Ricoh Document Governance Index - October 2009

Conducted across Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom & Ireland

An exclusive research report from

Coleman Parkes Research
Contents

1.0 Introduction to the Ricoh Document Governance Index 3

2.0 Executive summary 3
3.0 Overview of key findings 4
4.0 Spend on document governance is essential
to the business yet not managed strategically 5
5.0 Control of document spend is sporadic and uncontrolled 7
6.0 Responsibility for document governance is decentralised 9
7.0 Surface level view of benefits overlooks long term gains 12
8.0 Summary 14
9.0 Conclusion 15
10.0 Ricoh’s solutions to govern documents effectively 16
1.0 Introduction to the Ricoh Document
Governance Index
This study was conducted by independent research firm Coleman Parkes Research. It was conducted
to provide a fresh insight into document management, how it is governed in Europe and how it fits in
today’s economic and technological climate. The term document governance is being used and is
defined as the way an organization controls and manages its business documents. It includes effectively
managing the costs, technology, sustainability and security of documents across its operations.

A total of 311 detailed interviews were conducted during July and August 2009 with senior decision
makers (C-level or equivalent) in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the United
Kingdom & Ireland. All respondents work in either medium or large companies in the Financial Services;
Professional Services; Public and Telecommunications / Utilities and Media sectors across Europe. They are
responsible for document management within their respective organisations. The survey was conducted
under controlled conditions to ensure it provides representative information across Europe and within
each targeted vertical sector.

2.0 Executive summary

This study shows that, despite the fact that 77 per cent of European leaders are aware of the benefits of
a document governance strategy, more than three quarters of them have not yet fully implemented a plan
within their business. The lack of cost management is having a direct impact on their bottom line.

Moreover, the processes that are in place are sporadic and uncontrolled, with overall responsibility
fragmented and decentralised. In many cases several people across the organisation are responsible and the
ownership of the process is not clear. The absence of a strategic approach means businesses are missing
out on the benefits of a more efficient, sustainable and secure working environment. Therefore, they are
leaving themselves vulnerable to duplication of activity and inefficiencies that are affecting their costs and
their overall business performance.

The reality is that implementation of such a strategy can be easily addressed. The next step for business
leaders is to move away from the conventional and short-term view of managing documents to a long-term
governance model that complements the wider business needs. A document governance strategy can be
integrated seamlessly into an organisation’s existing infrastructure. It simplifies business processes and
offers both short and long term benefits such as, reducing costs and environmental impact, increasing
security and applying more effective allocation of resources. This enables business leaders to focus on
driving the growth of their core business.

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3.0 Overview of key findings
• Document governance is essential to the business but is not high on the strategic agenda
Total spend on document management in Europe currently exceeds an estimated €14 billion per
year 1, with companies spending up to 5 per cent of annual turnover. Just over a third (39 per cent)
of companies have implemented a document governance strategy to manage this important area for
the business.

• Control of document spend is sporadic and uncontrolled

This lack of strategic governance of document activity underpins some interesting findings with
regards to cost control. With just 45 per cent of companies in Europe monitoring costs on a regular
basis, businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to duplication of activity and inefficiencies that
are directly impacting the bottom line.

• Responsibility for document governance is decentralised

The Index finds that responsibility for document governance is decentralised with no single function
accountable for this area. In many cases, several people are accountable for the often limited document
governance policies in place but more often, responsibility is devolved either to department heads
or individuals.

• Short term view of benefits overlooks longer term gains

Encouragingly, the report found that the majority of senior executives – 77 per cent – appreciate the
potential to make cost savings as a result of document governance, but the results highlight lower
awareness of the longer term benefits. Whilst lower printing costs are acknowledged by 81 per cent
of respondents as a key benefit, senior executives were less aware of the benefits of document
governance in terms of improved security, document workflow efficiency and employee productivity.

1
Based on estimated spend on document management as a percentage of monthly turnover

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4.0 Spend on document governance is essential
to the business yet not managed strategically
Just over a third of European organisations have a fully
developed document governance strategy in place

The report reveals that business leaders estimate that they spend around €14 billion per year on
document management and up to five per cent of their annual turnover. Despite being an important and
integral part of day to day business, few companies demonstrate formal processes to manage and monitor
their activity.

At first sight the existence and implementation of document governance policies appears to be encouraging
with around 4 out of 10 companies across Europe implementing a fully developed strategy and a further
14 per cent saying they will implement one soon. However, closer examination of the data reveals that
over half are not implementing a strategy at present with one third doing no more than issuing a series
of guidelines or leaving departments to decide their own approach.

