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How to Choose the Right Document Management System for Your Business

Written by Ashley Halsey on February 14, 2020

Document Management. How well does your business do it?

Within your business, you probably strive to be as efficient and as effective as possible when it comes to your processes and your daily operations. Take a moment to consider how many documents and how much content you manage on a regular basis, and how accessible this content is.This is why a document management system, or document management software, is such an important system for your business.

This becomes even more essential when you consider all the blog content, social media posts, content silos, and SEO research you’re probably stockpiling, plus all employee records, images, finance documents, workflow processes, and more. A content manager is essential to help you choose the right document.

This only scratches the surface of what you may have, but the fact remains that being organized is essential. That’s why in today’s guide to document management, we’re going to explore how you can choose the best document management system for you.

Refining Your List

Search ‘document management system’ with Google, and you’ll come back with a lot of results, so the first thing you’ll want to do is to go through the results and make a list of the best applications that suit your storage space, internet connection type and business process.

Taking this list, you then want to zero in the details of the vendors and developments. Ask yourself questions like how long the vendors have been developing this app, and how well supported is the software to this day.

“If the support for the app is very recent, and the program has been active for several years, you’ll know straight off the bat; this is an app you can trust. Also, make sure you’re checking customer reviews as well to filter out the best of the best” shares Natalie Dobrik, a digital technology journalist for Writinity and Last Minute Writing.

After following through these steps, you should then have a list of the best document management software and content managers ready for you to go through.

Supporting File Formats

Document Management Systems need to be able to support the files and file formats that your business is working with. You need to remember that file formats can change all the time, and what’s relevant and popular now may not be the same in several years’ time.

With this in mind, you’re going to want to seek out a DMS that uses an open file format that can work across the board, such as TIFF. This is renowned around the world for being an optimized and highly compatible digital archive format, which is the open standard.

Though most of your content may be as modern, popular and widely supported as Microsoft Office documents, even if you’re using really old content, as long as it’s available in the TIFF format and can be opened in the ASCII text format, you’ll still be able to read the document.

The Various Types of Document Management Software

Since we live in the modern age and document management software has been around for a while, it’s important to note that there are different varieties, allowing you to really pinpoint a type that works for you and your business.
Let’s explore what they are.

Cloud-Based Document Management Software

As the title suggests, a cloud-based document management software is where the information and documents you store within it are kept on the internet. This is great if you don’t have a lot of storage space on your own servers or computer, or you want to be able to access your documents from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. It does require a persistently strong internet connection, though.

Web-Based Document Management Software

Relatively similar to cloud-based document management software, web-based document management software tends to be highly compatible with popular software applications like the Microsoft Office Suite. These applications are accessed through your web browser, which does also mean you access your documents from anywhere in the world with an internet connection again.

Typically, these document management software applications and content managers are open-sourced, which means if you need them to be customized to suit your personal needs, requirements and business process, you can.

Server-Based Document Management Software

If you’re looking for a document management software to choose the right document that you can run yourself in your own business premises, your best bet is to use this type of system. This is great if you want to secure your document and content since you don’t really need an internet connection, and these systems tend to be faster when loading content. They require about the same storage space as the others.

Check Your Budget

Of course, as a business you need to make sure you’re finding a document management software that fits into your budget. It’s important that you check to see how much the software is going to cost you long term, or if you can find a deal on a pay monthly or pay yearly basis that suits what you’re looking for.

“It’s important to realize how much time and money a good content and document management system can save you, and how much of an investment this will actually be into the future of your business” shares Hayley Glass, a business writer for  Lucky Assignments and Gum Essays.

The biggest saver is time, and the ability for people within your business to access necessary documents quickly, saving time and allowing them to be far more productive than they were before.

So, to conclude, be sure to choose a document management system that suits all your needs – internet connection strength, budget, business size and documents that need supported, like the Microsoft Office suite’s documents, or more obscure formats. Make sure the system for your business suits your existing storage space and whichever social media channels you are choosing to use. Good document management software for content managing will benefit your business for many years to come, boosting efficiency in your working process and also boosting profits.

About the Author: Ashley Halsey is a professional business writer at Luckyassignments.com and Gumessays.com and helps businesses make the most of technology. Mother of two children, she enjoys traveling, playing with new gadgets, and attending innovative business training courses.