Automated Solutions

Many records and information management (RIM) businesses rely on specialized software to keep their companies running productively. Regardless of the services they offer—document destruction, records management, data vaulting or imaging—software can assist in managing business processes and invoicing, helping to ensure accuracy and efficiency.

RIM professionals have their choice of a number of industry specific software solutions depending on the services they offer. However, RIM professionals will want to look for some basic capabilities.

THE BASICS

When it comes to selecting software, RIM professionals will want to consider its ease of use, the supplier’s depth of knowledge, the level of support and training provided and the ease of integration between software products, according to software vendors to the RIM industry.

Ron Ray, president of EZshred LLC, Chesterland, Ohio, says RIM professionals need to ensure integration among their destruction, records management and imaging services software. Additionally, companies will want to assure the integration of industry specific software with CRM (customer relationship management) software, such as ACT, Goldmine or SalesForce, and any other general business software a company uses.

EZshred provides software to companies that provide document destruction services.

“The main reason for integration is to avoid double entry of data,” Ray says, which takes time and increases the potential for mistakes. “There are different levels of integration, from seamless to manual (import/export) to none,” Ray continues. “While seamless is desirable, it can come at an additional cost and higher level of maintenance. Manual requires a few extra steps by the user but is usually less expensive and lower maintenance.”

Another basic feature RIM professionals should consider when shopping for software is scalability, says Ian Thomas, vice president of business development, O’Neil Software, Irvine, Calif. “You want the confidence that as your business grows, your software can handle that.”

O’Neil Software provides software for records management centers.

Thomas also advises, “Do business with a company you’re comfortable with.”

When shopping for software, Ray suggests that RIM service providers ask potential vendors to demonstrate their software using the RIM company’s most difficult customer. This will give the RIM services provider an idea of how easy the software is to use. “Ease of use will affect your company by minimizing mistakes, allowing access to infrequently used features without having to call the vendor and reducing the cost of training new staff in the future.”

Inventory control also is an essential feature of industry-specific software, says Scott Bidwell, president and COO of Andrews Software Inc., Cleveland. While this has long been an expectation among records center operators, he says it is becoming an expectation among document destruction service providers whose clients are concerned about the chain of custody.

Andrews Software provides software solutions for records management, document destruction and media vault service providers.

Barry Grahek, CEO and president of DesertMicro, Jacksonville, Fla., a provider of software for document destruction service providers, says, “Some of the basic features that will help manage and grow a business tremendously are single entry of tickets that end up in invoices, integration with handheld computers and easy reporting features through a common database.” He adds, “Automating as many processes as possible will eliminate the costly paper trail and increase the operational efficiency of the company.”

EZshred’s Ray says software has evolved over the years to reflect various customer requests. “There will be

The Right Route

As the price of gas escalates, records and information management companies are looking to routing software solutions to improve their operations. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” says Scott Bidwell, president and COO of Andrews Software, Cleveland. “You need to know where your trucks are going and how they are getting there.” Bidwell says he sees growing interest in route optimization. He says, like bar coding and Web access, route optimization is becoming an expectation among RIM services providers.  “Optimizing a route definitely has a ROI in labor savings and better utilization of expensive assets (trucks),” says Ron Ray, president of EZshred, Chesterland, Ohio. “The number of trucks in a specific geographic area is what determines how extensive the routing software needs to be and, thus, the cost of such software.” He continues, “If you have 10 trucks, one in each city, and the cities are geographically disparate, then the standard route optimization (e.g. Microsoft MapPoint) is the best bang for the buck. If you have many trucks covering the same city, then a more sophisticated routing software package (e.g. Roadnet) would have a better ROI.” Barry Grahek, CEO and president of Desert Micro, Jacksonville, Fla., says, “With gas prices the way they are, at $4 to $5 per gallon, it is extremely important to ensure that drivers have the tools to help them service the stops on their routes in the most efficient manner.”

features that don’t apply to your business or there may be features that are unique to your business,” he says. “You want to be sure that the way you run your business can be reflected in the software. If you have to change how you do business to accommodate the software, then it will become more burdensome to use or you may have to sacrifice services that you generally offer to your clients that give your business the competitive edge.”

GETTING PERSONAL

When shopping for software, companies will need to provide potential vendors with a good deal of information about their businesses to ensure the software will meet their needs.

“Each situation can be different,” Bidwell says, “especially in the case of existing companies that are looking to change software vendors.”

The questions Andrews Software asks potential clients include which services they are providing, how they are currently managing their businesses, what is working and what is not and if they currently use software, Bidwell says. “We are trying to find out what their pains are.”

While it’s practically unthinkable to run a records center without the aid of software, he says many entrepreneurs who sold their information destruction businesses years ago and have decided to re-enter the destruction industry have said that they would not think of starting a new business without industry specific software from day one. “It forces good business practices, provides business rules and simplifies rollout,” Bidwell says of implementing a software solution at a company’s startup.

“We need to understand how they run their business to see if our software is a fit,” says Ray. General questions of interest to EZshred are whether a company is providing on- or off-site services or both, the number of trucks it operates, the number of stops per day and the current level of staffing.

Thomas suggests thinking of a software vendor as a long-term business partner. He encourages companies to share as much information about their operations as they are comfortable disclosing, including their business volume and level of staffing. “The more information we have, the better the software company can help them meet their needs.”

Thomas adds that O’Neil can help its records center clients by providing a gap analysis of their operations, which compares actual performance with potential performance, prior to software implementation. This can help a RIM services company get a better understanding of the return on their software investment.

SEEING A RETURN

Because each RIM business varies widely, there is no rule of thumb for determining the return on a software investment, sources say. However, Thomas says records management companies can expect to see a return within three years.  

He also suggests looking at the total cost of ownership when shopping for software. “Fees for support and development is money well-spent,” Thomas says. “If a company says that support or development is optional, walk away. That software is dying on the vine.”

In the case of document destruction companies, Ray says a one-man operation that was not running industry specific software initially can expect a return within five to 10 months. He says larger operations can expect to see a return more quickly, within two to four months. If a company is upgrading from an existing shredding software, Ray says a large company can see a return in four to six months.

Bidwell says ROI is influenced by the company’s environment prior to implementing its new software. The more manual the operation, the better the ROI, he adds.

“How many industries are there where the software touches all aspects of the operation,” Bidwell asks, noting that industry specific software enables account management, billing, scheduling and inventory control. “There is not one person short of the sales person who can’t do their job without the software. It is the foundation of their business.”

The author is editor of SDB magazine and can be contacted at dtoto@gie.net.