Odhran O'Brien, the Archdiocesan Archivist Director at the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, has been recognised with the prestigious Tom Wayman: Digital Transformation Leader of the Year title in the 2024 Laserfiche Run Smarter Awards. This accolade represents the first time a digital leader from the APAC region has been honoured in this specific category since its inception in 2005.

Laserfiche, a forefront SaaS provider renowned for its superior business process automation and smart content management software, created the Run Smarter Awards in 2005. The awards aim to commend organisations that, through the assiduous use of Laserfiche software, have achieved notable business results, innovated processes, and improved productivity dramatically.

O'Brien expressed his elation at the award, stating, "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."

Over recent years, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth has actively teamed with Ricoh to successfully integrate the Laserfiche Records and Workflow platform. The outcome has been the development of a safe and easily accessible document archival system catering to the Archdiocese's property and financial operations. O'Brien explained, "The work with Ricoh and Laserfiche became part of a broader strategy we call Serving the Church in the Digital Age. The strategy reflected the Archdiocese's commitment and appreciation of a complete digital transformation journey."

Key operational benefits for the Archdiocese's Archives and broader staff have been realised through the implementation of Laserfiche's system and the accompanying information governance strategy. Improved efficiency in document archiving is a primary benefit, with Archives staff now capable of efficiently managing assorted information silos in a single centralised source via the Laserfiche digital solution. O'Brien shared, "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."

Additional benefits include enhanced keyword search capabilities, thanks to the digitisation of records, enabling users to swiftly locate needed items. O'Brien elaborated, "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. It is a game changer to the way we have been searching for records previously."

The upgrades have created opportunities for different teams across the Archdiocese's central administration, branches, and agencies to access documents remotely, facilitating a hybrid work environment. The importance of this facilitating remote access was emphasised by 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."

Celebrations for the winners of the Laserfiche Run Smarter Awards will be conducted virtually during the Laserfiche Empower Conference. Karl Chan, CEO of Laserfiche, noted, "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."