G. Modiano Ltd. is one of the world’s pre-eminent wool traders and processors. The company traces its origin back to 1875, although the company which exists today was founded by Jo (Giuseppe) Modiano in 1957, and is the largest producer of wool tops in the world.
ANALYSIS
As an organisation, Modiano are very paper intensive. Their shipping process, in particular, generates large amounts of documentation for Customs and hauliers. The majority of which are paper files that need to be manually stamped. If any of these documents are missing, it could result in shipments being detained or delayed, so it’s critical to the business that they can always find the documents they need at the right time.
Modiano needed a way of storing all of their documentation securely in one place, and making it easily available to colleagues across the group.
They could also see the importance of keeping up with advancements in technology to improve their infrastructure, network and ensure they are working productively.
They contacted YourDMS to find out more about the right technology to help them solve their document management challenges.
“We deal with a lot of documentation, particularly in relation to our shipping process, produced by both us and third parties. We needed a way of pulling all of it together in one space, and making it easily available to a number of different people across the group.”
Perry Willis, Head of IT at Modiano
YourDMS SOLUTION
To help Modiano in their quest to become a more digital business and reduce the amount of paper they were working with, YourDMS implemented an Invu Document Management system.
Files that are received in a digital format, such a pdfs or word documents, can be saved straight into Invu. Paper documents can be scanned, saved in Invu, and the original file can be securely destroyed.
Another important consideration was the ability to search for and find documents quickly and easily. All documents saved in Invu can be stored with indexes and meta data, making it simple to find them again when needed.
Storing documents securely in Invu will also help Modiano to comply with industry regulations.
RESULT
The Invu Document Management system has been very well received. As well as general paperwork being filed in Invu, reports that come from Modiano’s internal system get sent straight to Invu rather than the printer. Many of the team have found this a more simple way of working. Documents saved in Invu are now easily accessible to a number of different people within the group.
They are really impressed with Invu’s advanced search features including Content and Metadata searches, the option to save searches that users perform regularly, and the ability to mark documents as Favourites and store them within their favourites area where they are easy to locate. They have found these features particularly helpful when trying to locate specific documents for audits. Before they had a Document Management system, they would waste a lot of time searching through filing cabinets or piles of paper. Now they can search for and retrieve a document in seconds.
Training & Company Culture
YourDMS provided training to the team when Invu was implemented and continues to offer regular Best Practice webinars to ensure everyone knows how to use Invu’s main functions and features.
Perry Willis, Head of IT explains the importance of making the new technology part of the company culture. “Learning how to use Invu is great but we also really need to teach users WHY we do things the way you do, and how it fits in with our business management and our processes.”
Perry and his colleagues don’t contact the support team very often and Perry puts this down to the Invu system being robust and user friendly. “I often ring up with something, that when they start to talk you through it, is actually quite straight forward. That’s mainly because I don’t need to use the system, from an admin point of view, very often. And I think that’s actually a testament to the solution that you’re not having to tweak it every two minutes. Once you’ve set it up, it works.”
What is Modiano’s advice for other companies tackling similar problems?
Perry comments, “ My advice is to understand what you’re processes are. That is key. And make sure that there are no exceptions. If you’re looking at a certain process, 100% of that process needs to go in the system, whether you think it’s going to be beneficial at first or not. You don’t want a broken up filing scenario where if it fits one criteria – it’s on paper, if it fits another criteria – its electronic. You need to go whole hog. It makes sense to work with a company, like YourDMS, who have a lot of experience in this area.”
Future steps
Modiano will continue to incorporate a culture of Continual Process Change throughout the company to ensure that they keep up-to-date with current technology and trends.
With offices in six countries, they are working to align their entire group, and create synergy from their technology and systems.
They still receive a number of reports via email and hope to automate this in the future so that all reports are imported directly in to Invu instead.
They want to continue to reduce the amount of paper they deal with. They currently share some information with 3rd parties via an extranet but may need to share even more in the future. Some if this information is currently stored in Invu and they would like to explore the options of how to share this externally.
On working with the YourDMS Support team…
“The YourDMS support team have been absolutely amazing to be honest! I’ve never had a problem getting the help I need from them. They’ve been very quick at responding, so I’d actually say out of the various help desk people I deal with, they’re one of the joyous teams to deal with.”
Perry Willis, Head of IT at Modiano
