The importance of instant, but accurate, information

The Dangers of Inaccurate Information

Whether you have gotten caught up in developments around recent reports of violence, political conflicts or airplane accidents, you know that the information you receive – from social media, from a news program or even from a friend – can be biased and inaccurate. And it rarely includes every pertinent detail. But that is the information we have – so sometimes we jump to conclusions and spread it as fact.

Molly Wells, former executive editor at CNET.com, discusses the issue poignantly in an article  published four days after the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. “If speed is the currency of the modern information era,” Wells says, “misinformation is the increasingly high cost.”

The Importance of Accurate Automation in Business

But now, picture this happening in a business. What if that information – inaccurate, incomplete, outdated or based on assumptions – is the information fueling your business?

Consider loan processing in banks. As applicants are sending in documents – including personal information, credit history and other critical financial information – these documents can easily be misfiled or lost. And, as these documents are updated over time, it is hard to keep track of the most current version or incomplete documentation. Whether the end result is a misinformed loan approval or a frustrated customer, there can be real financial consequences and it can be damaging to the bank’s reputation.

> Learn more | What is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

4 ways capture helps ensure complete and accurate information

How do you ensure the information your employees are using to make critical business decisions is accurate and complete? You capture the most up-to-date documents and information and make it all instantly accessible in a central secure location.

1. Capture from electronic and physical storage

Scan and import any document type – including paper documents, PDFs, email correspondences and even engineering drawings, just to name a few.

2. Capture from remote offices

Centralize documents (and information) you receive at remote locations, instantly giving staff at any office access to them.

3. Capture while on the go

Using your mobile device, you can take images of documents or complete electronic forms and, from the road, upload them to a central location.

4. Capture accurate information directly from your documents

Advanced capture solutions automatically extract information from those business documents, validate it against other systems and databases and then update all your systems instantly.

It’s a scary world out there – so much inaccurate information quickly being accepted as fact. But you don’t have to be afraid. If speed is the currency of the modern information era, there are tools out there to help you capitalize on that and allow you to turn it into a competitive advantage. Just remember one word: Capture.

Browse other articles: 

• What is federated search? 
• Why choose an electronic document management system (EDMS)
• Why do you need enterprise content management (ECM)?