Document Management 101

document management 101Are you manually filing and processing your documents? It can be a laborious process and dominate valuable staff time. Electronic document management utilizing your office’s multi-function printer or copier and basic principles of document management can benefit your office in a plethora of ways. This week we explore what electronic document management is and the benefits of implementing it for your organization.

What Is Electronic Document Management?

At its simplest, electronic document management is the electronic storage and retrieval of documents. Most organizations employ an electronic document management system (EDMS) integrated with their multi-function printer and network to handle the process. The EDMS allows you to structure and organize your documents for storage. It also gives you the ability to add, edit and view documents. Other functions of the software include the ability to index and search documents, and add differing levels of security to your documents.

What Are the Benefits of Electronic Document Management?

The two biggest areas where businesses benefit from electronic document management are time and money. EDMS can help you:

  • Reduce document management costs: It is cheaper to store your documents electronically rather than paying for costs associated with paper documents, including paper, file folders, file boxes, file cabinets, and physical on-site and off-site space to store the documents.
  • Improve operational efficiency: With electronic document management, you are able to eliminate manual document workflow and employ automatic electronic workflows that can be preset to accomplish the same job in a fraction of the time.
  • Increase production output: With all of the time that is saved through electronic document management, your office will become more productive and free your staff up to do other important tasks.
  • Retrieve documents instantly: Save staff time and become more efficient and productive with the ability to obtain any document instantly from a central location. This saves your staff from having to dig through file cabinets and folders to retrieve the exact document needed.
  • Eliminate lost documents: A misfiled paper document is like searching for a needle in a haystack. With electronic documents, if something is misfiled, you can quickly and easily search and find the document.
  • Automatically file documents: Using scan, capture and route technology on your multi-function printer, you have the ability to automatically file documents as you are scanning them, saving your staff time.

To learn more about the scan, capture, transform and route process that is a key component of electronic document management, take a look at my post, (link to scan, capture post once it’s live). You will be scanning and filing documents like a pro in no time!

Have a question regarding document management? Leave a comment below or contact us.

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