One of the positive impacts of the pandemic was the global shift in work culture in the corporate and business worlds. The offices being shut down during the periods of lockdown forced the workforce to innovate in order to continue the work. And the innovation banked solely on the Internet for shifting on-site work to work from home, through online channels.
Continued work-from-home engagements created confusion regarding documentation, filing, and keeping track of the documents, which were earlier handled and stored in the offices. This is where valuable technological software tools like ECM and DMS make this process easier, more systematized, and more fluid by collating documents, files, schedules, etc. While ECM, or enterprise content management, is more suitable for small businesses, DMS is ideal for medium- to large-sized organizations.
Document management software, or DMS, captures and stores important information and documents and also retrieves them as and when required. This software not only keeps your documents and files concerning your business safe by preventing theft or loss of data.
Choosing a document management platform for the storage of your documents will further empower the development and growth of your company in the following ways:
- Sustainability: Sustainability and impact on the environment have become major focus points for businesses, with companies competing aggressively to outshine each other. Embracing DMS will help reduce the destruction of trees for making paper by cutting down on paper usage in the office. Storing your information on ae up the space used for storing physical files and documents, leading to more spaciousness in the office and cutting out the cost of storage.
- Time-saving: The centralized storage system for important documents will streamline the working system, making it easily accessible to employees as and when needed. So, the work will progress seamlessly without wasting precious time searching for files in multiple folders or rummaging through the physical storage area.
- Document tracking with version control: The version control feature in advanced DMS ascertains and ensures that the information is up-to-date, thus reducing the chances of errors and confusion.
- Security: Securing data is a highly important aspect of the digital world, and with the reliable advanced DMS, you can rest assured that your data is protected and controlled by you. Additionally, the centralized storage system can easily be tracked to know who has viewed or accessed the information. Some DMS options have added features such as analytics and reporting that help in monitoring the hurdles during the processing of documents and can also assess the productivity of employees.
- Increased efficiency: The advanced document management platform is versatile, with features such as creating templates of your documents that can be stored as templates and easily retrieved to prepare proposals, reports, etc. This will save time and add consistency to the look and quality of the required official reports and other standardized documents.
- Fluid collaboration: DMS allows team members to collaborate and work on projects and documents with the help of features like commenting, editing, and notifications in real-time, thus reducing time that is otherwise spent on multiple meetings to discuss and emails going back and forth. The platform also enhances the workflow by customizing the working system for approvals, routing, and reviews, thus cutting down on manual intervention and increasing efficiency. The metadata tagging feature helps employees locate documents faster by simply creating different tags and keywords for various records.
- Integrating with other systems: The document management platform can be combined with other systems like project management software, CRM, etc., which not only reduces the possibility of data entry and duplication but also allows seamless exchange of data with other software systems, thereby enhancing efficiency.
- Accessible via smartphones: Some advanced document management platforms have mobile apps and web interfaces that are easily accessible via mobiles without hindering work when working from home or in remote areas. This is specifically important for those working in the field or in remote areas, where time is a more valuable commodity.
Conclusively, adopting a viable and efficient document management platform that complies with industry regulations is essential in the digital era to not just safeguard the sensitive information and data crucial for your company’s sustenance and growth but also to compete robustly in a highly competitive and rapidly growing business world.