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Top Benefits of Document Management Systems

Written by Mario Zules on March 15, 2019

What is the most valuable asset in your business today? No matter the type of industry you operate in, information is one of the most valuable assets you can have. Organizations need information to make business decisions. They need information to evaluate their products and markets. They also need documents to transact business with internal as well as external stakeholders formally.

However, if your inbox is always full, your filing cabinet is often stuffed to capacity, and there is more paperwork on its way to your storage warehouse. It’s time your organization implement an electronic document management system. Managing business documents through manual processes can be costly and time-consuming.

In this post, we will discuss top benefits a document management system can offer to any organization that is looking to improve their bottom line. They include:

• Automated workflow
• Reduced storage space
• Enhanced security
• Easier retrieval
• Better collaboration
• Better backup and disaster recovery

Let’s delve deeper and explore each benefit in detail.

Improved Workflow

It’s expected that most businesses process would entail communication both internally (department to department) and externally (third parties). For instance, some people will create the documents; others will review, approve and finally dispatch the documents.
With document management systems such as OpenKM, it is possible to utilize validation rules and perform specific actions on your documents, such as metadata capture, classification of documents, and electronic signature, without human involvement. This speed ups business processes as well as enhances their quality. 20-35% of operating revenue costs are caused by poor data quality.

Reduced Storage Space

Paper-based systems need a lot of storage space. In most cities, commercial property (larger offices or off-site storage) cost an arm and a leg. Paper, file folders, filing cabinets, and filing staff can also be very expensive in the long run. An electronic document management system can reduce such costs significantly. Besides cutting costs on space, going paperless means you will also save time lost in faxing, copying, and manually searching for files.

Easier Retrieval

According to a survey done by Gartner, an average organization spends about $120 in labour to find a misfiled document and another $220 in labour to reproduce a lost document. This research further reveals that 7.5% of all organizational documents disappear into thin air while 3% of the remainder gets misfiled. Also, most employees will spend only 15% of their time-consuming information, but waste half of their valuable time searching for it. As a solution, organizations need to implement a reputable DMS that can retrieve files by a word or phrase in a document or apply index categories to a document or folder. OpenKM also makes remote retrieval a reality.

Enhanced Security

It’s no secret that security is a foremost challenge for most organizations. No manual document management system is watertight to protect sensitive information from leaking to malicious people. However, with a strong DMS, you can control who can access what document. Also, most document management software leaves an audit trail to let you know who viewed and edited your document, as well as the time when the document was accessed.

Better Collaboration

DMS can access captured documents from multiple locations. Also, using electronic imaging, it is easier to share documents over electronic document management software. Collaborators can know when a shared document has been accessed and modified by other collaborators.

Better Backup and Disaster Recovery

With document management software, all documents are stored in a central repository. Also, it is possible to index and archive your documents. As a result, there are no lost or misplaced documents.

Choosing a Document Management System for your Organization

There are several content management systems out there. The global document management systems market was estimated at $3.44 billion in 2017 and is projected to stretch to $7.07 billion by 2023. Unfortunately, not all document management systems can be associated with the above benefits. So, to get the most bang for every buck you invest in a DMS, ensure that it has the following features:

• Automatic cataloguing: a great document management system should have a plug-in architecture to help you to automatically set your business logic while performing tasks such as moving a document to a new location, changing security, and applying document changes.
• Automatic metadata capture: great document management systems such as OpenKM enable you to convert cascades of documents of any formation into business-ready data.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR): reputable document management systems should come with OCR technology to enable you to convert scanned paper documents and digital camera-captured images into compatible and sensible data. With an architecture such as OpenKM, you can incorporate most open source OCR engines.
• Advanced preview: the DMS should have extensions for previewing important file types, such as AutoCAD files.
• Version control: a great DMS should be able to identify document changes, timestamps, and persons making the changes. The revisions should be graphically compared and restored. Systems like OpenKM use a number or letter code, termed the "revision number" to identify differences.
• Tracking: the DMS should have an extensive and configurable audit trail that can be used to document evidence of the order of activities that have modified, at any time, a particular process.
• Barcode reading: A good DMS should support as many barcode formats as possible. Some of the standard bar code formats that must be supported include Codabar, Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-8 and EAN-13, ITF-14, UPC-A and UPC-A, RSS-14, RSS Expanded, Data Matrix, PDF417, QR Code and Aztec.
• Networking: a reliable DMS should support networking protocols such as CIFS, FTP, and WebDAV.
• Integrations: a great DMS should seamlessly integrate with third-party applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite.

Because of its ability to allow businesses to own the production, storage, and sharing of electronic documents, OpenKM is one of the best document management solutions. With the OpenKM KCenter Platform, you can quickly build your own application based on your business requirements.

Documents are the lifeblood of any business. An organization that manages its documents efficiently makes sound business decisions, cuts business costs, and smiles all the way to the bank! Make the decision to overhaul your document management strategy.
If you are not sure which content management system is an excellent fit for your organization, we will be happy to help you find the right DMS that will enable you to cut down your business costs, increase your business productivity and improve your workflow. Contact us today.