.png)
Since 2020 and the Coronavirus Pandemic, employees have adopted hybrid working patterns like never before. Placed into a countrywide lockdown, businesses had no choice but to close their office doors and send staff to work from home.
For many office employees this meant solutions were hastily thrown together to provide some sort of access to the same systems and information they used via office networks. Those still relying on paper based processes either brought lever arch files home and did the best they could, or worse still found they simply could not continue to work.
However your company managed during the pandemic, one thing is certain, hybrid working is here to stay. Many employers are now offering more flexible working opportunities, enabling staff to have a mixture of their working week from the office and / or at home.
Today’s workplace demands flexibility and always-on connectivity. Document management software (DMS) empowers teams to securely access documents and workflows from any location with an internet connection. All content is stored centrally and digitally, creating a single, secure source of truth for your business.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our clients, including well known Publishers Felicity Bryan, who had already implemented our DMS solutions told us: “We don’t know how we would have coped without it.”
This flexibility ensured that their operations continued without disruption, allowing all employees regardless of location to access the same information and keep processes moving as normal.
Employees now expect the option to work in a hybrid environment and if they don’t have that option, they’re ready to look elsewhere. According to recent studies, 74% of employees say they would switch jobs for one with greater flexibility.
To stay competitive and retain top talent, businesses must equip their teams with the tools they need to work efficiently from anywhere. Document management is a core component of a strong hybrid working strategy enabling seamless communication, access, and collaboration across departments and locations.
Transitioning from paper to digital is just the first step. The real value comes from automating workflows by integrating your document management system with other key business applications like ERP or finance software.
For example, when an invoice is received, a pre-defined workflow can automatically assign it to the right person for approval, notify relevant stakeholders, and log the activity all without manual input.
Real-time dashboards and audit trails provide instant access to the status of any task, helping leaders make faster, more informed decisions and identify bottlenecks before they become issues.
This level of automation is ideal for hybrid teams, ensuring processes continue without delays, no matter where staff are based.
When your teams can instantly retrieve case files, purchase histories, or support documentation, customer service levels don’t just remain consistent they improve. Quick access to accurate, up-to-date information means faster response times, stronger communication, and better outcomes for your clients.
By eliminating delays and miscommunication, document management software helps your organisation deliver on service promises even in a distributed or remote-first environment.
The Woodland Trust streamlined the management of Gift Aid declaration forms by integrating their document management system with their CRM, Advanced NG allowing employees working remotely to access, store, and retrieve donor-related documents without needing to travel to the office.
This ensures all critical legal documents, including Gift Aid forms, property deeds, and wills, are securely stored, easily searchable for audits, and automatically managed in line with retention policies. The result is a more efficient, compliant, and remote-friendly way of working that safeguards a vital source of income.
"One of our original purposes in implementing DocuWare was to make our move to a new building easier and move toward a paperless office. That was accomplished, but the real benefit we’ve seen is DocuWare’s flexibility which allows each of our departments to use the software in very different ways expanding charitable income and helping us reach our goals." - The Woodland Trust - IT Systems Analyst
info@doctech.co.uk
0161 647 7040