Document management encompasses all the processes and actions that a company uses to manage its documents efficiently and securely. This requires a defined and effective structure to create, store, organize, control access and dispose of this type of material — whether physical or digital.
Thus, electronic document management is essential for companies that seek not only to gain efficiency but also to comply with the standards and rules of their respective sectors.
Keep reading and find out more about what document management is, how it can help your company and tips on how to put it into practice!
What is document management?
As you have already seen, document management is basically the practice of storing, organizing, analyzing, and (when necessary) disposing of this type of material. This happens not in a specific industry but across the company. Therefore, it is essential to have established processes, the right tools, and prepared employees.
Of course, talking is easy. In practice, several companies face challenges in managing documents correctly. To prevent this from happening to you, it is essential to adopt some measures:
- Set default formats and locations for each document type.
- Establish how they will be stored and accessed, as well as ensure that everyone in the company is aware of it.
- Make sure that the most used documents are easy to locate and have a quick filing, thus speeding up everyday tasks.
- Organize access permissions to prevent documents from being accessed or used by improper people.
- Follow the standards and rules relevant to your sector of activity, thus having not only legal compliance but also greater efficiency and security in the electronic management of documents.
But is it worth going through all this work — and much more, as you’ll see later — to manage documents? To put an end to any doubts, see below why your company needs this type of care and what can happen if it doesn’t.
What is the importance of document management?
From the description of document management itself, it is already possible to see how important it is for a company and the various benefits it can offer. The main ones are greater organization, efficiency, agility and security.
In addition, this practice also helps in making more strategic decisions, reduces operating costs, avoids failures or errors, and even boosts the quality of the product or service offered.
See more about the six main advantages of document management:
- Organization and agility: Managing the various documents of a company helps in the quick location and retrieval of important information. Through this practice, everything has its place of storage, a form of access and a standard cataloging, saving a lot of time when dealing with documents. As a result, the company gains efficiency and agility in the operation.
- Information security: This management also protects sensitive information from loss, theft, alteration or even unauthorized access. Thus, a company has more confidentiality and integrity of data, as well as the traceability of everything that has been added, changed or deleted.
- Legal compliance: Companies in highly regulated markets, such as healthcare, food, and the financial sector, need to comply with a variety of laws. Ensuring this, as well as constantly updating these standards, is easier with the appropriate management of documents. In this way, a company can avoid penalties and still protect its reputation in the market.
- Cost reduction: When done digitally, document management reduces the physical space required for storage and decreases the costs associated with maintaining physical archives. Even in the case of physical storage, good management practices help reduce the cost caused by errors, losses, and malfunctions in documentation.
- Improved decision-making: Successful document management ensures that all the information and data present in them is accurate and up to date. This generates inputs for more informed and strategic decision-making.
- Increased quality of products/services: This benefit is a sum of all the others. After all, by having safer, easier-to-use, organized, and accessible documents by everyone (who needs them), your operation is more efficient, agile, and compliant. Consequently, your products or services have more quality.
What is the risk of inadequate document management?
If, on the one hand, the correct execution of document management helps companies to strengthen their operations, on the other hand, the lack of this control leads to serious problems.
Not only do you fail to add benefits to your operation, but you can also hinder its efficiency, in addition to suffering from legal problems. See below some of the negative reflections you avoid when managing documents:
- Loss of relevant information: the lack of management and control can cause important documents to be lost or even destroyed. As a result, your company would end up losing critical data pertinent to various stages of the operation.
- Compromised Security: sensitive information can be accessed by unauthorized people when there is no strict control over it. This can lead to data leaks or alterations, fraud, and the loss of documents.
- Legal Non-Compliance: it is precisely this change, loss, or leakage of sensitive data that generates non-compliance with regulations. This can result in fines, penalties, and damage to the organization’s reputation.
- Operational Inefficiency: By not managing documents efficiently, your company will have more difficulty locating files, sharing information, and storing data. As a result, there are delays in processes and activities, reducing the company’s productivity.
- High Costs: Finally, while document management reduces costs, the lack of it can increase them. For example, having disorganized storage increases maintenance and document retrieval costs.
Free Ebook: What is Intelligent Document Processing and How to Use It
What are the main tools for document management?
Now that you know the importance of good document management — and the dangers of neglecting it — it’s time to know the best tools to put this control into practice.
