We live in an era where inefficiency is no longer an option. Taking our time is a thing of the past in our constantly-connected, fast-paced world. If efficiency is the ultimate goal, then we need tools and devices to keep us moving a rapid rate. When it comes to managing your toughest office challenges, it turns out that document management is the solution that can help solve many problems.
The Paperless Challenge
Paperless might seem like an impossible ideal for many offices, but document management can help you start on the right path. Many people don’t realize that “paperless” as a concept has been around since the 80s. Luckily for your business, technology has evolved exponentially since the days of leg warmers.
Using DM with optical character recognition will significantly reduce our reliance on hard copy documents and giant file cabinets. OCR automatically recognizes characters, like words, letters, and numbers and stores that information accordingly in your DM system so that you do not have to enter it manually, greatly aiding in document searches. The simpler it is to sort, store, and access digital files, the easier it is to go paperless.
Paper-Dependent Workload Challenge
Manual labor is not just for construction experts. Office workers waste up to 20 percent of their day looking for, sharing, and storing paper files. That is a lot of labor. So, how can DM help? By converting your documents to digital files, you can save significant amounts of time on document-related tasks.
But, just converting to digital is not enough; you need a system in place to avoid data hoarding, or you just end up overburdened. Using metadata—which is essentially “data about data”—reduces the amount of time spent organizing and filing information in your document management solution. Plus, you can specify which terms are more prevalent—document creator, date, etc.—so that it recognizes what is most vital to you.
The Appropriate Storage Challenge
As stated about, without smart tools like metadata, tags, and character recognition, you will end up with a storage solution that is cumbersome and difficult to use. But, if you set up your document management system properly, you will have a safe, central repository for all of your valuable information. Having different data stored in various places creates confusion and wastes time; having a system that has comprehensive document management functionality means you can securely host all of you files in one location.
To get started with a DM solution, contact us today.
