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Companies have looked forward to the 'paperless office'
for years - if not decades - but, despite ever-wider use of
computers and electronic documents for daily operations, corporate
treasury departments are still by-and-large paper-based and
wasting significant money and resources as a result.
However, a new report released by J.P. Morgan outlines how
companies can cut the paper from their treasury departments,
saving millions of dollars and reducing tons of waste in the
process.
The savings can be significant - the report states that large
treasury departments can generate over five tons of paper
per year, equivalent to 143 trees and responsible for the
creation of 106 tons of greenhouse gases.
The report highlights a number of best practices to help
Treasury departments move toward a 'zero-return' environment,
including the following:
- Re-engineering Receivables
Many Treasury departments still spend time and money manually
entering receivable and invoice information into their accounts
receivable system to track payment status. Image capture
and data capture, in conjunction with web-based data repositories,
provide faster and easier access to documentation and eliminate
the cost of transporting paper from lockbox locations.
Treasury staff can then use their bank's online channel
to improve internal workflow, receive automated exception
notices and make same-day exception decisions.
•Streamlining Disbursements
An online disbursement platform can significantly reduce
the resources and hours required to initiate payments, research
payment status and reconcile accounts. These platforms also
reduce risk by providing safeguards against check fraud.
•Online Reports and Statements
Treasury departments are deluged with reports of all kinds.
Bringing these reports online eliminates boxes of paper
statements and the storage fees associated with them. With
an electronic archive, Treasury staff can use the 'Search'
feature to locate specific transactions and other data.
•Document Security
Paper documents pose significant security and business continuity
risks. A paperless environment turns them into electronic
images that are stored in a central online repository that
can restrict access to sensitive information. New workflow
processes can be developed for creating, saving, filing
and accessing documents that factor in security and disaster
recovery requirements, as well as regulatory considerations.
To download the full report - Click
Here
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