Optimising business-critical document processes can play a major role in improving overall business performance, helping to increase profitability and enabling an organisation to respond more quickly to customer needs.

Yet still more than half of those in the legal sector, increasing to 64 per cent in Financial Services[1] admit that they could increase the efficiency of their existing processes, according to recent research by Coleman Parkes. Furthermore, over one quarter of all business critical documents are still being processed in hard copy in both legal and financial services. Inevitably, this leaves them more susceptible to errors, processes are unnecessarily labour intensive and the efficiency of client service levels is impacted. So, isn’t it time to outsource?

The outsourcing market is continuing to steadily rise across the globe. A recent EMEA TPI Index showed that in the UK and Ireland market alone, the complete revenue for 2011 is expected to surpass last year’s total by over 10 per cent with Europe, the Middle East and Africa set to increase its third quarter, year on year total by 99 per cent[2]. More and more organisations are realising how outsourcing complex processes will have a positive impact on business productivity, enhancing information flow and freeing up staff to focus on areas of the business that create more value.

Also, the Coleman Parkes research also revealed that over one third (36 per cent) of UK business leaders stated that they would, or already have outsourced their business critical document processes to improve efficiencies.

So what is holding the other businesses back? According to the survey, 61 per cent of those who aren’t considering outsourcing cite security concerns and 34 per cent said they do not want to lose control of their processes.

It is clear that further education and awareness are needed to help businesses determine the most efficient routes to process optimisation. Security concerns can be easily overcome by implementing software that will protect, track and audit how valuable information flows across the organisation. Also, organisations and outsourcers need to work together to overcome such concerns by establishing a partnership approach, instead of simply focusing on one-off efficiency gains.

A business document outsourcing company should have an in-depth understanding of how they can optimise business critical processes and how they fit within their client’s wider business activity. Also key is to understand the way their employees work, and the IT service requirements of the organisation. This approach needs to be matched with an internal collaborative effort between the CIO, CFO and COO in the boardroom.

By embracing outsourcing and working with a partner they trust, companies really can transform their business. They can also reduce any unnecessary overheads created as a result of outdated document processes, improve information flow and ultimately drive savings across the entire organisation.