Eclipse Group Announces Results of Market Research Into use of Document Management and Imaging Software

HAYWARDS HEATH, England, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Key findings:

- 67% of respondents are currently sending the majority of their sales invoices by paper rather than electronically using a document management solution

- 75% of respondents are currently sending the majority of their purchase invoices by paper rather than using a document management system

- 83% currently have to re-type invoices received into their finance system

New market research conducted by Eclipse Group http://www.eclgrp.com reveals that 75% of companies are still heavily reliant on paper based invoicing processes, despite the significant risks this brings to the business. The survey, which includes the views of financial professionals from a variety of sectors including insurance, financial services, industrial and automotive, also found that 83% of respondents currently have to re-type invoices into their finance system upon receipt into the accounts departments rather than using a document management system (http://www.eclgrp.com/news/2/82), raising serious concerns over accuracy and efficiency.

Commenting on the research results, Gary Waylett, CEO of Eclipse Group says, "Given the efficient way most businesses are now able to share information, it is surprising to find so many finance departments are not using a document management solution (http://www.eclgrp.com/company) and continue to re-key data between systems. In addition to duplicating effort, and hence adding cost, re-keying significantly adds the risk of errors which then complicates the reconciliation process."

Waylett continues, "Paper-based working is a high risk approach, as too many companies have unfortunately discovered. Paper records are at risk of flooding, fire, theft or loss in transit to a third party archive, risking compromise of both corporate intellectual property and personal details as well as breach of the Data Protection Act."

Eclipse Group believes that the adoption of the latest document management and imaging software ( http://www.eclgrp.com/document-management-and-imaging) can deliver significant financial savings. A document management system can reduce manual intervention and electronic authorisation will enable finance to focus attention just on the exceptions. A document management solution will also allow staff overheads to be cut, as well as greatly reducing or removing time spent answering queries, searching for invoices and tracking authorisation across the organisation.

Waylett explains, "The integration of a document management solution with financials can add greater control and improve compliance, whilst also reducing risk - as long as effective off-site backups are in place, organisations are no longer exposed to the danger of off-site storage disaster with paper archives. Finance has played a key role in supporting the business over the past few years. As organisations start to look for new growth opportunities, now is the time for the spotlight to turn to finance, to squeeze greater value from the department through greater efficiencies and far better financial control."

Those finance professionals surveyed said that efficiency gains would be the key driver for implementing a document management system (38%) with improvements in accuracy the second most popular choice (19%). Surprisingly, the green agenda was the least popular reason for implementing document management and imaging software (3%).

About Eclipse Group

Eclipse Group is an international business consultancy and solution provider specialising in the provision and implementation of business management software to both national and multi-national organisations.

Since the opening of our first office in 1987, Eclipse Group has implemented solutions and provided strategic consulting services to more than 2,000 organisations in 70+ countries around the world. Working directly with other Eclipse Group companies and a network of established business partners worldwide, Eclipse Group continues to provide proactive advice and support services to help organisations streamline their accounting, business management and reporting processes.

Eclipse Group has developed close business relationships with a number of major software authors including; Infor, Microsoft, Proactis, Systems@Work and VersionOne, enabling Eclipse Group to deliver strategic, effective and resilient solutions to manage the following business requirements: Financial and management accounting; Reporting/consolidation; Business intelligence; Spend control, purchase to pay, personal expense management; Time recording and billing; Business automation, document management, scanning and workflow.

These strategic business partnerships, combined with Eclipse Group's commitment to providing the very highest levels of consulting, support and training services, ensure strong and long lasting customer relationships

    
    For further information, please contact:

    Kirsty Cornell/Kieran Kent
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