuing pressure from customers, successful companies will make sure their IT usage is monitored and sustainable.

UK businesses are being urged to prepare for a new raft of carbon emission regulations. The result is likely to be that firms will have to produce an end-of-year report – just like in the case of financial results – that shows carbon usage (see further reading).

Customers, meanwhile, expect their suppliers to behave in an acceptable manner. Just like social media has changed how firms interact with their clients, the potential for green business means big firms must ensure sustainability is always considered.

Across all areas of your operations – from financial management to workflow and on to document imaging – look for systems that will help you reduce paper consumption.

Also look for tools that will help you monitor and report carbon emissions. Because reporting on carbon use, which was once a nice-to-have, might soon be a business necessity.

Further reading

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=530912

http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/mandatory-carbon-reporting-could-be-brought-in-before-2012-says-miliband-1074.aspx

Make IT sustainable and win new customers is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Chances are you’ll rush to print the attachment if AIIM’s research is anything to go by – apparently as much as 62% of important documents are still being archived in paper format (see further reading, below).

It’s not as if most companies don’t try to stop such errant activity. Most businesses have a “please don’t print” plea automatically attached to the end of each email; there’s probably one tagged to each of your mails.

Unfortunately, the plea often falls on deaf ears. Rather than being a call to action, employees around the UK print their documents first and think about the environment later.

But there is another way – document management technology can help you and your business users file, index, track, retrieve and distribute documents instantly from the desktop.

Despite the trend for all things social and virtual, document management still rates as a priority for global CIOs. Analyst Gartner recently revealed (see further reading) that the technology is rated as the seventh most important IT spending area for CIOs in 2010.

The reasons are clear. In an increasingly cost-conscious environment, businesses must find ways to increase process efficiency. Document management technology is a means to achieving such aims.

Look for an enterprise-wide system that integrates seamlessly with your existing accounting, ERP and/or HR systems. For a small financial outlay, you’ll be able to electronically store, manage, retrieve and distribute crucial documents such as invoices, contracts and personnel records.

Reports suggest that just over half of senior executives expect to increase their investment in document management and imaging technologies (see further reading). Take the lead from some of your peers – if you haven’t invested in document management technology yet, now is the time to spend.

The right technology will help you create a paperless office that pushes sustainability and boosts efficiency. And such an approach will have the added benefit of finally stopping your staff from printing and circulating so much paper!

Further reading

http://www.aiim.org/research/document-scanning-and-capture.aspx

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1283413

http://www.buyerslab.com/Solutions/News/April-2010/Survey–Companies-Leverage-Document-Management-Pro

Please stop printing paper! is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment