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Document Management Software Business Guide: Digitizing Your Paper Documents

Business owners have to track and organize thousands of documents to keep their companies running. Organizing invoices, work order forms, financial statements, expense forms, service lists and other papers take up space and make it difficult to retrieve information when needed. Document management software programs allow you to store documents on your computer system, track document changes and route documents to employees. This type of software makes it possible to scan documents, e-mail documents to folders, drag and drop files, search for documents, create document search templates and index different document types. These features make document storage, organization and retrieval less of a hassle for business owners.

Benefits

Streamlined Workflow

If you have several employees working on the same project, making sure everyone gets the right documents at the right times often proves difficult. Document management software allows you to automate the process of document distribution, eliminating the need for multiple e-mails with large attachments. This type of software also tracks the changes made to project documents, making it easier to identify the most recent changes.

Reduced Waste

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year, or a total of 4 million tons of copy paper. Document management software allows you to scan paper documents and save them electronically, reducing your paper usage and cutting your business expenses.

Time Savings

Searching for misplaced documents wastes time that would be better spent on other activities. Unfortunately, using a paper filing system makes it easy to put a document in the wrong drawer or folder. Storing documents electronically allows you to search by keyword or author, reducing time spent looking for important information.

Automation

Automated processes reduce the time you spend manually reviewing and flagging documents. Document management software allows you to automatically flag or file customer complaints, reports, corrective action documents, customer surveys and related business documents. This automation gives you more time for hands-on management tasks.

Improved Security

Storing paper files in your offices leaves them at risk for damage in a fire, flood or natural disaster. Theft is also a concern for those who store their documents in a file cabinet or desktop file bin. Using document management software to store files increases security and allows you to set different levels of user access to prevent unauthorized users from accessing sensitive documents.

Pitfalls

Implementation

The initial implementation of document management software takes time. You have to scan all of your paper documents and set up specific parameters for your business. Document management consultants can help with these tasks, but hiring a consultant increases the overall cost of implementation.

Training Requirements

After implementation of a document management software program, you need to ensure all of your employees can use the system correctly. Providing proper training to all employees reduces the risk of errors and helps employees use all the features of the program correctly. However, training takes time away from other business tasks.

Maintenance

Technology changes rapidly, so you may need to purchase hardware upgrades and license updates to keep your system running properly. If a vendor changes the system substantially, you also have to learn about new features and provide additional training to employees.

Pricing

Implementing document management software is a significant cost for businesses, but several case studies indicate that the benefits of document conversion outweigh the initial costs of implementing this type of system. Batch scanning documents costs approximately 9 cents per page, so converting to a document management system costs more for large companies with millions of pages to scan than it does for small businesses. Some documents require special handling due to their condition or size. Special handling increases scanning costs. Other costs include creating custom indexing systems, converting scanned documents to special formats and updating hardware to accommodate new software programs.

The University of Texas cites several case studies that show the immense benefit of implement document management software. One legal firm was able to save $78,400 by implementing a document storage and retrieval system. The system eliminated the need for 2.5 clerks to spend 2,240 hours searching for and photocopying documents for attorneys. A major U.S. pharmaceutical company saved over $1 million per year in search and retrieval time.

Document management software has several major benefits for businesses of any size. Implementing an electronic system makes it possible to search for files in just a few seconds instead of spending hours searching through file folders and stacks of paper. This type of software also makes it easy to set different access levels for different employees, improving the integrity and security of documents. When purchasing document management software, look for programs that allow you to audit documents, search for documents using a keyword or author name and e-mail documents to employees, clients and vendors. After the initial cost of implementation, a document management software program will save you time and money.