Author: Rachel Tilley
Maybe you store all your documents in folders on the server or in Google Drive. It works, so why choose a Document Management System?
A dedicated Document Management System is exactly that, its sole purpose is to manage business information in a secure and organised way that works for your organisation. Whether that’s replicating existing paper processes digitally or enhancing them to improve efficiency and productivity.
There are many products and solutions out there that can store documents, share files and organise data. But when you delve deeper, can they do everything your business needs?
It sounds simple, but do you ever struggle to find where you’ve saved a document? Was it on your desktop, in SharePoint, did you print and file it? If you rely on others saving documents in a structured way, are they saved correctly?
A Document Management System becomes the only place to store documents. Users can store directly from their inbox, via scanned documents or by dragging and dropping information in. Documents will follow strict naming conventions, they can't be miss-spelt or lost once saved, making searches easy. Many organisations tell us this reduces the time they spend looking for information.
When using collaboration tools, how can you ensure you’re working from the latest version of a document? If there’s great communication and good naming conventions then it could work. But what if an employee downloaded a file to work on at home and a colleague didn’t know? Work can be duplicated and things can get a little messy.
In some industries compliance can mean the difference between ongoing production or being shut down. Using the correct product specification could be vital, and having a customer’s final order means the right product is made first time. A good Document Management System will clearly show which is the latest document as well as provide an audit trail of what's been changed by who and when.
Documents don’t need to be kept forever and legally need to be destroyed after a certain period of time. Keeping track of this however can be a difficult task.
Different start dates for new employee documents and varying legal requirements depending on document types could mean keeping information longer than needed. If you store paper documents, it’s likely you’re running out of space, pay for storage or need a lot of time to wade through what can be destroyed.
With a Document Management System, retention rules can be applied to each document type. When an invoice is saved, the date is logged and rules in the background know it can be deleted six years later. There's no need to keep an excel document to manage this or use calendar reminders.
Any manual process can be automated, whether it involves paper being passed between departments or an employee coding invoices.
.png?width=213&name=Workflow%204%20website%20benefit%20page%20(1).png)
Choosing a dedicated Document Management System, along with an experienced supplier means this type of functionality is taken care of by the software. Processes are streamlined from start to finish, improving speed and accuracy. Manual data entry is reduced which increases productivity and reduces errors.
Whatever your challenge may be - too much paper, the security of employee records, lost documents or slow invoice processing, we'd love to learn more. Speak to us about a free process assessment and understand how our solutions will make a difference.
