8 Benefits of Electronic Document Management System to Businesses

We are living in a digital era, where every shop owner is gleaming eyes on the digital platforms to boost business exposure and revenues. The transformation of routine and standard practices into digital form (Electronic Document) is influencing every industry to adopt it.  

Digitization is a solution to many problems. The possessing, security, and archiving of data is also amongst the biggest challenges the corporate entities and public offices are facing. They fear for the initial cost and change of business operation. 

Thus, they are not taking advantage of the electronic record keeping, which is a remarkable solution to most of the threats the official records are exposed to.  Let us discuss some of the substantial benefits of the electronic document management system here.

1. Saving office space

Every inch and every corner of a commercial property is planned for productive activities. The files that are no longer needed for the day to day activities are considered a burden on the organization buy somehow they have to keep the records for a foreseeable future due to various reasons. 

A corporate entity that primarily deals in physical documents has to allocate dedicated spaces and rooms for storing the record. Save the space by turning all the data to electronic form by scanning and digitizing it. Physical records of a large storeroom can easily be archived to an external hard drive or cloud server.

2. Safety and security 

The security of official documents is an utmost priority of an organization. Managing the record is not only about piling up shelves and cupboards. It is rather more about securing the documents from theft or wastage due to rain, termites, fire, or dampness.

Maintaining physical records is a way too difficult when the data contains private and confidential records. It is always exposed to data loss that is why an electronic document management system is introduced that scans files in bulk and transforms them into digital records. Thus, the files are stored for life.  

The safety and security are ensured with document viewed history, which shows the person and time of accessing electronic records, and modifications if made to any of the files.

3. Compliance with the law is easier

Compliance with law to retain documents for a specific period is difficult. For example, by law, you may need to retain the documents for five to ten years. Failing to keep your documents may result in hefty fines and serious punishments. By turning it all digital shape, you can preserve the documents as long as the law requires. It helps you put restrictions on user access. 

Only the authorized personnel are required to view it, whereas you can ban everyone from modifying or deleting any file. Put passwords on folders that contain extremely sensitive data so that no one else can delete the files in a deliberate action or by mistake. Have the data as evidence to furnish it whenever the law requires you.

4. Quick data retrieval

Have you ever visited a public education office for getting a copy of the mark sheet that you have lost? If yes, you can relate how difficult it is for them to navigate your educational record. They may require you to go through a lot of documentation to seek verification and then ask for the keys and folio number to check where your records are stored. 

The electronic document management system simplifies the entire process to a few clicks of a computer mouse. The scanning and digitized mark sheets can be classified in terms of education year, school name and grade, name and father name, and city. It makes the entire data retrieval is simple, fast, and reliable.  

5. Fastest Disaster Recovery

Natural calamities may destroy the entire physical record of an organization that no one a single paper would be in a readable condition. Besides natural calamities, in most of the organizations, setting documents on fire is a common practice to conceal embezzlement or discrepancies in records, and portray it as a natural disaster. 

By replacing the conventional record management methods with the digital one eliminates the threat of losing records to wicked and immoral employees in the disguise of faithful ones. The electronic records are kept on a central server with several firewalls and security covers so no data can be lost or leaked. 

6. Maintain multiple file versions 

Managing multiple versions of a file is difficult as we often delete the previous drafts after getting a final version of it. With a detailed history of each file, the document management system benefits you in reviewing all its previous versions with changes and modifications. If an entire team is working on a file centrally, there may be countless changes, which need to be traced if found incorrect or misleading. An electronic system does it all well without occupying much of the disk space. 

7. Improved collaboration

Managing document on a digital platform makes it easy to share and collaborate. It allows access to data collected from different sources as it is kept in a central location. Furthermore, the authorized personnel of the organization can view it from remote locations too. They are not bound to reach the office premises for a specific document. 

8. Consistent data 

With electronic record keeping, you can ensure the data is gathered and approved consistently. The employees may be working on their preferred file naming, formatting, and styling. As a result, every file may have a different layout and appearance. Authorization is an impressive tool of a document management system that educated the staff in using a specific template or format else their document will not approve.  

Final words

For any business, managing documents is as important as managing the inventory or sales figures. It may contain their business and trade secrets, the suppliers’ or vendors’ data, or it may compromise contracts and agreements with their consumers.

Loss, damage, or theft of a single file can drag them to grave consequences. The conventional methodologies are now obsolete that is why it is the time to switch to a more advanced, reliable, and secure system in the form of the electronic document management system. It may benefit you in various aspects like saving the space, tightening file security, legal compliance, and lots more.

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