This is an age when so many competitive businesses depend upon efficiency. Still, problems with document workflow productivity create challenges. In contrast, superior document workflow management tools and tactics can offer amazing productivity boosts. Learn how inadequate document workflow management reduces efficiency and even more, how the right technology can help improve all areas of your business.
Why Reconsider Your Document Management Strategies?
Document workflow management simply refers to the process of transferring information from one person to another during various stages in the business process. Typically, work has to get approved before the completed work moves to the next step. For a simple example, a supplier might send an invoice to a buyer. The buyer may need to approve it as matching the order and route this document to inventory to confirm delivery. Once confirmed, inventory will approve it and route the invoice to accounts payable.
This example may appear simple, but you probably already know the problems that inefficiencies in your own document management system can introduce to a business. In the example, flaws in the process can lead to violations of payment terms, issues with future orders, and increased workloads.
According to Business.com, these are common issues that many companies struggle with.
Document mishandling issues: Common problems include the inability to find documents, issues opening documents emailed from others, and duplication of incorrect information on multiple documents. Either way, these challenges led to an estimated loss of productivity of well over 20%, based on a global IT survey.
Collaboration using email: It’s still common to find companies emailing documents back and forth for collaboration. This generates multiple copies of the document as it’s in the process of getting emailed. Generally, discussions occur within long, cumbersome email threads as well. There’s also no way to assure that the final version ended up in the inbox of the person who has ownership over the data.
Versioning issues: Old-fashioned methods of sharing documents create versioning problems. They make it difficult to ensure that everybody’s working on the latest iteration or even knows how to find it. Business.com mentioned a Harris survey that found 83 percent of respondents said that tracking versions caused problems.
Wasted time searching: Knowledge workers reported spending an inordinate amount of time looking for the documents they needed to proceed with tasks. Dealing with misplaced or lost documents took them even more time. When key employees leave or transfer out of departments, files often got lost.
Lack of remote access: Increasingly, today’s workforce runs remotely. Relying upon hard copies or even electronic files stored on somebody’s disk drive can limit accessibility to necessary documents. Having an on-premises-only system may also encourage employees to create even more unmanaged copies of documents, so they can take them home or on business trips.
Expense of manual approvals and signatures: An automated and convenient electronic signing and approval process can save time, ensure faster results, and reduce the costs to handle each document. Otherwise, employees waste even more time delivering documents, asking for approvals, and then waiting for them.
Security and compliance: In this age of BYOD, or bring your own devices, security has grown increasingly challenging. Understandably, employees may try to download documents to their own devices to take with them for work away from the office. However, it’s difficult for companies to protect information on scattered devices and also, to make sure the document only gets used in ways that the government allows.
How a Better Document Workflow Management Will Make Your Business More Productive
Modern, smart, cloud-based document management systems can address common issues. For instance, the system can have input rules that minimize human error and help ensure that employees use the latest version of the right document. They incorporate features like notifications and electronic approvals to keep the approval process streamlined. They also come with built-in collaboration tools that eliminate the need to require upon cumbersome email threads.
Even better, these systems run from the cloud, so they make it possible to access files from almost anywhere and at any time. Nobody has to travel back to the office or even worse, wait for somebody to unlock the door. At the same time as they improve accessibility, these document management systems incorporate smart security, so management can set rules to ensure that only the right people view sensitive information. This helps ensure security and compliance with legal rules.
The system also keeps a complete version history, so it’s simple to track changes and view the document’s history in case of problems or audits. Finally, these systems allow companies to classify and tag documents. This ensures that it’s easy for employees to find what they need and never waste time looking for lost documents.
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