Documents are a company’s lifeblood, but managing them effectively is becoming increasingly difficult as volumes increase. Ravi Venkatraman, director, Xerox Global Services, Xerox India examines the pros and cons of outsourcing - rationalising that the area of document and information management is ripe to reap the next efficiency gains.

Document and information management is fast becoming an area where organisations see their next opportunity for productivity and efficiency gains. According to IDC, 90% of companies do not track how much they spend on producing and maintaining documents each year and companies spend as much as 10% of revenues on document production, management and distribution. Evidence of more immediate pressures are not difficult to find either: paper output volumes are increasing by up to 21% per annum as per a study by Giga; and up to half of all helpdesk calls are printer-related, according to Gartner Group research findings. As the number of documents, files, Web pages, e-mails and related content rise, the complexity, time and costs associated with managing them expands accordingly.

The significance of outsourcing can be seen by the fact that virtually every Fortune 1000 company has at least one major part of their IT and administrative support functions operated by third parties. Document outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular whether as an off-site or on-site (facilities management) implementation. The market embraces both just as happily in order to get the best out of their outsourcing partners. This works particularly well where clients require not only capabilities such as print-on-demand or distribute-then-print but also labour-intensive, finishing, response and fulfilment and distribution services.

Successful outsourcing allows companies to hand over non-core processes, such as document management, to service providers with greater knowledge, experience and insight. This in turn delivers more efficient business models and revenue streams as companies streamline operations.

With specialisation becoming an industry norm, service providers have developed a range of services and products that can be specifically tailored for individual customers and designed specifically to improve processes while saving customers' time and money.

While outsourcing inevitably involves risk, it can be minimised by adopting a partnership approach by which service providers will be taken as strategic consultants rather than suppliers. However, customers will have to carefully evaluate risks before going in for outsourcing to make it a win-win situation for both the customer and the service provider.

Fulfilling the following can do this:
-- Make sure you know why you’re outsourcing, and that your reasons meet your stated goals
-- Perform due diligence, and bring in experience if you don’t have it - look for proven track record, technical excellence and the ability to deliver process improvement
-- Have a transition plan, particularly for the first year of the outsourcing deal
-- Build a relationship with the supplier and its key account managers
-- Asking for the total document care services will give an idea about the implementation methodology and long term commitments.