Roberta Gelb has seen many things in her position as President of Chelsea Office Systems, which she has run since its inception in 1984. She began the panel “Why Does it Cost $800,000 to Produce a Document?” at the Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum with a story.
While working with a firm to improve document automation, Gelb encountered a secretary who refused to implement a new fix. Every time the secretary needed to fill out a purchase form, for example, she would find and fill out an old document. Gelb timed her process: 65 minutes. With automation, the process should have taken five.
