DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT: THE NEXT STEP IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Paper is the life-blood of everyday business - purchase orders, invoices, contracts, and more are generated on a daily basis as part of essential business processes. These paper documents need to flow to the right people and, once the process is complete, must be stored for future reference. Paper documents are often difficult to locate and retrieve, making information sharing a drawn-out process. These paper-intensive processes cost huge amounts of wasted time and money.

Most companies today have some sort of focus on digital transformation to improve efficiency and save money. One of the best places to start is the automation of paper processes using document management solutions – by 'digitising' paper-based processes, companies can quickly become more productive, streamlined, and efficient.

What is document management?

In a nutshell it's a 'Virtual Filing Cabinet' that can hold thousands of documents without taking up valuable office space. It can also enable employees to complete historically manual processes in a fraction of the time via secure 'Work Flow' technology – i.e. automation of paper-based workflows.

Document Management incorporates four key areas - document input, output, manage and archive. These management processes enable the creation of a centralised data repository - the virtual filing cabinet. With all documents stored electronically, users can quickly and easily find, access, and share important business documents. The purpose of this is to transform static, unstructured information and documents into a dynamic part of your business through document management and automated secure workflow.

What are the benefits?

Improved productivity

• Once a business adopts Process Automation using Document Management solutions, the time it would have spent doing everyday tasks can be significantly reduced.

Reduced paper storage costs

• By storing documents in a 'Virtual Filing Cabinet' businesses no longer need to invest in filing/storage solutions that take up valuable office space and costly off-site storage facilities.

Decreased print volume

• These automated processes often result in companies significantly reducing the volume of documents that they would otherwise be printing – thereby saving time and money.

Security and Retrieval

• Once documents are digitised, they become searchable! There is a full audit trail that also allows companies to retrieve old documents within seconds, instead of days. Imagine how long it can take to find a misfiled document that you are obliged to keep by law for seven years especially if it has made its way to an offsite storage facility.

Typically, a well-planned Document Management solution, with the right Process Automation, will show a business a return on their investment within six to twelve months – with productivity enhancements visible much quicker than that.

What next?

Our Document Management Team offer a granular assessment of your business processes, highlighting those that would benefit from process automation and thereby deliver productivity benefits and cost savings. Get in touch to see how Softcat can help your business.