Why Upgrading Technology in Businesses Matters Now More Than Ever

Periods of great disruption often have a way of presenting opportunities to companies willing to make the right investments in the future. That’s been especially true of the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated that many organizations are, in fact, capable of implementing rapid and sweeping technology changes when they prioritize such initiatives. A survey of executives by McKinsey found that companies implemented significant digital transformations 20 to 25 times faster than expected, largely due to urgency and the removal of longstanding roadblocks. 

By undertaking major technology upgrades now, businesses can position themselves for future success before a new status quo settles in to stifle change. Companies would do well to focus their attention on a few potential areas where their applications could support digital transformation efforts with just a bit of customization.

The Great Remote Migration

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many organizations to rapidly implement the policies and technology necessary to support a remote working environment. Even though the vaccine rollout has made it possible for people to return to the physical office, not every company is rushing to bring everyone back. According to a survey of enterprise CEOs, 68 percent of large organizations are planning to downsize their office footprint and keep at least some portion of their workforce remote.

Although it no longer seems likely that remote work arrangements will completely replace traditional in-person offices, it does appear that the hybrid workforce is gaining popularity as the new normal for organizations. These workplaces will maintain a physical office presence while also incorporating a large number of remote employees. In some cases, these remote workers will be geographically distributed and never set foot in the office. This will allow companies to tap into broader talent pools from around the world. In other cases, employees will be given the option to work remotely under certain conditions, allowing them to decide when they have to actually travel to the office.

Both arrangements will present a number of challenges from a technology and a policy standpoint. In order to create a successful hybrid workplace, companies must continue to make investments in the digital document management technologies that make remote work possible. In addition to managing the myriad security challenges posed by remote employees, they also need to rethink how to handle documents now that passing paper for processing is not as simple as walking that paper document down the hall.  Developers can support the transition by focusing their efforts on building robust applications that can be accessed anywhere and can handle the viewing and processing of digitized documents.

Shifting Customer Expectations

Another major change coming out of the pandemic is the extent to which customers now expect brands to offer a better digital experience with their services. Not only do people use more digital services, but their expectations about how those services should respond to their needs also underwent a significant change. They expect services to be faster and less complicated, and their tolerance for experiences that fall short of those expectations will be lower than ever in the years to come.

Organizations that fail to invest in technology and applications that allow them to better address customer demands will find themselves falling behind in an increasingly competitive landscape. That creates tremendous opportunities for developers to build and market software that does a better job of creating a seamless link between companies and their end-users. That will include user experience features like better document viewing, more accurate data capture, and improved automation tools.

Developers are also under pressure to design innovative applications that can transform business processes and help companies get an edge over their competitors. Sophisticated features powered by machine learning and big data can provide valuable business intelligence and automate low-value tasks to boost productivity. To focus on those capabilities, developers will increasingly rely on third-party SDK and API solutions to deliver core functionality like viewing, conversion, annotation, and compression. By relying on proven, ready-made solutions, they can dedicate more time and resources to innovation.

Rethinking Document Lifecycle Technology

Even before the pandemic, organizations were trying to consolidate and simplify their technology infrastructure to eliminate unnecessary sprawl and software redundancies. Often referred to as application rationalization, this trend will undoubtedly continue as companies look to maximize efficiency to reduce costs while enhancing productivity. One business process that will certainly get a closer look is document lifecycle management.

Traditionally, companies have relied upon multiple software tools to handle the operations associated with each step of the document lifecycle. Common tasks like document scanning, form identification, data extraction, file conversion, viewing, and annotation could all be performed by distinct applications, forcing employees to constantly switch between programs and copy or move files in order to work with them. This process is not only grossly inefficient but also greatly increases the risk of human error or version confusion. 

Thanks to a new generation of SDK and API tools, developers can easily add new features to their software products that help to streamline and consolidate key elements of digital document lifecycles. From HTML5 viewing capabilities that make it easier to convert and open files within a web browser to more sophisticated data capture and document assembly tools that make true automation possible, these easy-to-implement integrations allow applications to carry out more essential workflow tasks without having to rely on external support.

Upgrading Your Application’s Potential with Accusoft

As organizations seize the opportunity to make essential technology upgrades, developers must be ready to provide them with the innovative applications capable of replacing legacy systems and keeping pace with customer expectations. Building software with the extensive functionality that companies require will continue to be a challenge for software teams facing budget and resource limitations. By turning to a partner with the right software integrations, they can quickly implement a wide spectrum of powerful features while keeping their own development efforts focused on designing best-in-class capabilities and bringing them to market quickly.

Accusoft’s collection of SDK and API solutions allows you to build a variety of powerful processing tools into your applications. Whether you need the conversion, viewing, and annotation features of PrizmDoc Viewer, the robust back-end processing capabilities of ImageGear, or the automated forms processing tools of the FormSuite Collection, our family of software integrations can help your application meet the varied needs of today’s companies. Learn more about our SDK and API solutions and explore how they can make your current project even more impressive.