SmartSearch - Increased efficiency through automation and transparency
August 19, 2014

SmartSearch - Increased efficiency through automation and transparency

Gregory Talkington, CAPM | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SmartSearch ATS

SmartSearch is being used by the organization as a whole. Its main purpose is to increase productivity throughout the company. As there are a lot of documents in play at an insurance company, a program like this brings a lot of value. The business problem it addresses is the lag that exists between way-points in the various business processes. With SmartSearch, there is a level of automation that significantly decreases this lag time, and diminishes the possibility of documents falling between the cracks.
  • Organizational Automation - Too often a stack of paperwork on someone's desk takes a long time to process. This decreases the lag time by automatically routing paperwork to the proper party.
  • Business Process Transparency - Along with the lag time mentioned above, other parties down the assembly line from a lag point are usually kept in the dark as far as where they are in a given business process. SmartSearch provides everyone involved in a business process or document workflow a clear view of its status, and who to talk to if there is a lag.
  • IT Skill Needed - Although the basic functions are easy to implement for anyone regardless of their IT skill level, it takes someone with significant IT aptitude to implement the best parts of the software.
  • Increased employee efficiency
  • Increased business process transparency
SmartSearch is best used in organizations where there is a lot of paperwork in play. This is especially true in Accounts Payable departments that see a large volume of invoices.

Using SmartSearch ATS

100 - SmartSearch is used by all aspects of the company, regardless of their function within the organization. One group that uses it possibly more than the others is the accounting department - specifically, the accounts payable specialists.
  • Accounts Payable (Purchase Requests, External Orders Placed, Routing of Items Ordered, Invoicing, Paying Invoices)
  • Customer Re-activation
  • Human Resources
While I do not have experience with SmartSearch's competitors, I would renew my use of SmartSearch simply based on the up-front costs of implementing the program. It would be better to continue with a program that is sufficiently meeting my needs than it would be to incur the same up-front costs to implement something else.

Evaluating SmartSearch ATS and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Now that I have experience with paperless document management systems, I would be better able to ask questions that better point to my business needs.

SmartSearch ATS Implementation

Make sure someone who has a strong IT skill set is present during the implementation.
Change management was minimal
  • Reluctance to adopt a new business process
  • Limitations in ability to implement by non-IT specialists

Using SmartSearch ATS

It is very easy to use from an end-user perspective, but cumbersome to set up without an IT skill set.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Feel confident using
None
  • The end-user aspect of SmartSearch is very easy to use - especially when using the web view.
  • The higher-end functions of the program are best implemented by an IT specialist. Non-IT specialists would have a difficult time gleaning the full value of the program in its implementation stage.