Docspro: ‘Companies often find digital transformation difficult to implement’

Docspro celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year. It has been part of the Canon group since 2016. It employs around fifty people, including Marco de Bruin, the Partner Channel Manager. ‘We implement software, but we are primarily a strategic advisor that contributes ideas about digital transformation, especially when it comes to incoming documents and information,’ he explains. ‘We help to optimise processes and can also take care of management and maintenance.’

Two focus areas

‘We have two focus areas: Intelligent Document Processing and Content Services,’ he continues. He explains what these two terms mean. ‘Intelligent Document Processing is the transformation and automation of business processes and the automatic processing of incoming information.’ He gives an example. ‘Think of claims files at an insurer. That information can come in digitally, but also on paper and from all kinds of sources: the person who suffered the damage, the other party, the police, another insurer… How do you process that in a good and efficient way? To do this, we supply software from Tungsten (until recently Kofax, ed.) and ABBYY, among others.’

Simply put, Content Services is the collection and management of business information. ‘It involves bringing documents together in one central location that everyone can access, plus managing them in a way that is secure and complies with laws and regulations. Solutions we offer include OnBase and Nuxeo, both from Hyland, and Therefore, which is from Canon itself.’

‘With these different types of software, we help customers find “best of breed” solutions that meet their needs,’ says De Bruin. ‘This can also involve combinations. We also employ developers who develop software that complements what our suppliers offer.’

Docspro is increasingly fulfilling the role of consultant, because that is what customers expect. ‘We help them map out certain processes. Many companies, especially enterprises, are very process-driven. But they often don’t have a clear picture of where they can make efficiency gains. Our business consultancy helps them with that. We send consultants to work with a customer for a few days. This results in a report with findings and recommendations.’

Questions about AI

There is also a strong demand for cloud solutions in Docspro’s field. “Our vendors are increasingly offering cloud solutions. This means you have to deal with securing information in the right way, in accordance with laws and regulations. All the solutions we sell and implement have ISO and SOC certifications, which means we comply with the most up-to-date regulations.‘ In line with this, he is also noticing more demand for managed services. ’Customers ask us for health checks and advice on how they can continue to improve, for example. This allows them to make better use of the software, resulting in optimal returns.”

De Bruin has noticed that customers have the concept of “digital transformation” on their agenda, but often don’t know where to start. ‘You see this in both large and smaller companies. They find it difficult to implement. With our portfolio and experience, we are well placed to support them in this.’

Another obvious trend is AI. “We are now receiving specific inquiries about this. We are certainly responding to this, for example with our new Instabase solution, which incorporates AI technology. This allows us to translate the potential of AI into document-driven processes. This mainly concerns digital archiving and retrieving information using metadata, even if it has not been entered correctly or consistently. I have noticed that companies are very alert when it comes to AI, ensuring that their information does not end up in the public domain. They want a secure environment and opt for solutions with the right certifications.”

Informed decisions

Over the past thirty years, Docspro has completed many exciting projects for prestigious clients. Recently, it helped the Sligro Food Group transition to a more modern and simplified IT landscape. “They have been our client for many years. Therefore, this project was not about implementations. We made an inventory of their existing situation and linked an action plan to it. This “discovery phase” gave them much more insight into their existing IT environment. It now enables them to make well-considered and informed decisions about their future objectives. This case nicely reflects how we can help clients with our many years of experience.”

Marco de Bruin (Docspro) on Protinus: “We have been working with Protinus since 2014, so for exactly ten years. It started with hardware, with document scanners. Now the focus is mainly on solutions and software. Through Protinus, we mainly work with central government and organisations that fall under its remit. They are often already established there, see needs and regularly put us forward. But it also works the other way around. We also have account managers at central government who identify opportunities, where we ask Protinus for help. Recently, we did a great project together with a local government. The relationship between our companies is very good.”