To support sustainable growth, organisations need the right technology solutions in place.
Organisation is a key part of any business transformation strategy. It not only helps to improve productivity but also offers a better service to customers. But staying organised can be difficult as an organisation grows and spreads. And this is where a document management solution can support scalability. Understand the benefits of a document management solution for business transformation:
What is a Document Management System?
In simple terms, it is a system that enables your business to create, file, manage, share and retrieve digital documents. Document management systems operate in the cloud and allow you to store and access documents from one central location online.
Not only does a document management system (DMS) make storing and finding documents simpler, but it also allows for a smoother flow of information across any business, often with better control than traditional file servers.
And being cloud-based, a document management solution is both accessible and scalable – available from any location and able to grow to whatever size your organisation requires.
What are the benefits of a document management solution for business transformation?
When reviewing what a DMS is and whether your organisation needs one, there are the following benefits to consider.
The major benefit is time-saving. As all your key documents are stored digitally in one central place, you no longer have to waste precious working time hunting for paper forms, looking for email attachments or wondering which computer folder someone has saved a document in. DMS systems built in SharePoint also have advanced search functionality, allowing highly granular search by file attribute types, modification dates, access rights and many more factors.
When all of an organisation’s documents are available in a DMS, it also saves time on duplicated effort. Where multiple people in an organisation may have created the same or similar documents without realising, having a central place for document templates and commonly used files means that everyone can use them as they need them.
This also reinforces an organisation’s brand and sense of cohesion. All documents leaving the organisation can go out looking the same. Staff can also assist each other easily by sharing their work, fostering a better sense of teamwork.
What else can a document management system help with?
A DMS can also contribute to an organisation’s sustainability credentials. By taking your documents into the cloud, you can reduce the number of paper forms you use. If using a solution like SharePoint, you can also remove the need for an in-house file server (and its energy-intensive powering and cooling). Plus when information is available anywhere, staff don’t have to travel to the office to access it. Working remotely, staff have a lower impact on the environment.
Wider benefits of a document management solution: Improved Security
DMS solutions also typically offer far better security as standard than you would have with a file server.
With a DMS solution such as SharePoint, Microsoft provides you with multifactor authentication to protect access to the document management system itself. There are also user-level controls, meaning only permitted staff members can see sensitive files. Then there are edit controls, ensuring that documents aren’t changed without permission.
There are access logs as well, so administrators within an organisation can see who has been looking at what – ideal if you need to check that someone has read an important document.
Plus, all of these security features can be applied to documents that can be shared outside of an organisation with controls. This means two organisations can collaborate on files (such as contracts, pitches or legal papers) with access rights then removed once the project is complete.
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As the above shows, a document management system comes with a host of benefits. If nothing else, the money it should save your business on the cost of a file server and paper costs. and the improvements it can bring to efficiency make a DMS worth considering.
Akita develops cloud document management solutions in SharePoint Online. Discover more about our services:
