Have you ever thought about the amount of time that is wasted on indexing , filing and retrieving information? One person takes about 3-5 minutes on average looking for a document.Have you ever thought about the amount of time that is wasted on indexing , filing and retrieving information? One person takes about 3-5 minutes on average looking for a document. If you were to multiply this by 20 employees for example , it would mean that a business was losing between 1-2 hours in man hours a day. This translates to approximately 1-3 days in a month. This is too much time for any business to afford to waste. Electronic document management is a great solution to this problem. It not only allows for documents and images to be scanned and stored on an online system , it also frees up employees to concentrate on chore tasks. It effectively improves efficiency and lowers operating costs for the business. Electronic document management also means that the carbon emissions from printers and photocopiers will be cut down greatly due to the creation of a paperless way of running businesses. Additional benefits of implementing a document management system are:• Easy file management – electronic document management makes document storage easy by allowing users to scan , index and file documents according to set out parameters such as tags and labels for easy retrieval. Employees no longer have to spend hours looking for documents. They can simply search for the file or document using the tags and find it in seconds.• A clear audit trail – electronic document management systems keeps track of each document’s history from the moment it is entered into the system. It is possible to tell when it was filed , when a user retrieved it and if any changes have been made over a period of time. This aspect reduces the chance for fraud to take place.• Business applications integration – electronic document management can be integrated with other business processes to create better work flows. Documents can be viewed and any approvals necessary given in a shorter time span.• Access control – electronic document management systems allow for an introduction of access control. Access to certain documents for departments such as finance and human resources can be given to privileged users only. Others can be given permission to alter or view only. This means that there will be better information security and accountability as only particular people will be able to access or even alter certain documents.• Document security – an electronic document management system allows for any business to back up their data off-site much easier than conventional filing systems. Also putting in place a comprehensive data recovery plan will ensure that the business will easily pick up where it left off if any data is lost in a disaster.• Business development – an electronic document management system will free up staff to focus on chore tasks as the repetitive tasks will already have been eliminated by the system. This means that staff can focus on ways to improve the business and increase the existing bottom line.Ultimately , an electronic document management system will allow a business to do more with less and save a lot of money in terms of operating costs.