There are a wide range of solutions for managing documents and files. However, so many options can make it difficult to choose the one that best suits your needs.
A good general guideline is to know that each of the tools has its own features and benefits. Therefore, be very clear about your needs, what your infrastructure is like, and possible points of difficulty in implementing/using the solution.
To make this task easier for you, we have listed below the main tools for document management. Check!
Cloud storage
By using cloud technology, the company does not store documents on its own machines, but in an outsourced virtual environment. Therefore, one of the advantages of cloud computing is storing and accessing documents from anywhere, facilitating organization and collaboration.
However, while this makes the operation easier, it also entails hiring an external provider for this type of service. This is reflected in financial investment, as well as less autonomy, customization and storage support.
Document Management Systems (DMS)
A Document Management System (DMS) is a tool designed to store, organize, and manage documents electronically. This type of system allows companies to create, edit, share, and control access to documents efficiently and securely.
A DMS makes it possible to store, control the version, create security measures and stipulate ways to retrieve digital documents. Among the most common features of this software are centralized storage, access control, advanced search, workflow automation, and version control.
With these features, DMS is widely used by companies that need to manage large volumes of documents that do not have a very high complexity.
Electronic signature
This type of solution is more used by companies that have more basic needs. As the name implies, the focus of this tool is on facilitating the signing of electronic documents, which saves time and reduces the volume of paper.
However, it is insufficient when it comes to storing, sharing, and controlling access to documents. Therefore, if you need a more robust solution, it would be best to opt for another type of system.
Scanning and OCR
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that transforms different types of documents into structured, editable, and searchable data. That is, with OCR you capture the information contained in scanned images of printed texts, handwriting, or even in photos captured by a camera.
In practice, this means that you can extract information from any printed or handwritten document quickly and accurately. In this way, it saves time and significantly reduces the risk of manual errors in converting these materials.
However, it is worth remembering that OCR can convert printed text into digital text, but this tool does not interpret the data contained in this text. This is up to the IDP, which you can find out below.
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)
The focus of Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is to automate the extraction of information from any type of document, no matter the format, and interpret that extracted data.
To do this, IDP uses OCR to transform text images (PDFs, emails, photos, etc.) into manipulable data. In addition, it analyzes context, sorts data, and extracts valuable insights. And all this happens automatically.
In addition, IDP can analyze handwritten texts, scanned images, and more. With this tool, data is automatically extracted, sorted, and integrated into your company’s system in minutes.
Completing this type of tool, there is often also the implementation of artificial intelligence, which learns over time. Thus, the more technology is used, the better it gets at recognizing and processing different types of documents.
As a result, IDP greatly reduces the time spent processing documents and the incidence of human error.
ECM Tool
Of all the options mentioned so far, ECM software is considered the most comprehensive and complete solution. It allows businesses to manage the entire lifecycle of their content and documents. This includes capturing, storing, managing, preserving, and delivering information from a variety of document formats.
It centralizes all organizational content, allowing you to create, capture, manage, store, preserve, and share any documents and records. This reduces paperwork, prevents failures and deviations related to document management, and drives agility and operational efficiency.
In other words, the great differential of ECM is its robustness, which allows complete management without leaving efficiency and security at hand. It incorporates all the other tools mentioned above, and thus allows:
- Collect and digitize physical and electronic documents, sorting and indexing everything automatically;
- Store documents in centralized repositories, which strengthens security and legal compliance;
- Manage content by making it easier for collaborators to access, edit, and share documents, which boosts collaboration and productivity across teams;
- Automate workflows and repetitive tasks, such as approvals and filings, increasing operational efficiency;
- Create access, retention, and archiving policies to safeguard the integrity and availability of documentation;
- Use analytics tools to monitor the use and effectiveness of documents and processes, aiding in strategic decision-making.
With an ECM, a company strengthens digital security and compliance. To do this, choose an ECM solution that complies with international standards such as ISO 9001 and FDA 21 CFR Part 11.
See also: Free ebook with tips to improve document management
Conclusion
Document management is not just a trend but rather a necessity for businesses that want to achieve efficiency, security, and compliance when handling various forms of documents and files.
By adopting an electronic management system, your business can reduce costs, improve productivity, and ensure that critical information is always accessible and protected. With the right technology, you can provide a more agile and collaborative work environment.
Looking for more efficiency and compliance in your operations? Our experts can help you identify the best strategies for your company with SoftExpert solutions. Contact us today!
