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The Business Value of Making People Happy

by Bruce Orcutt, Chief Marketing Officer
Stimulating more business by satisfying customers is only part of the equation in meeting business goals. The happiness of the people actually working toward the realization of those goals is also vital to business success.

When people consider the benefits of intelligent document processing (IDP), cost savings is usually top of the list. And for good reason. We’ve seen our customers achieve results from automating invoice processing such as 91% lower processing costs, 400% increase in employee productivity, and 81% faster invoice processing time. Of course, results are dependent upon factors like the size of the AP staff and the volume of invoices processed.

But IDP benefits go well beyond cost savings. We’ve taken note over the years from working closely with our customers that benefits accrue from making two groups of people happier: customers and employees. Here’s a look at the business value of IDP as identified by some of the organizations who have adopted it.

 

Delighting customers to drive business success

"Notably, 53% of consumers indicate that the experience a company offers matters as much as the products or services it provides.” Forbes

We all know the importance of making customers happy: They spend more with you today, stay loyal, continue their spend over time, and serve as a free source of promotion through positive word of mouth. Consider these examples—across many different industries—of ways that organizations implementing IDP report delivering greater benefit to their customers while also driving their own business success.

 

Serve customers faster.

After implementing IDP, one railway company reduced its customer response times significantly by automatically classifying emails with no manual intervention and routing them directly to their CRM system. This was especially important in dealing efficiently with complaints and retaining customer loyalty.

Another transportation service provider slashed customs clearance time for its customers to under 5 minutes, 24/7, by reducing custom declaration processing by 80%, in addition to saving them customs brokerage services costs.

 

Make things easier for customers.

An energy provider optimized its customer onboarding process using IDP. The solution enabled consumers to use their mobile devices with the provider’s innovative website to evaluate bills and switch suppliers in under 3 minutes. The provider won an award for best customer service and user experience.

 

Help customers improve their bottom line.

A business processing outsourcing company’s faster turnaround time in managing payments with IDP meant more money hit their customer’s bank faster, improving their customer’s cash flow.

A wholesale business was able to reduce their invoice processing turnaround time from one to two days to about an hour, enabling their clients to take advantage of the customer benefits for expedited payment of invoices.

 

Provide customers with higher quality products and services.

When IDP technologies become part of a provider’s product and services, they sharpen their competitive edge. A technology company incorporated IDP in their AI-powered order-to-cash solution to increase its accuracy to 90%, enabling their customers with no-touch, straight-through remittance document processing to expedite cash application of payments.

A transportation cost management service provider is leveraging the data generated by their IDP operation to provide even better consulting and analytical services to their customers.

Cultivating happier employees who engage more and stay longer

Stimulating more business by satisfying customers is only part of the equation in meeting business goals. The happiness of the people actually working toward the realization of those goals is also vital to business success.

A June 2023 Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 employees found that those who report being energized and excited about their work are 31% more likely to stay at their organization, 31% more likely to go above and beyond (discretionary effort), and they contribute 15% more.

Those implementing IDP report instances of the pain their employees suffered prior to applying automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) to their work. And the benefits that accrued after implementing IDP. Here are some of the ways IDP helped to achieve them.

 

Reduce burnout and “boreout.”

Removing the tediousness and complexity of document-driven processes does more than reduce your costs. It helps you avoid costs associated with employee attrition from burnout. In a survey of decision makers across the UK, US, France, Germany, and Japan, over one third of survey respondents cited “help with employee burnout” was why IT leaders made the investment in the first place.

  • The finance team at a creative construction and protected solutions company faced paperwork bottlenecks and no real control over lost or unapproved invoices before implementing IDP. Employees at a construction company were constantly having to update data extraction templates for minor changes in invoice templates.
  • Employees at a food and beverage company were stuck manually keying in orders received by email and then retyping the information into an ERP system.
  • A manufacturing company reduced a tedious 45-minute manual process to 3-5 minutes.

 

Address the frustration of change makers.
  • One healthcare company cited the impact IDP had on lowering staff burnout rates when medical records staff no longer needed to track thick medical files of cancer patients as they moved between doctors on multiple floors.
  • Another healthcare organization was not meeting the goals of their RPA initiative due to inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the data being fed to their RPA solution.

 

Empower energized staff with more interesting and higher value work.

Freeing employees from tedious, low-level tasks to address higher value work obviously benefits the organization—but it also energizes and empowers employees.

  • The same healthcare company treating cancer patients not only reduced the risk of attrition from burnout but its energized medical records staff could shift their energy to higher purpose work that better enabled those providing care to seriously ill patients.
  • An agri-business freed staff from data entry to reach out and improve their vendor management.
  • A services provider upskilled their finance team with compliance-ready audit trails.
  • Staff in a product engineering and technology consulting business have been empowered through AI and ML to get more value from documents with a no-code approach through a user-friendly web browser-based UI.

 

Spread the wealth across the enterprise.

The benefits of IDP contribute far beyond those who use it directly, enhancing the satisfaction and engagement of staff across the enterprise.

  • A transportation and logistics company provided a variety of different departments with information to which they previously had no access.
  • Another created a center of excellence with a process that goes beyond accounting to other support functions like procurement, HR, and real estate services, accelerating strategic digital transformation initiatives.
  • A construction company found they could now access invoices from anywhere in the world and view them electronically to review pricing when providing quotes for new business.

 

Include the benefits of happiness in your business plan

When seeking funding for IDP initiatives, remember that the return on investment will be more than straightforward cost savings. Highlight the ongoing business value of happier customers who spend more and stay longer, and employees who are more engaged, energized, and committed.

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