Odhran O’Brien, Archdiocesan Archivist Director at the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, has been announced as the recipient of the Tom Wayman: Digital Transformation Leader of the Year as part of the 2024 Laserfiche Run Smarter Awards. This is the first time the particular award category has been awarded to a digital leader in the APAC region, since the Tom Wayman category was created in 2005.

Laserfiche, the leading SaaS provider of intelligent content management and business process automation, launched the Run Smarter Awards in 2005 to recognise organisations that use Laserfiche to improve productivity, innovate processes and achieve exceptional business results. 

“I am thrilled to have been honoured with this award, a testament to the entire Archdiocese team for its strategic support in transforming the governance of digital information and also to our close working collaboration with Laserfiche IT services partner, Ricoh Australia,” says Odhran O’Brien.

Catholic Archdiocese of Perth

In recent years, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth has professionally collaborated with Ricoh to successfully deploy the Laserfiche Records and Workflow platform. This resulted in a secure and accessible document archival system for the Archdiocese’s property and financial functions.

“The work with Ricoh and Laserfiche became part of a broader strategy we call ‘Serving the Church in the Digital Age’,” says Odhran O’Brien.  “The strategy reflected the Archdiocese’s commitment and appreciation of a complete digital transformation journey.”

Through the implementation of Ricoh’s Laserfiche system and accompanying information governance strategy, the Archdiocese has achieved several key operational benefits for its Archives and wider staff, including:

• More efficient, streamlined document archiving
  In particular, Archives staff are now managing multiple information silos   in one centralised source through the Laserfiche digital solution

“Laserfiche has provided us with a secure environment that allows records to be managed centrally and in a way that ensures access is provided to the right people at the right time,” says O’Brien.

• Key-word search capabilities
  With records now held digitally, users are able to conduct key-word searches to find the items they require. Searches that previously may have taken time to process can now be completed in seconds

“This capability delivers particular benefits for our property and litigation teams who need to be able to readily search for older records and do so efficiently,” says O’Brien. “It is a game changer to the way we have been searching for records previously.”

“For any information and data request, we can now readily source documents relating to particular people for the entire time they were with the organisation. Previously this would have been a completely manual process that could have taken some time and multiple resources to complete.”

• Supporting new ways of working
  The new infrastructure allows various teams across the Archdiocese central administration, branches and agencies to access records remotely providing a sustainable form of supporting a hybrid work environment.
  
  Remote access to records means information can be accessed quickly and workflow efficiencies can be maintained regardless of where staff happen to be located,” says O’Brien. “Digital transformation that offers accessibility wherever, whenever is also truly supporting the new ways of working and requirements of our Archdiocese and its people.”

Additional advantages include the delivery of a proactive risk management strategy through ensuring that records are digitised and backed up.  In addition, the Archdiocese is maintaining data collection in one place to support data analysis and informed decision making. 

“Today, we focused on channeling as much of our day-to-day information as possible directly into Laserfiche, a real culture shift in our approach to information management,” says O’Brien. “As part of the Archdiocese Digital Strategy, we will continue to look for ways to innovate the way we access information and communicate digitally.”

“The Run Smarter Awards acknowledge and celebrate individuals, teams, and organisations that use Laserfiche to inspire digital transformation, either within organisations, the wider Laserfiche community, or across the world,” said Karl Chan, CEO of Laserfiche. “We’re excited to recognise this year’s winners, who have innovated, developed and optimised Laserfiche solutions that drive meaningful digital experiences across multiple industries in a time of rapid technological change.”

The winners of the Laserfiche Run Smarter Awards will be celebrated virtually during the Laserfiche Empower Conference. Learn more about these award-winning solutions and register for Empower here.