While hardcopy documents may seem like a thing of the past, they still remain a reality for many—a practice that is causing catastrophes for businesses.
Will you stay trapped in the past, or will you dodge disaster with a digital solution?
Remember when smart phones were considered a luxury when they were first introduced? Within only a few short years, they are now viewed as a necessity for modern life.
Technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and its unstoppable force is dragging the rest of the world along with it—willingly or not.
Individuals may be able to deal with the shortcomings of not staying up to date, but the consequences for businesses are too steep, especially if you wish to remain competitive. While this principle holds true for all aspects of business, one of the most critical is implementing a solid document management system that puts digital documents at your fingertips—anytime, anywhere.
It is easy to underplay the role that paper plays in this phenomenon, but paper documents are wreaking havoc for stubborn companies that remain stuck in the past.
You’re probably thinking, “It’s just paper, how could it possibly cause trouble?”
For starters, 7.5 billion paper documents are created each year—not to mention the 15 trillion copies generated of these same documents.
And, as if that’s not enough, companies misfile nearly 20% of all records.
We did the math for you: 20% of those 15 trillion copies is 3,000,000,000,000. That’s 3 trillion documents lost every year.
Talk about a paper problem!
Not to mention, companies pay for every copy that is made, the infrastructure to store these copies and the labor required to keep them organized.
Still not seeing the issue? Well, these costs are just the beginning. Errors along the way can incur even more costs!
The longer that paper documents are stored, the more problematic they become—sort of like the way a snowball grows in size as it rolls down a hill. First, you’ll have difficulties staying organized as your filing cabinets fill up. Then, you begin to run out of office space so you must acquire more cabinets. More personnel are required to deal with these cabinets, and increasing complexity makes it more difficult to retrieve and share documents. Credibility is lost as your company loses or misfiles each document, and security then becomes a major concern as well.
Could you imagine what would happen if a flash flood destroyed all your documents? What a nightmare!
If you’re feeling stressed now—well, you should be! But don’t start panicking just yet. The good news is that you can avoid this disaster because all these issues can be easily solved.
The solution? Be proactive and convert your paper documents to digital copies while you still can!
Converting your documents to digital and using a document management system can alleviate these problems. No more worries about finding more space, misfiling records, hiring more people, adding more security, challenges to meet compliance or letting customers down. Your efficiency will skyrocket as documents can easily be stored, retrieved and transferred.
While the idea of converting may seem like a headache, the process can be simplified by utilizing external help, making your transition pain-free. But before you commit to digitization, it’s important to know what a good system will look like. The two key components you’ll need are document imaging and document management.
During the document imaging process, documents are scanned and converted to digital copies, after which they can either be stored in the cloud or on a hard-drive.
Once all your files are digitized and uploaded into a system, you’ll need a document management software to keep everything organized in a way that makes sense for your business. This looks different for every company, but a good document management partner can help pinpoint management systems that could work best for you. Once everything is in place and organized to your liking, you can effortlessly access and share your documents with others.
Think about all the documents stored away in filing cabinets in your office. What kinds of files do you keep? Are there certain regulations or requirements you need to maintain for compliance?
There are many different kinds of documents that can be scanned but, with a good partner, you won’t need to worry about them individually.
Bulk scanning converts a large quantity of documents at once in order to quicken the process! So, whether you have large format documents such as maps, posters and floor plans, tape or film files that require microfiche or microfilm scanning or have sensitive documents in medical, human resource, financial or legal files, they won’t bottleneck the process. Keep in mind that different industries have different requirements, and that some document management providers may not be equipped to handle all of your needs, so you’ll need to choose one that best suits your business.
There are many different ways to implement these filing best practices. Document management and document imaging can be purchased together or separately to adapt to services you already use. You can use dedicated scan-only equipment, multi-functional devices like printers, scanning apps on mobile devices or document scanning services from other companies. Depending on the quality and quantity of files you require, you’ll need substantial infrastructure to conduct this process yourself. But, when you get outside help with these services, the process becomes autonomous, hands-off and worry-free.
Just as with document imaging, there are many kinds of document management software. You should start by brainstorming exactly what you need, including any extras aside from the software. For example, some options emphasize ease of use but may lack additional features such as higher security features like view and editing limitations based on roles. Some may be scalable and can be custom tailored to a company as it grows with different subscription tiers. Finally, some use drag and drop features, offer automation in workflows and can track and assign actions.
If you’re looking for a good place to start, the experts at GBS have the experience and knowledge to help guide you, as well as the ability to create customized solutions capable of delivering everything we’ve talked about so far with complimentary services like installation, training and support.
While these systems and software were once considered a luxury, they are now a critical part of modern-day business. This is not a one-size-fits-all process, so it is important to understand your own unique needs and realistically weigh the costs of doing this yourself against the cost of outsourcing these tasks. Disasters don’t wait for you to prepare before they strike so act now because document imaging and the accompanying document management systems are a must-have for modern day organizations to run efficiently and effectively.