When most of us think of stamps, we immediately envision a traditional physical ink stamp. But like everything else, stamps are evolving – especially in how they are used by organizations.
Stamps are a critical part of the document workflow for many companies, especially when it pertains to certain use cases, such as in the legal market. Organizations now have the ability to do more with stamps thanks to dynamic stamp technology.
The Problem With Physical Stamps
Physical stamps have certainly proven themselves useful and are often considered a mainstay of business operations. But there is an inherent weakness in physical stamps that creates a gap in transparency and security for enterprises.
A physical stamp is typically used to mark documents as “received,” “approved” or “paid” and may include a date and time recording. However, there is no way of knowing who stamped a given document. Similarly, it’s impossible to verify if the date associated with the physical stamp is, in fact, accurate. While there are many occasions where this data isn’t critical, there are just as many when it is essential to your business workflows and security.
There are also many instances where additional information about a document is valuable, such as an account or case number. Trying to capture this data in a physical stamp is time-consuming, error-prone and sometimes just not possible. Modern organizations cannot afford to stumble through a clunky document markup process that isn’t verifiable or secure.
The Dynamic Stamp Solution
At the most basic level, dynamic stamps solve the physical stamp problem by going beyond the basic “received,” “approved” and “paid” status marks. Organizations can include an accurate and verifiable date and time, user data and other information that might be required. What’s even better, it accomplishes this without needing the hard copy of the document. Companies can even create custom stamps that align to specific business processes and use JavaScript for advanced customization.
A Fast, Affordable Solution
With Power PDF from Kofax, companies can centrally manage stamps, so individual employees don’t waste time creating their own stamps. Basic stamps can be applied out-of-the-box that meet most document markup needs, and the tool provides a mixture of graphic and dynamic stamps.
Organizations can create stamps that fit their unique business needs. Dynamic stamps can be created to capture various information such as:
- Date and/or time
- Approver’s name, computer and/or network
- Use real time input data
- Computer or network metadata
- Case ID number
- Jurisdiction number
- Account number
- Document status
Sometimes, however, variable data that is key to document workflows and valuable to downstream document processing needs to be applied. A modern solution supports this by enabling knowledge workers to add value to document processing with dynamic user input stamps.
Users can provide custom information via a pop-up dialog box. Data can be entered manually, or users can select from a pre-set menu to further improve accuracy and to save time. The information entered is added to the stamp, bringing a truly dynamic capability to the document markup process.
Let’s look at an example to see the true value in dynamic user stamping. The application of barcodes as stamps is an ideal use case for document workflows. Users can be prompted to enter certain information (such as an account number), while other data (such as the user’s information and the date and time) can be auto-populated. The stamp appears as a barcode with the dynamic data embedded in the stamp. The barcode can be used in future document processing workflows to route documents to specific knowledge workers or for automated document filing.
Dynamic stamps deliver many benefits, including:
- Improved accuracy and clarity
- Chain of custody trail
- Cost savings
- Faster document markups
- Improved compliance
- Further digitization of document workflows
All industries can benefit from dynamic stamps. The sectors leading the way in dynamic stamp adoption are legal, manufacturing, logistics, finance and accounting, insurance, government and engineering. Whether you need to add jurisdiction or case numbers to documents, include an “exhibit” stamp incremented by letters or numbers or track the status and ownership of a document over time, dynamic stamps deliver.
Dynamic stamps are just one feature of Power PDF from Kofax. It’s appropriate for both small businesses and larger enterprises and easily fits into a corporate environment. The solution meets the needs of all knowledge workers, making it easy to carry out both simple and more complex tasks. The Office-style interface is easy to use, making it ideal for workers with various technical skills. Additional benefits of Power PDF include:
- A multi-user network to promote collaboration
- Enhanced editing capabilities
- Unparalleled document conversion accuracy and compatibility
- A superior user experience
- Integration with Kofax SignDoc (a separate purchase is required) and other e-signature tools
- Strong security features
Basic stamps no longer cut it; the future is dynamic. Successful businesses are leveraging the power of dynamic stamps to capture valuable data that is critical to a secure, accurate and verifiable document markup process. Check out this demo to see how dynamic stamps can accelerate your digital transformation efforts, so you can work like tomorrow – today.
