3 Major Information Management Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

 

Are you making any of these document management mistakes? Here’s how to increase employee adoption, prepare for audits, and streamline approval processes. 

1. New Document Management Software, Slow Employee Adoption

A document management trend we’re anticipating in 2021 is the utilization of cloud document management software for employees who are working remotely to collaborate with those in the office. As professionals make digital transformation more of a priority, employee adoption of a new document management software is critical to increasing efficiency and seeing a return on investment. Investing in a new electronic records software and having low employee adoption is a recipe for inefficiency. 

How can you achieve a high adoption rate with a new document management software? There are two things you need to do to ensure your transition to electronic records management is a success. 

Make the implementation simple

Document management softwares come with a lot of bells and whistles that can help knowledge workers streamline processes and gain a whole new perspective for managing digital records. These software features are great — if you don’t try to introduce them all at once. Too many features can cause new users to revert back to old document management habits. Start with a simple, customized automated workflow and create an implementation timeline that introduces new features over several months. 

Invest in employee training 

After all of the effort finding the right document management software for your company and successfully implementing it, you may think your job is done. But what’s the point of having new software if you don’t invest in employee training and adoption? Employees tend to push back against learning a new software process if they’re comfortable with old manual document management strategies. In order to increase adoption and ensure you see ROI, provide at least 8 hours of technical training for workers. Even the most knowledgeable companies will experience some setbacks and questions when introducing a new software or workflow.  Make training materials available and encourage open communication and collaboration. Once employees feel comfortable with the new tools, you will start to see immediate increases in efficiency and employee satisfaction. 

2. Being Unprepared for Audits

If you can’t easily find the documents you need within your organization, you may find yourself stressed and struggling when it comes time for an audit. We understand it’s a challenge to maintain the proper documentation and activity for audits. Without a standard document management policy in place, workers tend to create their own filing systems depending on what works best for them. If you don’t have a document management solution in place before an audit, you’ll be scrambling to locate paper documents, emails, and electronic records. With an electronic document management software, all activity and documents are tracked within one centralized repository. Managers can set permission levels, restrict access, create customized workflows, and view activity related to versions and approvals. When it comes time for an audit, you’ll have everything you need to create an audit trail – allowing your Finance department to save time and avoid interruption.  

3. Mismanaged Version Control and Chaotic Approval Processes

If your departmental processes are still manual or if you store and manage all business records on a shared drive, requests for approval, invoices, and second or third versions of documents can be missed or even go unnoticed for weeks. If accounts payable processes are lagging due to lack of version control or a chaotic approval system, the right automated workflow software can ensure that the correct versions of documents are approved and passed along to the appreciate person every time. A customized workflow with checks and balances can help your accounting team approve invoices and submit check requests faster and with less human error involved. 

 
 
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