New Study Examines Benefits of Extending Document-Driven Processes Across the Supply Chain

In a recent IDC global study of 1,516 document-driven business process owners and information workers, the Boston-based research firm uncovered a number of misconceptions around document-driven processes. It found, for example, that companies focus on business process improvement, assuming that they've already achieved optimum efficiency in their document-driven processes.

While it is true that improving document-driven processes can have a strong impact on reducing operational costs, IDC says it can have an even greater impact on an organization's top-line potential for revenue. Firms agree:  over 83 percent feel that optimizing customer-facing document-driven business processes would increase revenue - on average by 10.1 percent.

One way to achieve that double-digit revenue growth goal is by involving the entire supply chain in processes that once were largely relegated to the space located within a company's "four walls."  

"Enterprises must work to ensure that the partners they select are placing appropriate emphasis on document- driven business processes," says Angèle Boyd, an IDC general vice president and general manager, and a co-author of the recent white paper reviewing the study's results.

Outside Involvement

To better align themselves with their supply chain partners and achieve the positive results associated with shared document-driven processes, Boyd says firms should adopt an "extended view" of document processes to include those supply chain and distribution partners. In the modern economy, it is no longer adequate to take a traditional wall-to-wall approach, IDC points out in the white paper. Business processes now stretch across continents and often require intimate connections with business partners and suppliers throughout the value chain. 

"We're all operating in a ...