Can Document Management Save You Time and Money?

culled from:inc.com

Will we ever see a paperless office? While we may be moving in that direction, most experts agree that we are a long way off. Technology has opened a lot of doors. We can now access anything from anywhere by going to the cloud. Smart phones and tablets make it possible to read, schedule appointments, maintain to-do lists and send communication without touching a piece of paper. But technology isn’t for everyone. So instead of thinking paper-less, it’s time to think less-paper.

Therefore businesses, large and small, have turned to document management to reduce costs and increase productivity. When a client was considering a less-paper system, I reached out to John Calu and Patti Kanner at Atlantic Tomorrows Office to learn more. Here’s what I found.

Benefits of Document Management:

    Save Money. Storing paper documents off-site costs money. Keeping them on-site does too. With the cost of office space, do you really want to allocate 5-10% of it to filing and storing paper? You are probably better off using it for other purposes!

    Save Time. According to Coopers and Lybrand, a typical office employee spends 15% of their time searching for documents. Finding documents is now quick and easy. No more running to file cabinets, climbing over boxes or going to storage to get what you need.

    Customer Service. With documents easily accessible, your staff can quickly and accurately answer questions. In some cases, customers can access information themselves. For example, some accountants use customer portals to grant access to their tax information.

    Security. Access can be configured in a variety of ways so staff can retrieve documents they need to perform their job while restricting access to other information. It’s difficult to do this in a paper environment.

    Convenience. Because documents are stored electronically, you can access information from home, office or literally anywhere there is an internet connection.

There’s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to document management. No, it is not just for big companies. Technology has made it easy and affordable for small businesses too! No, you don’t have to scan and data enter all your current stuff to implement a document management system. Most businesses take a moving forward approach when getting started and build from there.

If you are considering a ‘Less Paper’ initiative, talk to a reputable provider. A good one will gladly come in, assess and understand YOUR business and develop a solution that meets your budget, business needs and ROI objectives.