The Printer Becomes Extinct: Digitization of Business Workflows  

The adoption of automation and digitization into our day-to-day lives isn’t always easy. For some, it’s a matter of the unknown, like your grandma who is eagerly learning to flip the camera on Facetime. For others, it’s years of historically paper-based, manual systems that become big tasks to imagine digitizing in their entirety. At Polar Imaging Inc., a London-based information management company specializing in serving small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this big task is tackled by its team and tech to capture, manage and automate paper-based processes, creating less labour and better workflow for businesses. 

The need to eliminate manual processes and data entry hit businesses hard when the world shut down in 2020, with in-office administrative assistance coming to a halt. Invoices and bills didn’t pause with the rest of the world, and businesses needed to think on their feet to adequately pivot into hybrid or remote work. Using advanced cloud-based applications and a partner-based tech stack, Polar Imaging Inc. works with its clients to organize and understand the bigger picture of managing e-information. Implementing online docu-management applications to create tech-enabled workflows that eliminate manual processes and data entry, the company consults with each individual client to create efficient information management with a more recent focus on the accounts payable space. Working with companies across Canada, Polar Imaging Inc. operates out of its office in London, Ontario, with a team of 20 employees consulting, managing data entry and helping businesses with their digital paperwork clean-up and consistency.  

Polar Imaging Inc. is a recent i.d.e.a. Fund recipient. Supported by a $10-million Government of Canada investment, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the i.d.e.a Fund is led by Innovation Guelph in partnership with five Regional Innovation Centres (RICs): WeTechAlliance, Haltech, Innovate Niagara, Innovation Factory and TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario. The program helps high-potential ventures access the tools they need to succeed by providing financial and business advisory supports to develop or redesign products, services, processes and technologies that reduce impacts on the environment and create made-in-Canada solutions. 

Using the i.d.e.a. Fund to propel its marketing initiatives and grow its client portfolio, Polar Imaging Inc. worked closely with a marketing firm to develop content, whitepapers, ebooks and advertising to target customers and expand its reach. “With limited resources, it can be difficult to use our own resources to fully dive into things that feel new to us like paid marketing,” said Todd. “It was helpful to use the i.d.e.a. Fund to explore that path and have advisor support while doing it.”  

Provided with an outside-the-box analysis and feedback from TechAlliance’s Manager of Venture Growth, Andrew Leest, Polar Imaging Inc. was able to leverage its local network to create marketing initiatives that have already generated increased leads and brand awareness. “The team at Polar Imaging narrowed down their inherent value for SMEs, and we worked together to keep their project on track with the goal of communicating that value effectively, which they absolutely succeeded at,” said Leest.  

Expanding rapidly in the markets of accounts payable and healthcare, Polar Imaging Inc. will spend 2023 continuing to build its strong team and client portfolio. With the addition of paid marketing growth to already booming organic leads, the team continues to prioritize the importance (and intelligence) of digital document management. With due respect to fax machines, Polar Imaging Inc.’s services will continue to streamline document management systems for SMEs, in turn providing them with more time, better organization and ideally less spent on printer ink. 

To learn more about Polar Imaging Inc.’s services or get a quote for your business, go to www.polarimaging.ca 

To learn more about the i.d.e.a. Fund go to techalliance.ca/idea-fund