Feature
Where's the money? Obviously, not in your bank account — at least according to recent research from SpringCM, which found it typically takes companies more than a month to sign-off on some contracts.
Revenue consequently flows slower than it should ... all because the vast majority of contract processes are not automated.
SpringCM provides a secure cloud platform that uses advanced workflows to manage documents, including sales contracts, across desktop, mobile and partner applications like Salesforce. In its second State of Contract Management report, the company surveyed more than 800 professionals on their contract management processes and challenges.
It found:
- 74 percent of respondents' contract processes are not automated
- 85 percent attach contracts to emails
- More than four in 10 keep contracts on shared drives
- 68 percent said human error affects their contract processes "very often"
It's not surprising given the fact that e-signatures are only now gaining traction in many workplaces. And, yes: SpringCM has a vested interest in promoting automated workflows. However, it does make sense that the better and more automated your document processes are, the quicker you get the money, and that’s clearly good for business.
Adobe's Partnerships With Box, Microsoft
Adobe kicked previously announced partnerships with Box and Microsoft into high gear this week. Users will now be able to tie their Box and/or OneDrive accounts to Adobe and access all of their PDF files stored within these third-party cloud services directly from Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.
They will also be able to edit PDF files and automatically save that work back to whatever cloud service is being used, ensuring that everyone is working from the same, synced version of a given document.
At the time of the upgrade, Lisa Croft, group product marketing manager for Adobe Document Cloud, told CMSWire:
“It's kicking PDF’s to the next level. Its making sure that you can get work done on that document, but it’s also about document security and that’s where a large portion of our efforts around Document Cloud are spent. It’s about continuing to creating those highly efficient PDFs and pushing this into advanced digital processes. It’s an entirely new level of document process and processing.”
Additional integration is also on the horizon with Box, including with Adobe Sign, so stay tuned.
Xerox Pumps Up The Volume
There’s good news from Xerox, which was obliged to split into two late last year on the back of some pretty poor financials.
Over the week, the Colorado Gazette reported that the document management and office hardware vendor has recalled several hundred employees that had received redundancy notices last March.
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According to the report, the redundancies were necessary because of the changing needs “of a client” for whom many of the employees fielded phone calls. But now the same unnamed client has seen an increase in its business so Xerox is recalling those employees.
It’s a small drop in the ocean for a global enterprise, but a positive sign about the company's customer base.
Also this week, Fuji Xerox, a 75-25 joint venture between FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. and Xerox, released ApeosWare Management Suite 2. It's a business platform designed to help enterprises enhance and automate document workflows, implement mobility and control print related costs.with a direct sales force that covers Japan and the Asia-Pacific region including China.
ApeosWare Management Suite 2 automates workflows by connecting systems, cloud services, devices and employees "to establish new levels of operational agility," the companies said. It does this by enhancing the end-user experience across all touchpoints from multifunction devices to mobile devices and PCs.
Fuji Xerox has identified legal and professional firms as its targets here, along with higher education institutions. The suite also provides integration with payment gateways and guest printing as an added incentive.
VitalSource’s Digital Publishing Studio
Vital Source, part of Ingram Content Group, just released VitalSource Content Studio (VCS), which it says will simplifying digital publishing for educators, academic publishers and corporate training professionals.
The digital content authoring platform is designed to enhance the learning experience and improve outcomes with original, customizable content that is managed through a simple interface. It gives users the tools to produce digital-first content that is standards-based, responsive, interactive and accessible.
A statement from the company says that the VCS authoring tool turns any teacher into an online author. With the VCS authoring tool, teams can rapidly develop digital content that includes text, multimedia and interactive questions, and then share that content to any device for offline access.
