6 Benefits Of Implementing A Document Management System

Posted on 23rd Oct 2018

Article By Angus Gill

Paper here, paper there, it’s a wonder how companies still using it for documentation manage to operate at their best capacity. Disorganisation is a notorious issue when it comes to productivity and managing a paper-document archive is no easy task.

More recently, companies across the world are adopting paperless document management solutions; making document storage and retrieval far more simple, secure, and convenient.

There’s a huge range of basic and more advanced document management systems on the market to choose from. But, one thing they have in common are the clear benefits they have over paper document storage systems. It’s a bit like comparing the horse and cart to a modern-day Ferrari.

To help incentivise you to make the move to a document management system, we’ve highlighted some of the key benefits you have to know about. Take a look to find out for yourself or visit our Small Business page to read more of our small business inspired blogs.

Quickly store and retrieve your documents

Cloud-based document management solutions essentially act as your off-site but readily accessible document repository. In just a few seconds, your company documents can be stored online and accessed by authorised employees.

However, it’s the ease at which documents can be located which really makes storage management systems shine. Users can begin a search to locate a document based on file names, categories, subcategories, keywords, and many other metadata variables.

Easy collaboration between employees

A document management system allows employees to seamlessly access, view, change, and share files with one another. Additionally, management teams can quickly see which employee is in current ‘ownership’ of a document or whoever may be reviewing and approving said document.

Thankfully, document management solutions also help to cut down on the amount of emails your employees send and receive about document updates. Emails can be a huge drain on time and a storage system enables collaborating employees to add notes or revision to any in-progress document.

By giving your employees the documents they need as and when they’re required, you can greatly increase productivity. But, even better than this is the fact that your employees can collaborate on document-based work from anywhere in the world and at any time.

Improved security for your valuable documents and files

Security threats remain an ongoing challenge to businesses and this is where an offsite cloud-based document storage system can help. Reputable cloud-based providers typically have state-of-the-art security in place to mitigate even the most determined cyber-attacks. This allows your company to operate securely and means you’ll also have a backup in place in case of flooding and fires at your premises.

In addition to this, document access can be determined for individual employees which makes the chance of data theft far less likely. However, in the case of IP theft, you will be able to trace those responsible by examining an audit trail, including: timestamps, document custody data, and more.

Utilise the power of third-party software

Being able to use the best and most relevant tools available is what really helps to streamline company operations. Many of the document storage solutions available allow third-party software integration which can open up a whole world of useful features.

For example, some document management systems allow you to integrate email; making it simple and affordable to send documents to your customers, partners, and employees.

Routine and reliable backups

More often than not, the traditional way to save a document is to do so locally, either on a PC or server. While this may seem like a safe and easy option, there are huge issues and security risks associated with this.

A document management system makes saving documents an automated affair, so you don’t have to depend on employees when so much is at stake. Missing files are often only thought about when it’s already too late and this could have serious consequences if the documents in question are of legal importance.

Thankfully, document storage systems centralise all of your valuable files to keep them safe and well organised. This in turn makes it far easier and more reliable when making backups of your documents.

Going paperless lowers costs

Yes, paper costs a huge amount of money in the long run and is something every business can now do without. With a paper-management system, you need to invest a huge amount into the required resources as well as a full-time team of archivists. Document management solutions bypass this antiquated system by allowing you to store and access your documents digitally from anywhere and at any time.