Paper Forms Aren’t Digital: Adobe Experience Manager Forms Moves to the Cloud

The move to digital-first systems continues to grow apace, for both online and offline customer experiences (CX). Today, a fully digital underpinning is necessary for all processes that accompany CX.

Among the most stubborn pre-digital artifacts to remove are the paper forms used for both CX and internal processes. They are the bane of customers and employees, bringing digital processes to a halt whenever paper documents need to be downloaded, printed, completed, scanned/copied, and uploaded. It makes for a poor CX, and it increases the likelihood of mistakes or problems being introduced.

What’s more, physical forms require special processes to store, protect, and manage, none of which is easy. Retrieving and securing paper forms are particularly problematic processes. If a paper form goes missing, there is no audit trail or means of tracking when it disappeared, who might have it, or whether it has fallen into the wrong hands. It could be that an employee simply forgot that she took the form for an approved use, but that’s still a problem. Cost is another issue; because managing paper is nearly always a manual process, it’s expensive.

Paper forms should be eliminated, and today there’s no reason not to do it. With the adoption of digital signatures for nearly all common business activities, legal requirements for retaining hard copies have become quite rare. Most industry governing bodies have come to realize that digital forms are more secure and easier to find, and that they provide a consistent record. A digital forms solution is clearly superior to what most organizations are now using.

Common sense alone suggests that a digital transformation isn’t complete without moving to a digital forms platform. But what should such a platform include?

The forms solution must provide support for the full lifecycle of documents, not just the initial form completion or use. The digital forms process must also become a seamless part of CX, with the same look and feel. CX suffers when customers sense a divergence into a completely different system. A cloud-based solution is also desirable, because it offers greater efficiency, faster time to solution, and usage-based pricing.

These are some of the reasons why Adobe reimagined Adobe Experience Manager Forms to operate in the cloud. Now brands can quickly eliminate paper forms and provide a best-in-class process.

Counting the Benefits

There are numerous benefits for moving to a Adobe Experience Manager Forms as a Cloud Service. Here are just a few:

• Organizations that use Adobe Experience Manager Forms can expect an average 379% return on investment over three years and 63% faster delivery of new forms and documents. The key is streamlining forms creation and the delivery process.
• Updating and validating forms are simpler and faster processes. Organizations can focus on improving processes instead of change management for paper forms.
• Digital forms are naturally scalable. During peak time periods for forms needing to be completed and input, the spike will no longer necessitate hiring temporary staff.
• Dramatic security improvements may be the most compelling benefit. Digital forms are much more secure. Paper forms are always at risk of being lost, misfiled, or stolen.
• Digital forms are available 24/7, and customers or prospects don’t have to wait for them to be found and delivered. This makes it possible to do business at any time.

Paper forms have become a major impediment to good CX, and they are a roadblock to efficient and effective business processes. Digital forms have become a must-have for advanced enterprises. Adobe’s new solution, integrating the Forms product with Adobe Experience Manager Forms as a Cloud Service, gives brands a platform that can eliminate paper quickly and deliver better internal processes and CX.