• customers
  • scope of services
  • news & events
  • people
  • partners
  • careers
  • contact

Karlson

see more share more secure more save more
back to news & events
23 May 2019

Is your financial department making the most of its money?

Finance departments are notorious for tightly managing budgets for other departments in the business, but increasingly, technology correctly applied can save cost in their department too. Our director, Steve Todd, explains in more detail what he’s noticing when talking to finance execs about their expectations of print and document management. Read Steve’s thoughts below, along with a short interview with an integral part of our finance team, Sheila O’Donoghue.

Recently, while in conversation with a number of financial directors, it came to my attention that many do not understand the full potential of a paper-lite business model. Putting ink on paper, both internally and externally, is a costly process, yet, many FDs see this as minimum spend when compared to large investments made by their companies.

In actual fact, the cost of paper and ink wastage to a business can add up, as well as the amount of time lost by employees when printing, searching for and filing documents. Surprisingly to most, the third largest expenditure for a company, after people and property, is print and documentation – so it’s not something to be taken lightly.

Many finance departments are happy with their current processes, not realising the full potential of more effective solutions on the market. A paper-lite approach not only reduces cost to the business but also improves security, a crucial aspect of GDPR.

After spending some time thinking about how to approach the paper-lite conversation, one which often falls on deaf ears, I decided to speak with our own finance department to give customers an insight into how Karlson adopts a paper-lite approach. Perhaps highlighting our own processes will help others see the potential a paper-lite business-model can have.

I sat down with Sheila O’Donoghue, Financial Accountant at Karlson, to discuss how we’ve implemented paper-lite technology into the finance department and the benefits of such processes. Click below to read more.

headshot of Steve Todd director at Karlson UK.Steve Todd, Director

Sheila O’Donoghue, Financial Accountant

Why is a print and document management system important for financial departments?

“As we’re at the heart of the business, we need to be aware of everything that’s going on. The easier this is, the more efficient we can be as a department. We control the budget at Karlson, therefore it’s helpful to be able to see how much each department is spending on print-related assets. It’s also important to remember that not all transactions are in one place, so having a system that aggregates this information allows us to track spending more accurately, making a phenomenal difference to our finances. Our print and document management systems have definitely allowed us to see more within the business.”

What technology have we implemented so far?

“As a technology agnostic company, we’re equipped to work with a number of leading technology providers, giving us the flexibility to find a solution that works for us. So far, we’ve eliminated the print step for invoice processing, keeping everything strictly online. Additionally, we have an add-on for our email system to make invoice approval a quicker process. The auto-fill feature recognises the invoice sender, automatically filling in their details before asking for approval. We’re also taking advantage of e-sign technology, cutting the processing time for contracts down to an absolute minimum.”

How are we going to add to this in the future?

“The next step for Karlson’s financial department is to further improve data flow by linking our CRM with all the financial systems we have in place. The aim of this move is to again help the finance team see more in terms of what is happening in our other departments.”

From the successful implementation of our own paper-lite technology, we have achieved a 30% decrease in paper usage in the finance department since 2017. We’ve also helped our clients achieve similar results through the adoption of similar technologies from digital archiving to improved digital security.

By 2020, our internal aim as a company is to see more, share more, save more and secure more across all of our departments.

So to all those working in finance teams reading this – make contact today!

read more...
share this post

More news from Karlson

  • Using automated technology to free up resources
    Using automated technology to free up resources
  • How cloud technology can play a key part in improving trust and transparency
    How cloud technology can play a key part in improving trust and transparency
  • The impact of digital technology on company culture
    The impact of digital technology on company culture
  • How a manged print service will help improve the customer journey
    How a manged print service will help improve the customer journey
back to news

Learn more about how we can help make your organisations paper and digital documents work hand in hand:

  • 020 7426 1343
    contact@karlsonuk.com
    40 Clifton Street,
    London EC2A 4DX
    see more share more secure more save more
    partners people customers scope of service

    © Karlson 2021 | Terms & Conditions

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Please disable cookies in your browser if you do not wish us to set them.Ok