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The amount of data that flows through an organization is large and, precisely for this reason, managing it requires an effective method. If you stop for a moment to think about it, it’s the proposals, contracts, invoices, and sales orders that show that your business is working.
To handle so much information circulating, whatever the sector in which your company or industry operates, automating documents will ensure that it has a system that centralizes data. This will make it easier to create, approve, and distribute all documents. In other words, automation is what will keep your business thriving.
But if you are still not convinced, or if you need to understand a little more what we mean, we have listed some benefits that your organization will have by automating documents:
1 – Time optimization
Without doubt, time is our most precious resource. Why sacrifice it by having to manage documents manually? If we look at some departments in particular, such as finance, what is the number of hours lost by professionals because they have to enter data by hand?
Since finances are important to the company and good governance requires transparency in information, until all the paperwork is finished, all the other tasks that professionals in the field need to perform are put on the back burner.
We gave the example of the financial area, but the same can be applied to all other departments of an organization. When document management us automated and everything follows a process, employees are free to focus on important tasks.
Instead of wasting time on details like chasing a signature, they can invest their time in global projects that will bring better results. Instead of reviewing cash flow statements, they can execute orders. Instead of knowing where a business proposal is, they can communicate with customers and create lasting relationships.
No matter how your teams invest the extra time that document automation enables, the fact is that there are coutless tasks in an organization that are far more valuable than manual data entry.
2 – Ensuring compliance
Often overlooked, compliance is an indispensable componet of operational efficiency. Your team may be more productive or more effective and efficient than your competitors, but if your documents aren’t adequate, everyone’s hard work becomes unnecessary.
To ensure that the organization is in compliance with the regulations of its segment, standards and controls must be created ranging from codes conduct to procedures, norms and policies.
Systems for automating documents make it easier to meet compliance requirements by creating standards for documents, establishing access and editing controls, and distributing them as needed.
3 – Management of the entire life cycle
Every document has a life cycle. Think, for example of contract management. It starts with the request and ends with the signature. Along the way, there are other steps to follow.
Automating documents means that they will follow a workflow defined by your company. This flow is all determined within a process, which automatically ends an activity as soon as it is completed, and sends it to the person responsible for the next step.
In practice, this means that no physical document will pass from hand to hand, or no information will be lost in the middle of emals. Or, even, it means that never again will a certificate of power of attorney have its expiration date expired and will take everyone by surprise.
These are seemingly small details, but they will make the organization much more productive, transparent in relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers, and (once again) always be able to comply with the standards of its sector.
4 – Guarantee of accuracy
A wrong comma on an invoice, or a sales order with a zero less can do immense damage to the company. Imagine you send a proposal to a costumer and then realize that the version sent to him was not the last. It will be a loss of credibility for sure, do you agree?
A typo or outdated information is what can happen in cases where data entries in documents are done manually. When a slip like this occurs, no one likes it, of course, but as we are human and most of the time overloaded with things to do, mistakes happen.
However, this cannot be an excuse for your organization to let slips pass, let alone accept mistakes. By automating documents, data is entered automatically and correctly, giving the entire company the peace of mind that the information is accurate and that the version being worked on is the last.
5 – Increased collaboration
A person in your company is waiting for a customer’s data to generate the contract. The other waits for the contract itself to send to the customer. In turn, the customer is waiting for the subscription. In this case, we again have lost time for everyone.
By automating documents, tasks are completed faster and more efficiently. This is because some activities do not depend on others to start, and when there is dependence, the automation system itself sends notifications to the person responsible for performing the task. And whenever an activity is being carried out efficiently, the company’s revenue grows.
Collaboration is super important in the creation of many documents in an organization, since depending on the case, several areas are responsible for creating them. As through a system for automating documents, collaboration is a benefit, several authorized people can work on the same document, and everything that is done on it can be easily tracked.
So, how to automate documents?
So far you have understood some of the benefits of document automation. But now you need to know to do it.
The answer lies in the document management system. ECM (Enterprise Content Management) software is not just a technology or a methodology.
As the AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) says, ECM is a “dynamic combination of strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver information that supports key organizational processes throughout thier lifecycle.”
Therefore, to automate documents, your company will need and ECM solution. In order for you to understand well what Enterprise Content Management is and the advantages for your company, we recommend reading the ebook What is ECM? All about Enterprise Content Management.
And if you have any questions about what has been covered in this article, visit our website and contact us. It will be a pleasure to talk to you! If this post was helpful, please share it on your networks.
