The Beginner’s Guide to Document Management Software
Why Should My Organization Care about Document Management Software?
Streamlining business processes and increasing efficiency are fundamental concerns for any organization, regardless of its size or industry. By implementing document management software, business leaders can improve organizational efficiency.
Document management software transforms the management of business-sensitive information, making it possible to:
- Manage the storage, search, and retrieval of millions of documents, allowing users to access files in seconds.
- Share documents with colleagues while protecting confidential information.
- Automate time-consuming manual processes like filling in metadata and document naming.
- Access documents on your smartphone or tablet.
- Back up files and records as a part of your organization’s business continuity plan.
What Does the Best Document Management Software Do?
Document management systems capture paper documents and a variety of electronic files while managing the storage, retrieval, security and archiving of these documents.
The document management process begins with the conversion of paper documents, forms and records to electronic files. This is considered Phase 1 of the Digital Transformation journey.
Conversion eliminates many of the obstacles created by paper: labor-intensive duplication procedures, slow distribution, misplaced originals and the inconvenience of retrieving files from off-site storage.
Document management systems have five basic components:
- Capture tools to bring information into the system.
- Desktop, web and mobile apps that make documents easy to locate and edit.
- Folder structures to organize, store and archive documents.
- Workflow functionality that automates tedious manual processes like filing and approval.
- Security functionality to protect documents from unauthorized access or modification.
Learn more about the basics of document management here.
How Can Enterprise Document Management Software Save Time?
A recent PwC study reports that the average worker spends 40% of their time managing non-essential documents. In addition, IDC estimates that employees spend 20% of their day looking for information in hardcopy documents and that, 50% of the time, they can’t find what they need.
The best document management software can help you save time by:
- Answering information requests from clients, citizens and auditors immediately.
- Cutting time spent copying and distributing documents to staff, branch offices and outside contacts by digitizing file sharing.
- Eliminating lost documents that must be recreated and refiled — and spending less time filing them once they’re found.
- Establishing a secure, customizable digital repository for business-critical information, making it simple to search and modify files.
By implementing a document management solution, employees can stop spending time handling paper to start spending more time doing the work that matters: serving clients, citizens and students at maximum efficiency.
How Can Document Management Software Help Improve Efficiency?
Every organization relies on repetitive tasks to accomplish business goals. When it comes to standard, document-based processes like hiring and invoice processing, there are many ways a document management system can help your organization work faster and more effectively.
Enterprise document management software can help your organization increase efficiency with business process automation tools that:
- Eliminate manual data entry, document naming and document filing.
- Provide staff with information they need to quickly make decisions.
- Alerts managers about employee action and inaction.
- Make unstructured data (e.g. documents, emails, photographs, etc.) accessible, searchable, available and relevant.
- Enable employees to share documents quickly and securely with clients.
Get more information about how document management software can help your organization optimize business processes and increase efficiency here.
What is the Biggest ROI in Enterprise Document Management Software?
Your organization generates large amounts of paper and electronic documents. Traditional methods of storing paper and electronic records require a great deal of effort to manage, distribute and find those documents. As your business grows, so do files, and so does the time and effort required to manage them.
Document management software simplifies business processes by allowing instant access to information, greater collaboration within and among departments and offices and enhanced security for files and records.
For an overview of how document management can help your organization streamline operations, watch our webinar, ECM 101: An Introduction to Document Management Features.
