If you’re considering a document management system (DMS) for your company or improving your existing DMS, focusing on best practices can result in a more effective and successful solution. Here are 5 of our top document management best practices:
1. Prioritize Which Business Processes and Systems to Automate
One of the major benefits of digital document management is the ability to automate processes in ways that reduce time and effort, while boosting productivity. Focus on business processes that are most important such as improving customer response times, speeding up an important process, or leveraging accounting systems to capture payment discounts, for example.
2. Consider Additional Opportunities to Automate
Once you set priorities on which processes to automate, look for ways to streamline workflows, for example – integrate data capture with databases, applications, and notifications. Automating how you capture documents, you can make them searchable and using workflows, intelligently detect the document type to automatically route it to the correct department.
3. Set Goals, Then Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Many companies will implement a document management solution but won’t carry through with setting tangible goals, or specify how they’re going to measure progress. Because a document management system has so many applications, it’s important to be specific.
For example, are you trying to improve collaboration? Or do you want to help users find documents more quickly? Maybe you’re hoping to reduce paper use and save on storage space and costs. Whatever your goals, before you implement a solution, specify clear KPIs to measure progress toward those goals.
4. Improve on, and Eliminate, Paper-Based Processes
Many businesses make the mistake of trying to replicate paper processes digitally. A DMS allows you to design new processes to eliminate inefficiencies of paper. When setting up digital processes, ask yourself why you used a process in the past, and if those steps are necessary in this new context.
5. Keep it Simple!
A DMS is designed to help solve problems, but every feature doesn’t need to be included on every user’s screen. A good system is customizable to show only the most useful features to meet each individual’s needs. Keeping the interface simple makes it easier for your employees to accomplish necessary tasks without overwhelming the user with irrelevant details.
If your goal is to maximize your document management system, these best practices can help. Give us a call and let us show you how the right document management solution can save you both time and money.
