Document content conversion is a time consuming process. By opting for the proper addon solutions from Skytizens, your company can shave seconds off tasks while navigating within the Alfresco Document Library and multiple hours off upload processes.

Did you know that within a single company, most documents are photocopied 20 times? Leading online tech reporters at TechCrunchies point out what a huge waste of time and resources that is. When your employees are inefficient from the c-suite all the way down to the temps, you can be sure that the time you waste making 20 photocopies of the same document will impact the bottom line.

As we know, “time is money” in the business world. Every man-hour that is saved via digitization puts money back into the operations budget of your company. For that reason, saving time leads directly to business growth opportunities, the creation of new jobs, and expansion of your market share. Time is seriously important at the global enterprise level.

Let’s take a look at how one single aspect of digitalizing business data can cut down on man-hours. Let’s focus on content conversion modules in the Alfresco document management system (DMS) today. Here are 4 ways content conversion saves time and money.

1. Document Viewers

The first way that a digital DMS system like Alfresco saves you time revolves around file locations. In most moderns systems, documents live in so many different places it’s mind-boggling: departmental servers, individual desktops, Google Drive, work email, private inboxes, Dropbox, shared network folders, and more. Without any other option, document sharing in an organization like this happens via email. The dreaded email attachment causes problems because not everyone has the proprietary software to open every file format. It takes time to wait on another email when the first one doesn’t work.

Even attachments you can open waste time. Receive the email. Download each attachment. Locate them in a folder. Open them. Save as. Browse for a new location. Save. After seven steps you can finally begin to put eyes on the document.

The Alfresco DMS solves this problem in two ways. First, it gives you a central repository. You can think of it as a company-wide, cloud-based server. Every document can be opened directly from the library and is available to everybody you work with, including external partners. No seven steps. Just one.

Second, you have the convenience of document viewers. Document viewers are Alfresco addons that take files, convert them into a universal file format that is visible and accessible throughout the system, and then stores them like that forever. Here are specific file formats that you can open from within the cloud-based Alfresco Document Library, even if you don’t have software installed on your computer:

• MS Project
• AutoCAD
• e-Books
• PDF and PDF/A
• MS Office
• OpenOffice
• Google formats
• HTML media files
• and more!

2. PDF Conversion and other Document Formats

Good old PDFs. Everybody feels a sense of relief when they’ve been waiting on a document and they see a PDF attachment arrive, right? It’s especially welcome when a deadline is looming. Adobe has done amazing things with their portable document format. We all know and love the PDF. We can all count on being able to open it and work with the data. Why shouldn’t the systems in your company take advantage of that technology?

Whether you are in the same Alfresco system as a work colleague or you are an external partner trying to look at a mutual project, sharing complex digital documents in an accessible format essentially requires you to have a PDF converter. Have you ever worked in an office where some people didn’t have access to a PDF converter? Do you think they realize how unprofessional (not to mention annoying) that shareware watermark looks covering up information on every page? Alfresco includes an instant PDF converter as a tool that can be accessed throughout the system. You can export a PDF from anywhere in the library at any time with a quick click of the mouse.

3. Update Legacy Systems Instead of Buying New

Alfresco Advanced Text to PDF Converter is a content conversion addon that takes PDF conversion to the next level. Have lots of proprietary TXT files or text-based reports that are hard to review at a glance? This addon takes the power of a PDF Converter and applies it to systems that produce text files as their default data output. This module is for companies that have legacy systems in place that are still working for them. Older systems may not be modern in their file format, but they still do the job. This addon handles TXT to PDF conversions directly in the Alfresco Document Library without complications.

Users have the power to convert single files, multiple files in just one click, or even set up a folder to auto-convert. Once in PDF format, the system data is ready for universal sharing across networks and operating systems as needed. Able to handle a long list of text formatting and with the unique ability to detect 12 kinds of encoding, this module is crucial for any company that produces data in text format. Legacy systems remain usable long past their expiry date. This puts off hefty technology investments indefinitely and saves your company a huge chunk of change.

4. Computers Can “Read” for You with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology

Cloud integrated optical character recognition (OCR) technology equips your computers to “read” documents as they enter the system. This process is called data capture. It eliminates every moment that a bored data entry employee would spend  to hold a document, scan it in, input metadata tags, index it, input important details like ID numbers, and physically move the mouse to drag the newly-minted electronic version it to its final resting place. With OCR, this action happens in less than a second.

Integration of dynamic software such as ABBYY OCR into your Alfresco system means you can implement cloud-hosted software without buying a new software package. Featuring over 180 languages, barcode recognition, handwriting recognition, and image-to-text conversions, this powerful solution lets smaller companies play with the big dogs when it comes to machine reading. By getting onboard with Skytizens Alfresco, you have access to addons and integrated software tools that are non-native to the Alfresco system. Between the saved expense and the man-hours, this solution saves an enormous amount of money.

From document viewers to PDF creators and OCR modules, all of these functionalities are possible thanks to content conversion. Some solutions save time while others fully automate tasks. At the end of the day, they are all saving man-hours. Surprisingly, they can even save your company from having to buy expensive software. Did you know a digital function like content conversion could put that much money back into the budget?

For enterprise-level companies in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific regions looking to save money and time with the dynamic functionality of Alfresco systems, contact the Alfresco experts at Skytizens today.