Like most businesses, you create tens of thousands of documents each year. Although they are necessary, these documents will quickly pile up. With limited office space and the inability to destroy these documents, managing them all can be a struggle. When such a large pile of physical documents gets stacked up in your office, it can feel as though you're drowning in paperwork.

If your office is being overwhelmed by physical records, you can do something about it. Let's take a look at what steps you can take if you are struggling with physical records management.

Going paperless will save your company thousands of dollars, reduce your effect on the environment, and increase your overall efficiency. Like anything else, however, a paperless office won't be perfect. There are a few challenges of a paperless office that you will face. Fortunately, all of them can be avoided if you know what to do.

As you seek ways to manage your digital documents, cloud file sharing has inevitably come up. Thanks to their huge popularity and some great marketing, many people only think of cloud file sharing services like Dropbox when considering the cloud. Although these are great resources for personal use, cloud file sharing services are not actual document management solutions, and should not be used by your business. Here is what makes Dropbox and its peers different from a cloud-based document management solution:

When someone's personal data is lost or stolen, major problems ranging from difficulty accessing personal records to identity theft can occur. To help prevent these things from happening, the law places certain data protection responsibilities on companies like yours when you collect personal data from customers and employees. Non-compliance with these data protection responsibilities will cost your company, so it's important that you adhere to them. That being said, here are the most important responsibilities that you need to keep in line with, according to regulations set forth by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

The automation capabilities of workflow automation software will dramatically enhance your company's ability to engage in a myriad of tasks of varying complexity. While the software itself will be invaluable, getting the most out of it will require an approach that suits the unique needs of your business. This is because like everything else you use, your workflow software is a tool, and tools are more impactful when properly used. By following the four tips listed below, you can use workflow software to automate your processes more effectively.