Tips for Improving Your Document Management Strategy this Summer

A lot is happening this month! The kids are out of school, temperatures are rising, and summer is about to officially begin. Things may be heating up outside, but you can stay cool in the office knowing that your important business documents are organized and manageable with these summer tips.

Clear the clutter

Organizations across the U.S. are creating a total of over 500 billion business documents annually. That’s a lot of information and a lot of paper. Just take a look at these stats:

– Each day, one billion photocopies are made (Source: Forrester Research)

– The annual growth rate for the amount of paper produced by the average company is 25%. (Source: Gartner)

– There are over four trillion paper documents in the US alone, and this number is growing at a rate of 22%, or roughly 880 billion paper documents a year. (Source: Coopers and Lybrand)

Even with immense advancements in technology and ECM software, most businesses are still far from paperless. In fact, we’re willing to bet there’s at least one stack of business records or files sitting near you right now — collecting dust and taking up valuable office space.

Work to develop a records retention strategy that defines records based on whether they’re current and active, ready to be archived and stored offsite, or ready to be destroyed via secure shredding. Developing a basic records retention schedule will help alleviate the stress and burden of having to wade through mounds of paperwork to find what you need — and it will also eliminate security risks associated with leaving sensitive information on your desk or in file cabinets.

Consider electronic content management

Electronic content management (ECM) is a dynamic method for storing and managing electronic records and data in a way that not only preserves information but helps automate and organize business processes to help companies achieve efficiency and go paperless. Implementing an electronic document management software is a big decision and often requires buy-in from department managers. Demonstrating the value of ECM and identifying your organization’s pain points is a great place to start. Do any of these pain points ring true for you?

– Difficulty finding critical documents when they are needed.

– AP/AR invoicing and approval processes are slow and cumbersome.

– You feel unprepared for audits and gathering tax records/financial documents ins a time consuming, stressful process.

– Collaboration on projects is inconvenient because there is no centralized local or repository of electronic documents.

– Sensitive data including employee and payroll information, customer files, HR records and tax documents are at risk of a security breach.

Summertime doesn’t have to make you sweat — at least not when it comes to document management!

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