Figure 1 – Implementation of formal document governance strategies

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At a country level, the findings are consistent and even in Belgium (where companies are most likely to have
a document governance strategy compared with their European peers) just over half of organisations
currently implement a fully developed document governance strategy. At the other end of the scale, in the
UK & Ireland just over a third (34 per cent) of companies have implemented a document governance
strategy and in France, this level drops to one quarter (26 per cent) of companies. Interestingly, a sizeable
proportion of companies leave the responsibility of document governance to individual departments. In
Spain, almost a quarter of companies (24 per cent) are taking this approach and in the Netherlands, 1 in 5.
We will explore the issue of a decentralised approach much more in Section 3 but on initial observation,
with such a fragmented approach and so few companies focussing on document governance, it’s highly
likely that companies are exposing themselves to cost and environmental inefficiencies, and an increased
risk of security breaches.

Figure 2 – Implementation of formal document governance strategy

Where respondents did not have any form of document governance in place, the most cited reason –
almost 1 in 3 – was that there was no perceived need. Others felt that they do not have the internal
resources to manage such a policy (24 per cent) or that there was no senior management support for
such a strategy (20 per cent). These responses highlight some of the challenges that lie within business
and the need to raise awareness of the key benefits of a strategic approach to document governance.

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5.0 Control of document spend is sporadic
and uncontrolled
38 per cent review document costs only ‘sometimes’ and
as many as 17 per cent never review these costs at all.

Despite the existence of document production at all levels within an organisation, the management of
the costs is sporadic and uncontrolled.

Almost half of the organisations questioned recognise that their investment in document governance
is increasing year-on-year, yet the monitoring of these costs is unstructured, and the full potential to
measure their investment is not being realised.

Less than half (43 per cent) actively monitor document costs on a regular basis and a sizeable minority
of nearly 1 in 5 (17 per cent) do not monitor costs at all.

Figure 3 – Monitoring document governance costs

Overall, relatively few European companies are monitoring document governance costs regularly across
the whole organisation. Belgian and Spanish companies were least likely to actively monitor costs
(32 per cent and 36 per cent respectively). In Italy, just 10 per cent of companies said that they do not
monitor document costs and almost half (44 per cent) only monitor costs ‘sometimes’, therefore not
gaining a consistent view of document activity and how it is supporting their business.
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 Interestingly, when asked how much their company spends on its document governance activities in
an average month, around one fifth of those claiming to monitor costs were unable to provide figures.

Overall, it’s also clear that in many European organisations,

the group wide figures are buried deep within the
organisation and knowledge of the costs involved is often
vague or incomplete.

Those companies that did provide data indicated that most of the costs were related to an individual or
division rather than providing a figure that considered the business as a whole. Therefore, it is likely that the
total estimated investment by the respondents is a modest indication of the real value. This is perhaps
not surprising given that responsibility for document governance frequently resides with department
managers such as the HR Director or Office Manager. One third of senior managers, rising to 42 per
cent in Belgium, admit that they do not know the average monthly cost to their business (or presumably,
where to find such a cost). Such limited awareness of the costs involved is worrying given that effective
management relies on visibility.

Figure 4 – Lack of knowledge of printer costs

Certainly, there is an understanding of the need to monitor and manage costs, but for as many as 57 per
cent it isn’t a regular occurrence, meaning that clear opportunities to drive efficiency, increase productivity,
reduce environmental impact and enhance security are being missed.

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6.0 Responsibility for document governance is
decentralised
In most cases, several people are responsible for document
governance and no single function holds total responsibility.

Across European companies, the responsibility for overseeing and managing document governance is
diverse and widely distributed with departmental managers (including HR Directors, Office Managers,
sales and marketing heads, etc.) holding at least partial responsibility in 6 out of 10 organisations.
In most cases, no single function holds total responsibility.

Figure 5 – Job function responsibility for document management

A decentralised approach overlooks the key benefits to be gained from a central strategic approach to
document governance. Where individual departments are managing their own document needs, duplication
is increased and companies miss out on the opportunity to optimise their workflow. A silo approach may
suit the needs of the individual departments but without central accountability and governance practices,
the business isn’t gaining a single view of its document activities and an accurate understanding of where
improvements can be implemented to increase security, productivity, decrease environmental footprint and
drive efficiency.

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 The solution is to adopt a centralised, controlled approach with re-engineered processes that align directly
with the specific needs of the business. When document governance practices are led by a senior company
executive, the solution is integrated into the overall company strategy and benefits are amplified across
the broader organisation. This means that departmental managers can also focus on what they do best,
helping to grow the company.

