A global survey conducted by IDC in 2012 have proven the relation between cumbersome document management and low level organizational performance. This is due mostly to the following circumstances:
These trifles add up in the organization, causing serious losses. An integrated DMS solution, ehich enables team members to create, send, receive, edit and store or archive documents in one unified environment.
A survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on a 1000 persons represenatative sample have shown that most administrational employees rely on emails to manage documents and related tasks on a daily basis. This clumsy method results in untraceable documents and tasks, since hundreds of emails might be received by a single account per day. It is easy to see how much time is consumed until a document can be found, not to mention versioning, shared environments and others. Furthermore, the survey revealed that untraceable documents ultimately lead to the collapse of versioning and priorization. Therefore, the method itself prevents effective and efficient work, hence in such cases it is also recommended to implement a comprehensive DMS system, able to manage all these issues. Such systems make traceability, versioning and sharing easy and reliable, preventing the chaos created by email based document management and versioning. In case the DMS system contains a workflow engine, all tasks related to documents can be distributes and managed, in many cases automatically. As a bonus, such systems might be able to manage business processes and automate a number of other tasks and operative processes.
The same survey by Harris interactive have shown that manual versioning of documents is a time consuming task that makes oeprations less effective. For example, if a document, previously edited by a coworker is sent to others for editing, review or approval, it can happen that only some members of the team are aware of it, while others are not. Hence, it might happen - oftentimes - that a colleague is correcting a part of the document that has already been corrected by someone else, so work is duplicated. To make matters worse, in such cases usually noone knows which is the last version, who edited it for the last time, what changes have been made by who and so on. In a DMS system, parallel editing is possible in a distributed way, meaning that colleagues receive different parts for editing and correction and the system concatenates the documents after all editing and correcting has been done. Hence, it is always traceable, versioning is resolved and a great deal of working hours is spared.
Another survey, conducted by M-Files ECM shows that files and folders based, shared document storage solutions are making it time consuming to find relevant information. Better solutions are therefore needed for document storage. Ideally a cloud based tool, that is not only able to trace documents based on its names, and is accessible anytime anywhere. xFLOWer DMS is for example provides this functionality along with a number of worflow, middleware and automation features. Complex search criteria can also be used for document search, while the system automatically attaches all documents to the right business process.
According to a survey by Intuit, which asked 750 executives, not less than 77% of small and medium-sized business executives would consider it a great help in running their business if they always had access to important files anytime, anywhere. Again, cloud-based technology is the best and most accessible way to access your files, no matter where you are. Accordingly, it is recommended to choose a cloud-based document management system to ensure this functionality for your document management tasks too. Of course, advanced DMS and workflow systems such as xFLOWer Cloud provide access to all types of files. In addition, each team member can work remotely on a specific file, so teamwork support is also provided besides providing remote access.
Ombud's survey (international research in developed countries) examined the cost reduction of switching to e-signatures for larger organizations. Research has shown that switching (at least in the United States) can save up to $ 20 per document, as it can reduce or nullify several types of costs, such as paper costs, printing costs, postage costs, labor costs, and more. The survey found that designing a paperless office not only saves these costs, but also avoids printer failures, lost working hours due to downtime, and costly repairs. Of course, digitalized document management also speeds up the approval of documents, which could otherwise discourage work.
The same study by Ombud showed that process-based, digital processing of documents reduces the turnaround time, associated with documents by approximately 80%. It's no coincidence: if a manager can approve or reject a document at any time, with a single click, the lead time will obviously be less than if he could just do it from the office. The acceleration of approval processes also results in shorter lead times for sales, so multiple offers, orders, and contracts can be approved within the same time frame, which directly increases sales efficiency. Of course, it also contributes to the reduction of printing and mailing turnaround times, and clients get documents much faster compared to manual approval.
Considering all of the above, it can be said that efficient office work without adequate support systems is no longer possible today. It also turned out that the functionality of static document management systems is not necessarily sufficient f we are to reduce costs and workload. This effort requires a support system that manages documents properly throughout business processes, archives them automatically, and even manages their editing and approval - and does this all from the cloud. However, xFLOWer Document Management goes even further, with its advanced automation capabilities that save you additional work time and automate the distribution of tasks among your colleagues. Check out our system and request a free demo today!
