While medium to large-sized organizations appreciate the value of a good document management system, early-stage startups and smaller businesses tend to live in a range between a hint and a mountain of chaotic document management.
Some even claim to be inspired by it. However, the aftermath of untraceable documents can become a compounding problem. That is why you need a good document management system.
1. Documents are readily available
When files are being shared around by employees left right and center, despite the most well-meaning versioning and file control, there will come a time when the latest version comes into dispute and then begins a game of “find the right file” of people going through each other’s mail chains, their IM histories and even where the documents were created to find the missing file. Or, maybe even worse, the right file was lost to some kind of virus, corruption, or just neglect. With a document management system with automatic file versioning, metadata, custom metadata, audit-log, you get control over the document. Everything is within reach, the process owner is clearly defined and identified. No amount of time will be lost in tracing the file down and audit logs will track down who had how much access to the file and when.
2. Documents are Secure
Security might not be the highest priority with every single document in the system, but the way modern cyber security works is that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Having distributed documents spread over different devices means there is no means of controlling who accesses that document and when. For this reason, a secure document management system comes to protect you. You decide who has how much access to which file. The 256-bit bank-level encryption protected by Google’s two-factor authenticator means there is no unauthorized access to your files.
You get the following advantages as well:
- Data theft during transit (owing to SSL encryption)
- Automatic backups
- File retention period
- Disaster recovery (triple backup)
- Encrypted, secure storage
- Document approval in parallel or series
- Audit-log
3. You avoid physical documentation
For some businesses, like accounting and legal concerns this is a real lifeline. Instead of having to sift through heaps and heaps of paperwork for every little thing, you can simply digitize your documentation and trust an industry-leading OCR-search to help you find all your files even if they are in read-only formats like images, scans, or PDFs. With the appropriate metadata, custom metadata, and associated files you can create a reliable thread to all your meaningful documentation without having to take any printouts. This is easier on storage, space, time, and most importantly helps you reduce your carbon footprint.
4. You are ubiquitously accessible
Collaborating with teams should be as easy as sitting right next to each other. However, this is the age of the remote office. With collaboration tools like DocuSign (separate subscription required) and the fact that a good document management system will allow you equal access anywhere on the planet you should be able to work just as unhindered from a state-of-the-art machine as you would from a decent smartphone with access to the web. Even in areas with limited speed coverage, you can update your documents via email and that will sort everything out as it enters the system. Also, you can even work on live documents using Microsoft Office 365 (separate subscription required) and update them in real-time as if you were sitting right next to each other.
5. You’re set to grow
The last thing a business needs is to be at the precipice of expansion only to be impeded by the mound of paperwork that is your business history. A document management system is designed to alleviate all of these concerns by handling everything from the outset. Even if this is the moment you choose to go digital, the uphill task plateaus with every document digitized. Come expansion time, every file and document is sorted, organized, and accessible.
Conclusion
With a solution like Folderit, you can have all ease that comes with a good document management solution, so you can focus on getting to work and nothing else.