57 per cent of senior executives think individuals should

be capable of managing their own document and printing
requirements

In addition to devolving responsibility for document governance to departmental managers, 57 per cent of
senior executives across Europe believe individual staff members should be capable of managing their own
document and printing requirements. However, while a majority of Boardrooms feel their employees should
be making their own printing decisions, many believe employees are not always printing with efficiency or
sustainability in mind.

Using a 10 point scale where 10 equals ‘care a lot’ and 1 equals ‘do not care at all’, companies were asked to
rate their employees’ behaviour with respect to making printing errors and duplicating documents already
in existence.

Figure 6 – Senior Executives’ impressions of employee attitudes

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 Senior executives scored their employees at 5.3 out of 10 with regards to making printing errors and
5.4 when it comes to duplicating documents. These scores are relatively low and show that senior
management in most companies across Europe lack some confidence in their approach to document
governance internally.

In devolving responsibility for document governance to

individuals, business leaders are increasing the potential
for duplication and security breaches.

In addition sustainability goals become more challenging as there is no central automated policy in place.

It is therefore encouraging that half of those interviewed believe their board colleagues are committed to
fully training employees in this area. However these results indicate that employees may not be receiving
the governance required to ensure they work in the optimum way. Whilst it is essential that employees
should practice a certain level of responsibility when it comes to how they manage their documents,
companies are overlooking the opportunity to manage this role centrally and let their employees focus
on running the business.

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7.0 Surface level view of benefits overlooks long
term gains
The perceived benefits of optimised document governance
include lower costs (81 per cent), environmental benefits
(73 per cent), improved staff productivity (74 per cent) and
improved security (68 per cent)

An interesting discussion arises when we start to look at the perceived benefits of document governance
across Europe.

Most companies associate a wide range of benefits with improved or optimised document governance.

The most widespread perceived benefit of an optimised document governance approach is lower
printing costs, said to be beneficial by 81 per cent of companies surveyed and very beneficial by nearly
half (46 per cent). Nearly as many (77 per cent) cite reduced maintenance costs as an important benefit,
although fewer (35 per cent) regard this as very beneficial. Other notable widely perceived advantages of
an optimised document governance approach are environmental benefits (73 per cent), improved staff
productivity (74 per cent) and improved security (68 per cent).

Figure 7 – Benefits of optimised document governance

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Clearly the potential for cost saving is widely recognised and accepted. In total, 77 per cent of companies
across Europe say that an improved document governance policy would lead to at least some cost savings
and one quarter believes these savings would be significant. Overall, very few believe such improvement
would generate no cost savings.

Figure 8 – Cost impact of improved document governance

But there are some benefits where awareness is lower. For example the benefits associated with workflow
improvements were recognised by just 55 per cent of respondents.

If senior executives in Europe are less aware of the opportunities to streamline processes and optimise their
workflows, perhaps there is lower awareness of the long term benefits of document governance, which
may indicate why so few (39 per cent) have implemented a strategy within their business.

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8.0 Summary
• The situation with regard to effective document governance across Europe is mixed. 39 percent
of medium and large organisations have a well defined and strictly implemented strategy whilst a
further 14 per cent say that they are implementing one soon.

• Over half are not implementing a strategy at present and one third do no more than issue a series
of guidelines or leave their departments to decide their own approach.

• There is a generally low awareness of the costs involved in managing documents and spend is rarely
audited. Less than half of companies actively monitor document costs on a regular basis and one third
admit that they do not know the average monthly cost of document production to their business.

• The minority are operating a centralised policy with as many as 6 out of 10 companies leaving the
responsibility for document governance at least partially in the hands of heads of department.

• Such decentralised control and responsibility suggests that business do not have an overall view of
document governance across their organisation and are unable to manage the costs involved or run a
solution that integrates with the overall needs of the business.

• There is wide recognition and acceptance of the importance of document governance policies, procedures
and protocols. The vast majority of companies associate improved document governance with a wide
range of benefits, especially and not surprisingly reduced costs (81 per cent).

• But senior executives in Europe are less aware of the opportunities to streamline fleets, optimise
workflow and increase available resources internally suggesting lower awareness of the longer term
benefits of document governance.

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9.0 Conclusion
It is evident that whilst the majority of companies in Europe understand the benefits of document
governance, most have an ad hoc approach to implementing it and many either delegate accountability
for their area to colleagues or apply limited audit processes to monitor investment.

Perhaps therefore, one of the biggest challenges in this marketplace is changing the mindset of
business leaders and supporting them to better recognise the role document governance plays within
their business and how they can play a part in its success. In reality, effective document governance is
relatively easy to address and can have a positive impact on the profitability and efficiency of a business
if implemented correctly.

