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Document Management Systems Are Key to Remote Work

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Some industries have taken advantage of document management systems — a digital tool to track, manage and store documents — for years. Businesses that operate on swift deadlines and thrive on collaboration understand the importance of having digital workflows. Organizations that host many appointments with customers or patients use form solutions to gather information. Companies with remote workers know that digital archiving is paramount to protecting sensitive documents through remote storage.

However, other businesses who have been forced to adapt workflows and connect remotely with both employees and customers may find document management solutions key to continuing business operations. Collaboration and secure storage can benefit any workplace, whether your organization is temporarily pivoting or intends to have remote workers as part of your workforce into the future.

Digital Workflows

Most businesses have faced shifts in operations throughout the first and second quarters of 2020. Your employees could be faced with more work, cumbersome processes and other difficulties while working remotely. Additionally, your business could be facing an increase in demand for certain products and services.

Document management systems offer digital workflows, which allow managers and employees to measure a volume of work and understand where projects stand in the process of completion.

These digital workflows can increase productivity by automating content-based tasks and create computer-aided work models that complete repetitive jobs quickly and accurately. That doesn’t mean you have to leave these tasks completely in the hands of the digital workflow. The program allows you to be as hands-on or hands-off as your work requires.

Digital Archiving

As employees are working remotely, they’re accessing company networks through potentially vulnerable internet connections. Additionally, everyone is working through the trials of life at home where computers and laptops could be damaged. Document management systems provide digital archiving, keeping your company’s documents and data secure in the face of cybersecurity risks or potential hardware damage. On-site and remote storage options, automatic backup and structured or unstructured organization methods keep you covered so you never have to worry about your files disappearing or being unavailable if your server crashes.

Not only do document management systems provides a secure way to store documents digitally, most systems come with customizable administrative controls so managers can restrict access to sensitive information or share documents selectively. Storing documents digitally also makes it easier to search for and find data.

Forms Solutions

For businesses that rely on form completion for collecting data like customer history, inventory tracking or client invoicing, a document management system can cut down on an unwieldy process. The amount of resources consumed by creating multiple duplicates, forwarding information and making it available for reference by employees can translate to a convoluted and time-consuming paper chain.

Forms solutions can help your organization control and enhance this exchange of data through automatic file routing, work prompts and progress notifications that streamline manual processes and eliminate additional data entry. These forms also can be accessed from anywhere.

Document Management Systems: The Filing Cabinet of the Future

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Do you remember when businesses first began to use email? It revolutionized how we communicated and conducted business. Workers and customers no longer had to wait days for a response to questions or comments. Employees could share information in seconds, even copy others into an email thread. Spam and junk filters added extra security, ensuring that suspicious emails or unnecessary notices were cleaned out of the inbox.

Businesses have been using email for decades to send and receive notes and documents, but they’re likely using outdated technology to store them. If you’re storing your documents on a single computer drive — or worse, a filing cabinet — you may want to consider a document management system for your company.

Here are some benefits to using a document management system to store, track and manage your regular documents.

Storage

Digitally-archived documents are more visible and easily accessible than files lounging in manila envelopes in filing cabinets, said John McGill, solutions engineer at Infomax. Searching for a document by keywords or dates is much easier electronically in a document management system than leafing through papers. Additionally, if one paper document is damaged or destroyed, your business could lose priceless information for good. Digitally archiving documents through remote storage and automatic backup ensures that disaster won’t destroy them.

Security

Consider how easy it would be to lose a document in the dregs of a filing cabinet or how difficult it would be to keep track of a document multiple people take out of a file. Even if employees store their documents on their individual computers, those files could be destroyed or compromised if a computer is damaged or hacked or if a computer file is deleted.

“If two people work in the same office, only one of us can see the document at the same time in a paper world,” John said. “There also could be documents in an office that not everybody should see. There’s nothing stopping from me from going to that filing cabinet and looking at it.”

With a document management system, you can set permissions so only some employees are able to view documents. The system can also track who checks out or edits a piece.

Forms solutions

Businesses that work directly with customers may benefit from digital forms solutions that allow clients or customers to fill submit forms. The system will then convert forms and input data directly into the company’s management program. The document management system cuts down on clutter and archives forms for future reference.

Digital workflow

Not only do document management systems provide necessary storage and security, they also allow employees an easy system to keep track of tasks. Documents can be edited by different employees and departments. They system will notify another user when the file is ready for their input.

To learn more about our document management system and how it can work for your office, contact us today at 1-800-727-4629.

Stop the Paper Pile-up by Automating Document Workflow

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The lifecycle of any document is dynamic and constantly changing. Sometimes, documents that have run their course remain in our physical and electronic folders for years or even decades, cluttering our offices and hard drives. But when it comes time to find the document you’re looking for, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, a document management solution can fix these all-too-common document problems. Document management can help you manage your documents more efficiently and fill the holes in your workflow processes, so that you and your workers can focus on more important tasks.

Electronic document management can improve the daily operations in your office and help clean up your business. Here are several benefits to document management.

  • Moving documents: Are you done with a document? Automatically and seamlessly move the document from one location to another without any hassle whatsoever. Now, your documents can be transferred anywhere within a network for ease of use and workflow efficiency. And you’ll also be able to easily search for and retrieve the document later on when you need it.
  • Control: With document management, you can be notified by email when someone opens, moves, or modifies any document. Whether the change is major or minor, you can be privy to every step along the way. In other words, you can track projects from start to finish every time and keep control of your documents—from start to finish.
  • Streamlining: Document management can streamline your workflow processes, by automating your needs. Using rules-based routing systems, your documents are passed through the proper chain of command, and projects are completed with fewer steps.
  • Saving time: Saving time means saving money. With document management, your business will reduce paper waste, resulting in savings, as well as helping the environment.
  • Customization: Digital workflows can automate tasks for you, so that you can focus on other objectives. Computer-aided work models can complete certain repetitive tasks quickly. They also remove human error, so the quality of the work improves, as well.
  • Ease of use: Document management systems are designed with easy of use in mind. They don’t add steps to your document and workflow processes, they remove some. User-friendly interfaces allow for seamless integration into your business processes. And, you won’t be stuck writing code or getting caught up in the technical side of things. Instead, you can quickly and easily customize your document management to best fit your needs.

To learn more about how document management can revolutionize your workflow, contact Infomax today.