Utilizing paper conversion services to hone a competitive edge

Gaining an edge, both against competitors and in a general sense, it is a key way to boost sales, service and operations in a broad number of industries. For many firms, technology provides the sharpening stone to hone that edge, allowing businesses to keep up with their industry and even pull ahead in some cases.

According to ThinkAdvisor, it's not always the technology itself, but how a firm utilizes it to gain that edge.

"The key is leveraging technology to support your business, not to chase it just for the sake of it," Bella Allaire, executive vice president and head of operations and technology at Raymond James, told the news source. "There's always something newer around the corner with more bells and whistles – but you cannot allow the new toys to derail the bigger mission."

For many firms, the trick to foster these advantages and harnessing technology for change is to deliver key support for these tools in the form of data. The big data movement supports this, but further efforts may be required, and as such, companies need to consider their other primary source of information, paper documents and records.

By migrating paperwork to digital formats using document conversion services, companies can optimize the data that is available to other advanced technologies, such as business analytics or remote working platforms.

"A lot of advisors buy technology and expect it to magically change their practice. But that's not how it works," said Michael Kitces, a partner and director of research at Pinnacle Advisory Group, according to the source. "What advisors need to do is first structure their practice in a way they can use the technology. If you buy the latest fancy gadget, that doesn't require you to change. The real value comes when you change what you're doing and then the technology helps you do it better."

Going paperless supports these changes and delivers the information and edge necessary to leverage innovation across the board. For many firms, this will be the catalyst for growth and key edge needed to continue moving forward with other changes. Ultimately, by embracing conversion services and paperless operations, more companies will be able to enable improvements that will drive innovation for their entire industry, driving the economy and global improvements ahead of them.

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