As businesses digitally transform certain aspects of operation, they gain efficiency and productivity over their older, manual operations. One major operational change that saves businesses significant time and money is moving document management processes to a digital system. While the paperless office is a myth, every business needs secure ways to organize information, files, and documents. Document management software has emerged as the answer for businesses looking to move their old, paper-based processes to more efficient methods.

What Is Document Management Software?

Document management software is a system through which documents are captured, stored, and retrieved. Even if a business has already moved away from paper-based document processes and has gone electronic, a document management system can greatly reduce the amount of time spent looking for documents in addition to moving them through workflows. Document management software can keep records of various versions of files and track which users make changes. The software can also be configured to allow only certain users access to certain documents – ensuring security and compliance while reducing risk. There are more ways document management software improves business operations:

Ensured Compliance

If your business must comply with any regulatory restrictions or standards – or if your industry itself is highly regulated – document management software can offer immense benefits. The software allows you to visually illustrate workflows to quickly show compliance auditors how documents move through your organization. The instant retrieval component of document management software also allows you to pull requested material and demonstrate that it meets security expectations. Your business will have compliance built into its document management – helping to reduce stress and labor when audit time comes. Records management criteria can also be established and applied to different document types. This criteria dictates how long a document can live in addition to things like legal holds and destruction review.

Reduced Storage Space

Document management software reduces – or eliminates, depending on your business – the need for physical property to store documents. With software, you’ll no longer pay to house paper, and you can get rid of file cabinets, storage bins, and boxes.

Better Collaboration

The software enhances your team’s ability to share, collaborate on, and escalate documents from multiple locations. Employees are not limited by the actual document’s location or their own to accelerate workflows. The software enables version control so ­– not only can you view who has accessed and made changes to files – you’ll be able to recover older versions of those files if necessary. Overall, documents are more accessible through a secure system that gives you additional control and visibility. Subscribing to a document also facilitates collaboration as you can be notified whenever a document is modified or injected into a workflow.

Speedier Document Retrieval

Say goodbye to sifting through disorganized portfolios and filing drawers. Document management allows you to store documents and retrieve them instantly from any-size volume of files. Using search tools, meta tags, and other classification systems, anyone who is authorized to retrieve a document can do so from the system. You can retrieve groups of documents on certain topics, or you can use the software to pinpoint one particular file.

Guaranteed Security

With document management software, you’ll leave behind worries about damage to physical documents that cannot be recovered. Without paper-based processes, your files will not just be safe from human error – they’ll be safe from prying eyes as well. Even if you already have electronic document processes, the secure repository in the software reduces the risk that cybercriminals will access your data. Document management software delivers storage and backup systems that secure sensitive files and provide disaster recovery in the event of an emergency.

Truly going paperless seems like an effort, but it can be easy, painless, and vital for your future success. If you think your organization could benefit from any of these time-saving, cost-efficient aspects of document management software, contact All Star Software Solutions today. Our seasoned team of experts in document management technology is ready to help your business discover new, better ways of working.