What the Document Management System Revolution Means for Your Business- Business.com Guide
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The document discusses the revolution in document management systems (DMS) which has made them more affordable and accessible for small businesses, facilitating efficiency, compliance, and collaboration. Key trends include cloud-based systems that reduce costs and enhance accessibility, as well as lifecycle management which ensures document security and tracking. Overall, advancements in DMS technology allow businesses to save time and money while improving productivity and collaboration.
What the Document Management System Revolution Means for Your Business- Business.com Guide
- 1. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 What the Document Management System Revolution Means for Your Business The revolution in DMS has caused some trends to emerge and each can positively impact your business.
- 2. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 The Revolution of Document Management Software Because small businesses want the tools to compete with bigger organizations, it’s no surprise that document management software providers are revolutionizing their solutions. Document management systems (DMS) are more affordable than ever before and small business owners are taking notice. Companies that required by law to maintain detailed records such as who has to access to what information and when often find that a DMS saves them time and money while reducing their risk of lost documents. A DMS will allow you to capture information and store that information in a way that is compact, accessible, and secure. It will facilitate the distribution of information in a manner that is convenient and reliable. The Revolution of DMS Document management started out as a system to manage paper-based documents in the 1980’s, including documents, photographs and prints. Today, it has evolved to become a cloud-based or hosted system that collects, captures and organizes many types of file formats. Not only that, many of today’s most popular document management software systems allow for easy collaboration among co- workers and colleagues and include workflow and auditing capabilities. As technology and the needs of businesses change, DMS has too. From new features that allow content to be stored in HTML format to accessible translation services, a DMS revolution is taking place. This revolution in DMS has caused some trends to emerge and each can positively impact your business.
- 3. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 Top Trends of DMS DMS are undergoing a revolution. Advances in technology are providing businesses with new opportunities to cost-effectively manage the critical documents they need to be efficient and compliant with regulations of the laws they must adhere to. The revolution taking place assists in the development of some of today’s top trends. Here’s what those trends are and what they mean for your business. It is the tracking capabilities of document management systems that give them their greatest value and appeal. A modern DMS keeps detailed records on movement and alterations-protecting organizations from lawsuits, fines, and penalties while safeguarding confidentiality. Cloud-Based Systems Also known as "software-as-a-service," these are document management systems with a Web interface. With cloud-based DMS, the documents no longer live in physical premises, but reside in, and are backed up in, the cloud. Organizations of all sizes are using the cloud to reduce IT expenses while enhancing their operations efficiency. What it Means for Your Business: Cloud-based systems are often more affordable options than hosted ones. One accounting firm found that by switching their document management system to the cloud, they were able to save $75,000 annually by reducing leasing costs (from server hosting), hardware investments and more . Your business can save too! Device Accessibility Is your DMS tablet and smartphone-friendly? Can you store and retrieve documents with mobile devices? Are you able to log into your DMS from any airport or hotel with Wi-Fi available? These are the kinds of access features that are trending across many DMS solutions. Business owners and managers want to be able to access necessary information from anywhere and at any time. What it Means for Your Business: Because your team has access to all the documents they need in the palm of their hand, they’re able carry everything they need via a mobile device to close deals with clients immediately. 1. “Accounting Firm Moves to Cloud-Based PC Management Solution, Saves $75,000 Annually,” Microsoft. May 2012 1
- 4. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 Top Trends of DMS Lifecycle Management Documents used in law, medicine, education, real estate, the sciences, and other high-value fields often require security, verification, and auditing at the highest levels. Lifecycle management allows you to track not only all the changes in a document since it was created, but also every time the document has been accessed, by whom, and in what version. Advanced DMS solutions lay a paperless trail that can be audited as needed or required. Lifecycle management is important if your business and workers collaborate on specific documents, and more than 9 out of 10 workers do . A document’s lifecycle includes: • Creation • Review • Publication • Disposition/Retention What it Means for Your Business: Knowing what employee made a change at any given time can save your business from version issues. Having access to records of document revisions provides users with more insight into locating the version of a document they’re after. Revision Storage Lifecycle management can help you determine when a document was edited, but unless you’re able to get back to that, it may not help you accomplish your goals. When you combine the plummeting costs of data storage with the version-tracking capabilities of modern DMS, you can record every change to a document since the day it was created. Most systems will allow you to reverse any of those changes and revert to any previous version of a document. 2 2. “The Case for Better Document Collaboration,” Perforce. August 2012.
- 5. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 Top Trends of DMS What it Means for Your Business: You won’t have to worry about whether or not you’re accessing the right version of a document. 83% of workers lose or waste time on version management, but the right document management system can save you from this time-suck. Language Capabilities Advanced DMS can read documents in multiple languages and convert them into such. The number of languages a system can accommodate is often used to compare various DMS when purchasing. If your business is based in the US, you may not need as an extensive language translation feature, but for international businesses, this is often a must. The most common DMS benefits include increased productivity, more effective client service, and decreased worry about things falling through the cracks. What it Means for Your Business: Language translation services for documents can cost your business a bundle. However, document management software providers are increasingly incorporating language capabilities that reduce the time and cost of outsourcing translation needs. 1.3% 2.6% 15.8% 31.6% 49% Users Who Agree DMS Allows Them to Be More Productive Disagree Completely Disagree Somewhat Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Somewhat Agree Completely 3 3. “FPA-ActiFi Adviser Technology Reports: Document Management Edition,” FPA and ActiFi. 2011.
- 6. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 Top Trends of DMS Digital Rights Management DRM is the budding science of protecting the digital content of rights holders. It is often applied to DVDs and other forms of entertainment media to reduce unlawful duplication. But DRM is much more than copy protection. It is used to control and track access to documents, and can be used to license content to others and even collect fees. Prevent unauthorized use of proprietary documents. Does the system have a DRM component that can assign and track electronic rights, and control access to a document, PDF or AutoCAD files? Does it integrate with a content management system? What it Means for Your Business: Companies can cut digital rights management related costs by 50% just by using a DMS with this capability. If you’re worried about copyright costs, such as printing resources and postage costs, a DMS with this capability could mean reduced business costs. Electronic Publishing DMS isn't just about storing and protecting documents. With web-based front ends, it's also the software used to search for and retrieve documents. For businesses today, DMS can automate the publication of data to a website or blog, into e-books or other formats, and into the marketplace-pushing documents into retail outlets. This could also be helpful for organizations with frequent requests for past paperwork. What it Means for Your Business: Instead of going back to through all your content to publish it, use your DMS to pull from the past for present day publishing. No longer will extensive time be spent reformatting documents – your DMS will do it for you. The State of Oregon, which previously took days to fulfill a request of 80,000 emails generated by the Secretary of State, now takes 90 seconds . 4. “TSD Rental LLC case study,” Lock Lizard. 2011. 5. State of Oregon Embraces HP TRIM for Statewide Cloud-based Records Management Program. Autonomy. January 2013. 4 4 5
- 7. © Business.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved. | 888.441.4466 Summary New trends are constantly emerging as technology advances and the needs of business owners and managers change. The main benefits of using a DMS are savings in time and money while productivity increases. In the past a document management system limited the user with regards to what they could do beyond storing and accessing the files. Technological advancements and the revolution that has taken place with document management software now allows businesses more opportunities to reduce document management costs, increase collaboration, and backup and track creations and revisions.