In addition, perhaps there is a tendency for companies to miss the opportunities that lie beyond the short
term benefits. If governance is viewed only as a way to cut costs, it will certainly deliver savings in the short
term but it is not addressing the longer term impacts on the day-to-day business operations, how it is
meeting the needs of the business and supporting the overall business strategy. Importantly the business
will not gain the long term benefits that add real value to the bottom line.

What is required is greater control and centralisation of document governance and for business leaders to
step forward and take ownership of this area so that an effective solution can be closely integrated into
the organisation at all levels.

Only when companies truly recognise the strategic importance of optimised document governance, and
view it as a key driver of efficiencies and productivity both in the short and long term, will they be able to
realise the true long terms benefits. Ultimately, it’s about the right balance of people, processes, tools and
the latest products that help businesses to uncover inefficiency and implement solutions that help them to
drive their business forward.

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10.0 Ricoh’s solutions to govern
documents effectively
Ricoh offers a range of products and solutions that help companies to take a simple and effective approach
to managing their documents. With a world-class portfolio of hardware, software, services, outsourcing
and consultancy, Ricoh solutions integrate seamlessly and reliably into any organisation leaving customers
free to focus on driving their businesses forward.

Managed Print Services

For Ricoh, the practice of document governance can be directly addressed through its Managed Print
Services offering. Managed Print Solutions (MPS) can easily reduce costs up to 30 per cent and through
continued governance will yield long term benefits.

Additional benefits include increased efficiency and productivity combined with decreased
environmental impact and security breaches. Available as a global or local implementation it offers a
full lifecycle approach to document governance. The holistic solution can be easily embedded into the
workflow of an organisation to meet its unique and specific needs. It includes consultancy, hardware,
software, maintenance, management services, office solutions and document process outsourcing
throughout the entire document lifecycle.

Security Solutions
Enhanced security is an important benefit gained as a result of a strategic and centralised approach
to document governance. It enables organisations to gain greater control over document activity.
Ricoh solutions include encryption-enabled technology and intelligent authentication. They are easily
integrated into the document workflow to ensure maximum security for the sensitive data that flows
around any organisation.

@Remote
By integrating solutions into a company’s existing infrastructure, Ricoh can help to uncover the hidden
costs of business documents – ultimately putting companies back in control. Ricoh’s @Remote turns
collected data into detailed knowledge. This solution gives the user peace of mind that their costs are being
managed in the most effective way, automatically.

Document Process Outsourcing

Document Process Outsourcing is one way that companies can create a centralised document governance
strategy that is structured, secure, compliant and cost-effective. It includes managing the processes, people
and technology that deliver an organisation’s documents, and therefore information, into and out of its core
business processes. With the focus on improved responsiveness and enhanced quality, significant
productivity gains can be realised, by giving knowledge workers immediate access to the information they
need, where they want it and how they want it. The result is increased financial efficiency, improved
employee morale and customer satisfaction, ultimately enhancing business performance.

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Ricoh Pay Per Page Green Consultancy
The Ricoh Pay Per Page Green Consultancy is a three phase fact-based approach that audits and quantifies
a company’s CO2 emission and makes total cost of ownership more transparent. Based on the existing
situation of the organisation, Ricoh builds an optimisation scenario to reduce operational cost, energy and
paper consumption and carbon emission. As costs decrease so too does overall carbon footprint and in
one effort, the efficiency of document production is improved.

Fact-based cost and sustainability process conducted in three phases:

• Audit and analysis of your current CO2 emissions and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of print/copy.
• Drawing up a plan to reduce your CO2 emissions and TCO while optimising processes.
• Periodic verification of CO2 and TCO reduction at your company.

Useful links
www.ricoh-europe.com
Ricoh Solutions Advisor
Ricoh Managed Solutions

Sales queries
Tel: +44 (0)20 7465 1182
Email : cco@ricoh-europe.com

Press queries
Janice Gibson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7465 1153
Email: press@ricoh-europe.com

About Ricoh
Ricoh Company, Ltd (“Ricoh Company”) is a global technology leader, specialising in the office and
production printing markets. Ricoh works with organisations around the world to modernise work
environments and optimise document efficiency. With over 108,500 employees worldwide, it operates
in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, China and Japan.

Ricoh Global Services provides strategic support and long-term partnership to Ricoh’s multinational
companies across the world. With an unrivalled direct sales and service network model, Ricoh Global
Services continuously drives value for customers with its standardized, consistent end-to-end solutions.
Ricoh’s customers can rely on one partner for all their global needs.

Ricoh Europe Holdings Plc is a public limited company and the EMEA headquarters of Ricoh Company
with operations located in London, United Kingdom and Amstelveen, the Netherlands. The EMEA operations
comprise over 35 sales subsidiaries and affiliates.

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