Top 5 ways document management reduces operational costs

CFOs and CIOs looking for ways to reduce costs and maximise productivity already know that a good document management pays for itself in a matter of months. Digital document management (sometimes called “enterprise content management” or ECM) cuts man-hours and therefore costs by automating workflows and eliminating time-consuming manual tasks.

In ROI research studying the cost benefits of investing in document management, Nucleus Research found returns of $8.55 (£6.20) per every dollar spent by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Their report reveals the key benefits and best practices for SMBs to start saving on every dollar and win back employees’ time. Five ways to save on operational costs

1. Storage costs

Switching from paper-based processes to digital document management means you no longer need to pay to store and maintain hard copies of your business records on or off site.

2. Copying and printing costs

Digital document management eliminates the need to print and file paper documents. And in today’s remote working environment – digital files can be shared securely and instantly – that’s what we all need – not printed copies. With a document management system, everything from correspondence and emails to invoices and contracts are stored in digital format. A current copy of these electronic documents is archived in the system’s centralised repository, where it’s available to all authorised users. Version control ensures that everyone is working on a single, up-to-date document. The result? Your employees save time and your company saves money on printing, supplies and equipment.

3. Staff time

Employees spend less time storing, retrieving and sharing documents. Tasks that took minutes or hours with a manual, paper-based system take seconds with a digital document management system. This is a huge plus for HR departments, for example… They can streamline recruitment; automate all onboarding tasks; secure employee files in an encrypted repository to satisfy privacy and regulatory requirements; and monitor their performance appraisal timelines. HR staff can also eliminate redundant data capture by using web forms to capture employee data.

4. Business process costs

Automated workflows streamline business processes in accounting, sales, customer services, HR and other departments. Optimising these workflows leads to faster payment collection, lower purchasing costs, higher customer satisfaction and increased employee retention.

5. Security and disaster recovery costs

Backing up your documents is a breeze when you use cloud-based solutions. Document management systems protect business-critical information with document and communication encryption; separation of customer data from system data; and secure data storage. Multiple instances of data redundancy to ensure data can be restored even if the active system becomes unavailable. Even mobile users have secure access to necessary data.

In addition, with robust logging and analytics capabilities, organisations have a record of who accessed, changed or removed a document and when. Consider these five ways digital document management reduces costs. There’s a great opportunity to improve the bottom line and implement efficient processes to ensure that your company is agile and responsive to the changing business environment.

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