When considering a electronic document management solutions it's important to understand that it's more than just placing a PDF document online or distributing them via email. Document Management solutions have much more to offer:
- Improved Customer Service
- Improved Information Flow
- Reduced Administration Workflow
- New Potential sources for Data Analysis
- Overall Productivity Increase 30 - 50%
- Simplified Data Backup Procedures Ensuring Disaster Recovery
- Greater Profitability
One of the biggest hidden costs that paper-intensive businesses face is the time it takes to work with paper files. Say it takes a £10/hour employee five minutes to walk to a records room, locate a file, act on it, re-file it, and return to his desk. At just four files per day, that's over 86 hours per year spent filing - around £860 in wages. At ten files per day, that shoots up to 216 hours per year - over five weeks' time, or £2,160 - and that's only for one employee. A system that lets employees find and work with those documents without ever leaving their desks can instantly slash those costs.
Document management systems also eliminate the "lost document" cost - the time it takes to recreate a document that's been destroyed or misplaced. Some suppliers estimate the cost of replacing each lost document at £250.
Security
If you're not taking data security seriously, you should be. Threats from outside (competition, identity thieves) and inside (disgruntled employees, employee theft) threaten the integrity and value of your most important information. Document management systems can provide several layers of security:
- Multiple levels of password-protected access for groups and individuals
- Encryption of document contents
- Audit trails showing who has accessed or updated documents
Disaster Recovery
Whether your existing documents are paper or electronic, chances are you don't have adequate disaster recovery plans in place. 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.
Access
Even as the Web makes it increasingly easy for employees to work remotely, paper records remain a serious roadblock to distributed organisations. The right document management system allows your employees to access vital records from wherever they are. Simply allowing more than one employee to look at a file at the same time is a significant improvement over paper files. Additionally, multi-layered access allows employees to see and change only the documents they're authorised to handle.
Process Consistency
Many companies' document handling processes are just fine without a computerised system - or so they think. One benefit that matters more to larger companies is that a document management system will enforce consistency to the degree you want it. Different departments may have different approval processes - but once those are defined, the system will make sure they are followed. No longer will consistency in filing, naming conventions, and workflow suffer as you add new employees or cover for vacationing staff.
Our DMS Solutions are focused on solving all of the above issues and will without question provide your business immediate benefits:
- Retrieval Times Reduced 30 - 90%
- Transaction Volume Increases 25 - 50%
- Near-Instant Access Network / Internet Wide
- Reduction of Office Space for Storage 50 - 80%
- File Integrity & Greater Security
- Greater Accountability Internally and Externally
- Improved Conformity to Retention Policies