subject: Ten Uses for Electronic Document Management [print this page] Ten Uses for Electronic Document Management
Disorganised and ineffective document management can damage your business. It can lead to wasted money and time, damaged reputation and a loss of business leads.
If you're still using paper-based filing systems, your document management is far from as effective as it could be. It's much slower and less interactive than it could be. Using old-fashioned paper filing also leaves your company open to risks such as security threads, fire and flood damage and theft. Some businesses without a business continuity plan in place for their documentation have been known to close down permanently after such a catastrophe.
Using an electronic document manage system will allow you to work much more flexibly. It's also very flexible in itself and can be upscaled or scaled back as your business needs develop and fluctuate.
If you invest in an electronic document management system, you'll have:
The ability to control all aspects of your business documentation
High security storage of your documents, yet you'll still be able to access them constantly from wherever you like
Increased productivity of staff with the knock-on effect of reduced overheads
Lower IT costs
Peace of mind that your business information is safe and secury
What you can do with electronic document management
Electronic document management systems are designed in such a way that they're easy to grow and add to. This means the system can be updated whenever your needs change and it can be tailored to fit your business needs exactly.
Ten of the most useful additions available include:
1. Version tracking Keep a trail of all changes that are made to a document. You'll be able to see at a glance the changes that have been made, who made them and when they were made.
2. Searchable text Searching for documents is as easy as Googling. Just tap in the keywords and the relevant documents will be pulled out. All sorts of files can be included in the search, such as PDFs, emails and more.
3. Scanning Want to scan your own documents in-house? No problem. This solution is especially handy if you only have a relatively small amount of documents to scan on an ongoing basis.
4. Bulk scanning At the same time, the system is also suitable for scanning large numbers of documents. 500,000 or more documents can easily be scanned and stored within the working day.
5. Office integration Your current systems can be configured quickly and easily so that you can save your Microsoft Office documents like Word and Excel straight into your document management system.
6. Server synchronisation For maximum data security, your files can be accessed on a local network, through the use of a central cache. This gives you minimum risk and maximum peace of mind.
7. Add a digital signature An electronic document management system makes it possible to sign a signature to a document digitally. These certificate services are a recognised industry standard internationally.
8. Application links Electronic document management systems can link with numerous other business applications such as SAP, Sage and Oracle.
9. Meet compliance EDS can help you meet compliance standards, such as British Standards. Automatic alerts can even be triggered if instances of non-compliance or possible non-compliance are detected.
10. Legal reporting duties The system makes it quick and easy to compile any disclosure information required.
