A strong document management system is a critical tool for any business trying to stay on top of the work it is doing for customers. But in order to maximize the value of these systems, you need to make sure everyone understands the system’s capabilities.
“It’s not just store and retrieve anymore,” says Ken Vanden Haute, vice president of sales and marketing at Meritech Inc. “It’s the process of how you capture the information and create a work flow so you can do what needs to be done with the document before it gets stored.”
Vanden Haute says you want a system that strikes a balance between security and accessibility.
“The process can be designed to protect your information while providing efficient access to keep staff working at maximum,” Vanden Haute says. “A good system can scan, capture, distribute, index, store, search and retrieve any document in seconds.”
Smart Business spoke with Vanden Haute about how a strong document management system can make your company more efficient.
How would you categorize the process of managing documents?
The process of managing documents can be categorized into 3 groups:
- Capture: Capture is the process of getting data into the document management system. This includes scanning paper documents, importing existing electronic documents, saving emails, etc. How automated can you make this process? The less you have to type manually, the better.
- Storing and retrieving: Once the documents have been stored, how can you make them accessible to others? Security, permissions and user access are important parts of the system set-up. How quickly can a document be found using keywords, index fields and searching for text inside a document? Can they be accessed from a remote location?
- Document workflow: This encompasses any process that distributes documents electronically among many users and allows for paperless approval or sign-off. Workflows can range from a simple vacation request to complex processes involving hundreds of actions and users.
What are the benefits of an effective document management system?
One of the biggest hidden costs that paper-intensive businesses face is the time it takes to work with paper files, which includes searching, archiving and replacing paper documents. By increasing productivity 50 to 300 percent, organizations can enjoy significant savings by redirecting valuable resources to other areas of the business.
Document management systems protect your paper records by creating electronic copies that can be backed up in multiple ways. They also can include off-site data backups and other steps to ensure that a fire, flood or break-in won’t cripple your business.
Document management systems can also provide several layers of security from threats such as competition, identity thieves and even disgruntled employees that could otherwise risk the integrity and value of your most important information.
Audit trails show who has accessed or updated documents. Every time somebody looks at a file, touches it, emails it, prints it or faxes it, the system will track it. You know what’s happening, who is seeing it and where it’s going. It gives you full security with every piece of data and information that you’re storing.
Document management systems are also by far the best way to ensure compliance with strict security and record-keeping rules. Any audits will be fast and painless and compliance will avoid costly fines.
Where do you begin developing a state-of-the-art document management system?
Choose a knowledgeable professional services team. Reach out to a firm that specializes in developing and deploying document management solutions.
Make sure you get a thorough assessment of your business including organizational goals and performance indicators as well as current business needs and day-to-day processes. You should also do a cost-benefit analysis and have a plan in place for how documents are created, stored and distributed.
Look for a solution that can get you up and running quickly. This will have a big impact on the return on investment. A key factor to consider is a solution with an easy-to-use interface. The quicker the users can work with the system, the shorter the ramp-up time will be and the more likely they will embrace the change and use the system.
Insights Technology is brought to you by Meritech Inc.
