CASE STUDY
improve operational efficiency and ensure
profitable growth. We had over 500 million
documents, that were stored in three
warehouses, that had to be retained as per
regulatory requirements. Not only was there
a huge storage cost, but these documents
were at risk of damage and loss.
Document retrieval now takes just a few
clicks. Processes that once took weeks are
now completed in a few minutes.
Having successfully completed the first
phase of the project, Microfilm Egypt
Co will now start work on digitising 500
million documents over the next five
years. Considering the mammoth task, the
company has recommended that more units
of Alaris scanners be commissioned.
“There was a lot of sensitive and confidential
information within those documents and the
paper handling process itself was unsecure,
which threw up cybersecurity challenges.
DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL NOW TAKES
JUST A FEW CLICKS. PROCESSES
THAT ONCE TOOK WEEKS ARE NOW
COMPLETED IN A FEW MINUTES.
“Finally, it was a very difficult and time-
consuming process trying to retrieve a
particular document. Digitising these
documents and implementing an
Enterprise Content Management (ECM)
system was imperative.
“Electronic storage is a lot faster, easier,
cheaper and more reliable. If you have a
warehouse fire, your documents are gone.
But if you have files on a server that is
backed-up, you can’t lose them.”
Kassem and his team reached out to
Microfilm Egypt Co, an Alaris partner and a
leading IT solutions company specialising
in document management, archival and
business process management solutions.
The project would be completed in two
phases. The first phase would involve backlog
scanning of 100 million documents, followed
by another 500 million documents in the
next phase as well as the implementation of
an ECM solution.
stored for the long term. The digitised files are
stored in an Oracle database. The scanning
and capture solution integrates with other
business systems and all the data stored is
encrypted and digitally signed. The first phase
of the project has been completed with 100
million documents scanned and digitised in a
period of two years.
Hend Salah, Area Manager, Foreign Relation
Department at Microfilm Egypt Co, said: “We
chose the scanners from Alaris because it
combines simple operation and time-saving
features in a remarkably small and powerful
form factor.
“The scanner’s super-sharp image quality
makes it easy to capture information
accurately and the durability of the scanner
is unparalleled in the market.
Based on the high volume of the scanning
job as well as the emphasis on productivity
and accuracy, 20 scanners were used in the
first phase of the project. “We were using each machine to scan
around 15,000 pages per day. Despite
running non-stop along with the archive
writer for two years, the scanners worked
flawlessly, with zero downtime and with a
very high scan quality. This is a tremendous
achievement, that allowed us to deliver the
first phase of the project to Central Bank of
Egypt on time.”
An archive writer was used simultaneously to
convert the digital images to microfilm to be The digitisation of documents has resulted in
huge cost savings in terms of storage space.
www.intelligentcio.com
The next stage will also involve the
implementation of an ECM solution
including designing workflows and
applying business analytics and
intelligence to the data.
This will enhance efficiency of operations
and aid quick e-retrieval of documents, thus
saving precious time and energy manually
sifting through stacks of papers.
Kassem Mohamed added: “I commend
Alaris and Microfilm Egypt Co on the
fantastic job done so far in helping our
bank realise our Digital Transformation
aspirations. Alaris’ market leading
scanning technology combined with the
highest quality of consultancy, service and
support from Microfilm Egypt Co deliver
outstanding results.
“We highly recommend that other banks and
financial institutions in the country follow our
example and utilise their services in order to
truly transform their operations.
“We now look forward to embarking on the
second part of our digitisation journey with
the help of Alaris and Microfilm Egypt Co.” n
IMPLEMENTING
AN ENTERPRISE
CONTENT
MANAGEMENT
(ECM) SYSTEM
WAS IMPERATIVE.
INTELLIGENTCIO
63