4 new technologies which help speed up the approval process

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4 new technologies which help speed up

the approval process


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Introduction

Matter management is a complex affair.

As a team member working with your colleagues and manager

to compile matter folders, you may have experienced the

frustration of making last minute amendments to documents or

spent unnecessary time searching for a document that has

simply disappeared or been saved elsewhere.


Introduction

…And that’s only the beginning! Next comes the challenge of getting

that long awaited stamp of approval from the person in charge of the

case. This may take some time.

Gone are the days where you could find your managers at the end of

the corridor and receive an immediate answer. At best, they are out

of the office, too busy dealing with an influx of emails from your

peers or other urgent priorities.


Introduction

Even when you get an answer, it is likely that there will be some

toing and froing between you and your manager before you receive

that final approval. Technology is there to help you…


Introduction

Although it will not support your case in any way and will not work

out the psychological path to selling an idea to your boss, you still

can use some of it to optimise this approval process and bridge some

of the gaps between you and your manager.


4 new technologies which help speed up

the approval process.


1. Scan to Share – makes your documents easy to share and manage

Scanning technology quickly converts paper documents into an

electronic format for easy storage and sharing. Although this is an

obvious one, it is a must have.



Working with paper documents during the approval process is

inefficient, especially if more than one manager is involved in the

sign-off process.

Hard copies are not easy to share and while sending files by post or

delivering them by hand are viable alternatives, they are costly and

inconvenient.

Aside from the widespread optical character recognition (OCR)

technology, today’s scanners route your documents automatically to

your email inbox, a LAN repository folder or a DMS. You then have to

retrieve the document and proceed to sharing it yourself.


Integration: The latest scanning technologies take this a little

further by automating steps between scanning, storing and sharing.

In one push of the scanner button, you can now send your

document on a sharing platform, in the cloud or on an in-house

server, and dispatch to your co-workers.

This is a huge time saver, and it greatly reduces the risk of error,

inherent to any human manipulation.



2. File sharing – makes your documents mobile

With almost 20% of the EU workforce spending more than 10 working

hours per week out of the office and 57% using their own devices*,

making documents accessible at any time and from anywhere is a must.



The time it takes to get an approval is partly due to the lack of

availability of the persons involved. If there’s only one approver it

is easier to manage but with several people involved, the process

can quickly turn into a nightmare.


File sharing tools, in-house or ‘Cloud’ based, are now fairly common

and are great for providing quick, easy and secure access to

documents from any device (iPads, tablets or smartphones) and at

any time – perfect for your managers who can view documents at

their convenience.

When considering such solution, make sure it can synchronise

documents in order to clearly identify the latest version of a file and

that it automatically notifies your manager of its availability.



3. Document discussion threads – facilitates communication and interaction

The process of getting approval is a lot like selling a product. So if you

are not in front of your manager to provide the pitch, how do you

actually support your opinion?


• Solutions do exists, which allows you to annotate or comment on the

matter and conversely which allows the manager and other people

involved to review, mark up, amend and add notes and comments.

• Some file sharing tools also allow opening discussions between all

participants on documents. Not only does that greatly enhance the flow of

communication, it also enables you to track changes, link these back to

their explanation and understand the rationale behind certain decisions. It

also provides you with a history that you could analyse and learn from in

the future.

3. Document discussion threads – facilitates communication and interaction


4. Document / folder organiser – immediate access to all relevant files

• As part of the sign-off process, your manager may have further

questions associated with the documents they are approving.

• It is important to provide the answers quickly. Your efficiency will

be heavily linked to your ability to find the original documents

which answers the question, and therefore in the way you store

and organise all the files which contributed in the building of your

final case.


New technology can now collate multiple documents in different

formats (office document, videos, emails, pdfs…) within a single file. In

other words, all your documents (including the final version and the

associated previous drafts, briefs...) are in one location and easy to find.

4. Document / folder organiser –immediate access to all relevant files


• The technology replicates the familiar paper-based binders so you

can organise different sections and flick through them quickly to find

the exact page required just as you would within a physical ring

binder.

• A must-have keyword search function can help locate the relevant

files quickly to help find the right document to answer your

manager’s questions. Also document mark-up and annotation

capabilities can be used to respond directly within the document.

• All in all, these organisers are huge time savers and fairly convenient

in such context.

4. Document / folder organiser –immediate access to all relevant files


Conclusion

Matter management, and more specifically the approval process, involves

juggling many different elements. To achieve this, technology helps. Among

other things, it puts the correct documents in front of the approvers at the

right time..


Conclusion

It empowers managers to access and view documents remotely, at their

convenience and when it comes to communicating thoughts and opinions, it

facilitates interaction between all parties.

However one thing technology can’t do is understand and establish

relationship. By engaging with and learning how your managers work, you are

better positioned to approach them at the best time and to pitch your piece.

Once you get to know their personalities, technology can give you that extra

edge and make the approval process more efficient.


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