Have you ever wondered about the significant impact that the document management process has on your business? Did you know that document challenges can decrease staff productivity by more than 21 percent, an Adobe survey suggests? Most professionals spend nearly 50 percent of their work time looking for information and they need about 18 minutes to locate a document.
The selection of an improper document management solution can contribute to all of these issues. Is your company dealing with such a problem? Here are five signs that you have an improper document management system in place.
Time-Consuming File Sharing
The fact that file sharing and looking for information both require a lot of time indicates improper document management.
Having the team spending large amounts of time on document management will inevitably lead to losses in productivity. This can be a particularly taxing process for companies that send and receive thousands of documents on a daily basis – documents that have to be used and shared by multiple departments.
The situation becomes even more challenging for documents that are needed infrequently for reference purposes.
An effective document management system increases the visibility and accessibility of business files. There are easy categorization and navigation functionalities that can be personalized by each team for optimal usability.
Lots of Duplicates
When people find it difficult to access information or check when a document has been updated, it’s very likely for lots of duplicates to appear.
Having duplicates isn’t a major issue but it can slow down progress, especially when a single file is used and updated by multiple departments. If people find it difficult to locate the latest version of a file, they’ll also find it impossible to stay on the same page during collaborations.
Improper document management solutions lack the necessary labels and file classification tools. When paperwork isn’t ordered and labeled accurately, you’ll end up dealing with a complete document chaos.
Loss of Data
This is one of the most serious issues that improper document management solutions can contribute to. Clutter and the lack of structure can easily lead to the misplacement and the loss of important files.
Loss of valuable data is one of the biggest corporate nightmares. This is the main reason why the best document management systems out there come with a range of backup options. You simply can’t afford to lose client information or sensitive insider data. When such an issue occurs with the wrong management software, it becomes impossible to restore what’s missing.
Lack of Compliance with Industry Regulations
Financial companies, insurance agencies and representatives of many other industries have strict document management requirements.
There are protocols and data storage requirements that will be almost impossible to fulfill if you don’t have the right management system. Proper record keeping functionalities and security features are also a requirement, especially when it comes to sensitive information.
When an organization lacks the right software for the purpose, it will simply not pass a data management audit.
Loss of Clients
The most serious consequence of poor file management is loss of customers due to dissatisfaction.
If a document management system isn’t functional and user-friendly, the customer support team will have problems addressing inquires and complaints. The situation could get even more complicated in the case of client file losses.
With so many quality and affordable document management solutions out there, you simply can’t afford to rely on poor software. Take some time to do research, explore multiple options side by side and figure out which one corresponds to all of your organization’s document management needs.