Businesses today face more challenges than ever before. With advancements in technology, they have been able to change the ways in which they carry out their day-to-day operations. One of the biggest ways technology has impacted business operations revolved around the transition from paper documents to online document management systems. Visit this link, which can help you organize your digital documents and digitize your existing paper records with advanced security. This includes document authentication, attestation, user access verification, ID verification, AI/ML for internal and external use, voice and face recognition, liveness detection, and blockchain.
Not only is paper expensive, but it is also far from secure. While some businesses don’t think they should or can move away from paper, it is a very crucial component of maintaining a business. Knowing and understanding why making the transition is key, which this post aims to do.
What Is A Document Management System?
A document management system is software that allows you to efficiently store and keep track of all of your electronic documents. While this is the basic function of most document management systems, there are many systems on the market that are designed with a multitude of functions to meet various business needs.
With a good document management system, you no longer have to waste time looking through stacks of papers and folders to find one document. With a cloud-based document management system, all of your important documents can be accessed, viewed, and edited by everyone on your team.
The basic components of document management systems include:
- Document storage
- Simultaneous editing coordination
- Security and access control
- Version control
- Audit trails
- Annotations
How Can You Tell If Your Business Needs A Document Management Solution?
You’re Storing Official Documents in Various Online File Folders
Most businesses when starting up, have paper-based management solutions. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that a “master copy” of any important documentation is in paper formats. In order to mitigate the risks associated with paper documentation, they will build electronic solutions that are created in a folder structure. They may have one folder that is labelled drafts, another as in review, and a final folder.
The issue with this system is that when a document is put in one of the folders, it has to manually move through the different stages. Some people may prefer to manually edit and print the document out, scan it after the necessary changes have been made, and upload it back into a new folder. The issue with this is that there is no clear audit trail that is tracking the activity or updates that you can reference if any issue may arise. This will result in the increase of opportunities for error that could be detrimental to your business.
You’re Making Decisions Based On Old Or Incorrect Documentation
The medical device industry is very expensive when you consider operating costs, meaning even the smallest purchasing decision can, if not done correctly, be incredibly costly.
For example, let’s say that you ordered two or three different tooling parts that would take five weeks to complete. Within that time frame, you may have updated the documentation with new designs. If the new designs didn’t get to the manufacturer in the appropriate amount of time, that would leave the organization with thousands of dollars worth of parts that you cannot use.
What Should You Look For In A Document Management System?
1. Cloud Access
These days, most things that have to do with business operations take place online. Because employees have to be able to access documents at any time and place, having a cloud is crucial. While there are a number of systems on the markets that don’t have web integration, they are not the best options if you are trying to create a collaborative work environment and should be avoided.
2. Superior Organization
Juggling multiple projects and documents can get very confusing quickly, especially for growing businesses. The bigger a company gets the more likely that they will have more documents to manage. Organizational hierarchy is an important feature to think about when choosing a document management system for your business. Being able to categorize, tag, and rate your documents will make it easier for you to find what you need quickly. You may also consider adding an agile project management tool to your organization to maximize efficiency.
3. Great User Interface
Your employees will be using your document management system on a daily basis, so you’ll want to make sure that it has an attractive user interface. The user interface is what they see when they log-in. If your document management system is difficult to navigate, then no one will be able to benefit from it.
4. Robust Search Feature
As your business scales and you get more documentation to keep track of, finding specific documents and files can become a challenge. It is very important for your staff to be able to search through all of your documentation, yet so many document systems don’t have this feature. A robust search feature will save you and your team lots of valuable time in the long run.
5. Version Control
If you and your team are constantly updating documents, it is very important that you keep track of changes, so that no one ends up with the wrong document. The most ideal document management system will save every version of a document when it’s been uploaded in the document, which will allow anyone looking at the document to look back and previous versions, and save a document from becoming completely useless.
If you are interested in getting a total document solution system for your business, look no further than Kyocera.