The answer lies in the book Excellence
in Practice, Innovation and Excellence in Imaging and Workflow, by Layna Fischer, General Manager of the WfMC, featuring the
winners and finalists of the recent annual Giga Excellence Awards. To be
recognized as winners, companies must address three critical areas: excellence
in innovation, excellence in implementation and excellence in
strategic impact to the organization.
The competitive playing field for workflow and
imaging continues to change as visionary companies push the envelope for
innovation and excellence. Companies excelling in document imaging and workflow
share common characteristics that other organizations are well advised to learn.
Companies competing head-to-head against such visionaries must shift their IT
and business strategies to keep pace. Ways to move the competitive goalposts
when implementing imaging and workflow technology include focusing on
enterprise-wide solutions while also reaching the extended enterprise, and
empowering users to develop, modify, and enhance flexible, workflow-enabled
processes.One hallmark of a truly excellent implementation
is a high level of user involvement, not only in the design phase, but also in
all phases of the project. Companies that excel in imaging and workflow
understand intuitively that "users know best."
Excellence
in Practicedetails, for example, in the case of Trigon Blue Cross
Blue Shield, how user teams and project team leaders worked together to change
the very nature of the customer service representative’s job. By engaging
users in defining how work gets done, companies can develop multifunction
processes that enhance job structures, improve employee morale, and reduce
employee turnover. Bank of America's Asia Division is another case
in point. This business process reengineering project focused not only on
technology, but also addressed change management issues that could have
otherwise derailed the project. Implementing a system across eight countries,
Bank of America Asia Division concentrated on building a multi-disciplinary
team, involving users extensively throughout the project, and using prototypes
and pilots extensively to test ideas for the multinational implementation. This
book demonstrates that companies worldwide must take similar steps to ensure the
overall success of reengineering projects, particularly when multiple sites and
multiple national cultures are involved.
The case studies of each of the 16 winning
corporations featured in Excellence in Practice go into considerable detail regarding the issues of implementation. Readers can
find out more about:
Their system application, what the system is
used for, who are the users and what the job entails
What were their key motivations and their
system configuration (number, and type of software, servers, scanners,
printers, storage devices, etc., including the identities of the vendors and
integrators involved)
The number of users currently on the system
and number of users planned.
How the company has been impacted by their new
system; cost savings, ROI and increased productivity improvements,
competitive advantage gained, and how they managed to move the goal posts
for their industry.
Their implementation process and methodology,
the project team, and the change management and business process
reengineering issues they addressed.
How these companies managed both their overall
technological and business innovations.
To add depth and meaning to the case studies,
four leading industry analysts and experts were invited to contribute chapters
from their respective perspectives:
Study: State of the Workflow
Industry.
Priscilla Emery, Sr. Vice President, Association for Information and Image
Management International AIIM
The Roles of Value-Added
Resellers (VARs) and Systems Integrators.
Ric Rhodes, President, Document Imaging VAR Association (DIVA)
Pitfalls in the Strategic
Deployment of Process Improvement and Management. Geary A. Rummler and Gordon Sellers, the Rummler-Brache Group
Endnote Chapter: The Seven
Traits of the Smart Company.
Excerpted from Smart Companies-Smart Tools, by Thomas M. Koulopoulos 1997.
Van Nostrand Reinhold New York
Moving the Competitive Goalposts: Seven Ways to Achieve Excellence Connie Moore, Vice President, Giga Information Group
Arrow Trucking Tulsa, Oklahoma North American Excellence Awards: Imaging, Finalist
Bank of America, Asia Division Hong Kong Asian Excellence Award: Imaging, Silver
Budget Rent A Car, Lisle, Illinois North American Excellence Awards: Workflow, Finalist
Capital Blue Cross: Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Harrisburg, Pennsylvania North American Excellence Award: Gold, Imaging
Consolidated Edison of New York. New York, New York North America Excellence Award: Workflow, Silver
First Albany Corporation, Albany, New York North America Excellence Award: Imaging, Finalist
Gak Nederland b.v. Amsterdam, The Netherlands European Excellence Awards: Workflow, Gold
Italian Chambers of Commerce Societa' Consortile di Informatica delle Camere di Commercio Italiane per Azioni (Infocamere) Padova, Italy European Excellence Award: Imaging, Gold
Martinair Holland Schiphol Airport, The Netherlands European Excellence Award: Imaging, Silver
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) Document Delivery Division Ottawa, Canada North America Excellence Award: Workflow, Finalist
New York City Office of the Comptroller. New York, New York North America Excellence Award: Workflow, Gold
PPP Healthcare, Tunbridge Wells, England European Excellence Award: Workflow, Silver
Red Ball Oxygen Company, Inc. Shreveport, Louisiana North America Excellence Awards: Imaging, Finalist
Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Richmond, Virginia North America Excellence Award: Imaging, Silver
Yarra Valley Water Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Asia Excellence Award: Workflow and Imaging, Gold
Study: State of the Workflow Industry Priscilla Emery, Sr. Vice President, Association for Information and Image Management International AIIM
The Roles of Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and Systems Integrators Ric Rhodes, President, Document Imaging VAR Association (DIVA)
Pitfalls in the Strategic Deployment of Process Improvement and Management Geary A. Rummler and Gordon Sellers, the Rummler-Brache Group
Endnote Chapter: The Seven Traits of the Smart Company Excerpted from the book, Smart Companies-Smart Tools, By Thomas M. Koulopoulos to be published May 1997. Van Nostrand Reinhold New York
Contact Information Names and addresses of installations, vendors and integrators
Study: State of the Workflow
Industry. 
