Companies are taking their documents and the processes that produce them far more seriously. "It's not just 'print, mail and insert' anymore. Now documents are seen as a moment of contact with customers," notes UPS Mail Innovations COO John Kuiper. To create the personalized communication essential to customer relationship building, document professionals must build applications to drive customization. Then they must reach customers with a quality product and fast time to market. Companies are automating all this because it is the only way to manage it, according to Kuiper. The good news is you don't have to tackle this all at once. In fact, it may be best not to.

Companies can go as deeply and quickly into digital workflow as they wish, but many start small and build as they grow. This works because most links in the chain of turning digits into documents are modular, allowing companies to build on their workflow as they acquire the ability and knowledge. A staged implementation provides a smooth way to transition to a new process and get buy-in from the organization as users see a more streamlined workflow, suggests Ann Jurczyk, vice president of Group 1 Software (g1.com).

Many companies are doing partial implementation because they can't afford to throw away all their processes and start from scratch. "They may apply digital workflow to pieces of the process, rather than creating a full uninterrupted on demand system right away," explains Jerry DeRome, manager of on demand technologies for Bell & Howell Mail and Messaging Technologies (BellHowell.com). "Many are transmitting their most volatile products to digital workflow, and starting with these short runs lets operations get processes nailed down as they work towards true on demand digital workflow."

"Organizations should focus on finding their 'pain points' in their current document workflow by looking for the areas where the greatest inefficiencies lie, then attack them on a business case-driven basis." says Dave Squires, vice president of Sefas Innovation, Inc. (sefas.com).

Standards Keep It Compatible
"You want to invest in something that is structured in building block mode so you can add as you grow or need, but it all has to be compatible, and this is where open architecture and standards for systems, file types, networks etc. must be considered," explains Robert Raus, director of solutions marketing for Océ Printing Systems (oceprinting.com).

"If you start wherever the expertise is, you can then expand your scope into other areas and be relatively sure you will have connectivity, that files will transfer, and you can ship things around or output to web or CD, and it is open standards that allow you to do this," Raus adds. "In publishing environments especially, things are already pretty compatible. Even with Macs, in this market users are able to cross platforms, connect different devices, share image files, and address different PDLs like PostScript level 2 or 3, TIFF, JPEG and HTML."

Remember the People in the Workflow
"Any time you change business processes, the technology is one thing but the biggest hurdle with change is people," declares Allan Sullivan, IBM Printing Systems Division manager of consulting and integration services (ibm.com). "Although the company may want everything right away, people cannot absorb it. Operators don't know what to do with it.

"Digital workflow should be implemented in stages. This lets operations people gain experience in an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. The complete production process as well as the production staff must be considered. The approach of a workflow 'backbone' with modular capabilities -- even from multiple vendors -- that can be snapped on and off results in a single interface that is easier for staff to learn and use."

Outsourcing Is One Way to Start
Operations can also start their digital workflow implementation by outsourcing individual stages, such as back up. "For one client, we now do half their volume, and they do half. The application already exists at our site, and as a result they have built-in backup for their workflow," notes Kuiper.

Kuiper says it's smart to outsource, and not just because outsourcing is his business. "Digital workflow is becoming more and more complex, making it almost impossible to do it yourself." UPS Mail Innovations (mail2000.com) has been building their digital workflow system over the last six years. They started with just physical mail, and over time added other parts of the workflow process. If you do choose to implement a digital workflow system in house, Kuiper recommends investing the energy upfront, based on his company's experience. "We have to be precise in our requirements, but on the other hand, testing and working with the evolving process gives you such enormous knowledge."

Your company may have already started down the digital path and not realized it. "Any organization that leverages information technology to make even a modest improvement in one area of the document process has implemented a digital workflow system," says Dave Squires.