Recent statistics on document management suggest that over 80% of companies still run their business with information that still exists in a paper-based format. If you’re a millennial this may seem unbelievable to you. If you grew up watching TV before the Internet, that statistic does not seem odd, does it?
Regardless of your age, electronic documents have boundless appeal as the preferred medium for content creation, storage, editing, and dissemination.
Here are some specific benefits your organization will enjoy after making the shift from paper documents to electronic documents to run your business.
- Save Space – Think of the number of hardcopy documents you produce every day. Where do they all go?
- Disaster-Proof – Why does it take horrible disasters like a hurricane, fire or flood to make people think defensively? If your business faced some form of disaster, do you have a business continuity plan that includes access to your important business records? Electronic documents give you an advantage over the unexpected.
- Editable – Most business documents require edits and revisions during their life cycle, especially those that require collaboration or multiple parties participating in the content creation. Electronic files allow for easy editing and version control that keeps the content fresh and accessible to all approved parties.
- Loss Prevention – According to a study conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers 7% of all paper-based information gets misfiled and 3.5% of all hardcopy documents are lost. Electronic documents provide quick and easy storage and retrieval capabilities so people can easily find the files they’re looking for.
- Security Protection – Unsecured filing cabinets, paper sitting in printer output trays and even files on people’s desks are all examples of hot spots where the wrong eyes could see what they shouldn’t. Employee records, financial information, pricing documents, and client records can be very vulnerable. Electronic documents provide access control measures for peace of mind.
- Save Time – If a person makes $50,000 per year, they cost your company roughly $25 per hour. If this employee takes an hour searching for one or more hardcopy documents, you’ve just lost two hours of time. The hour spent searching and the hour the person could have spent using the information. Electronic documents can be located quickly without leaving your desk.
- Find It Fast – Have you ever gone looking for a hardcopy document and found something else that was actually better for the task at hand? Sure you have. This is the power of electronic documents. Search capabilities allow you to perform a search, much like doing a search on Google, on all the information that relates to the topic at hand. Being able to search content topics allows for faster recovery and better business decisions.
- Document Management – Email is not a document management system built for sharing information, even though most people try to use it as such! Sharing the correct version of the right document can be challenging in an online workgroup setting. Electronic documents break down silos of storage and accessibility issues so all members can collaborate on documentation to achieve the best result.
- Save Money – Depending on the type of printer you are using, a printed page will cost you anywhere from a penny to a dollar. Electronic documents cost you nothing. This is why so many companies are leveraging scanning as their on-ramp to digital documents. Printing less will cost less.
Are you leveraging electronic documents yet? Maybe now is the time for you to start with an electronic document strategy.
Contact Melken Solutions to learn more.
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