Author: Felipe Bahiense

The founder of Facebook is on the agenda of the main newspapers around the world. Just a few days ago, Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence on a scheme of illicit use of personal data of 50 million users by the company Cambridge Analytica. According to what was released by the press, the information was used by the company to influence important decisions, such as the referendum on the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union and the US elections.

In Brazilian lands, we are following the unfolding of this story, and together with our interest in knowing the outcome of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica case, we can already highlight some lessons, especially about threats to information security.

As we have already commented on other occasions on our blog information is today one of the most important assets of corporations. We talked about paperless organizations and the importance of having a paperless environment for reasons of productivity, security and, of course, cost reduction.

Digital Transformation contributes to the adoption of a paperless environment, however, it is important to mention that risk eradication does not happen simply because a company migrates to the paperless format. In reality, digital documents present many risks when they are not managed correctly. This is where we converge Document Management with Risk Management.

Document Management and Risk Management

To begin with, we live with risks in all spheres of our lives. In the corporate environment, managing risks has to do with analyzing the company’s risks to maximize opportunities and/or minimize negative impacts.

Document Management deals with controlling the flow – storage, organization, retrieval, distribution, disposal) – of electronic documents in a secure and efficient manner to ensure that they are accessible to authorized people (as and when needed).

Putting the two topics together, the question arises: how much does it cost to lose or leak a document? What is the risk involved in having sensitive information fall into the wrong hands? The answer to the questions you certainly already know, because just think about what your competitors could do if they knew beforehand about your new product, to name an example.

Therefore, when we talk about information management, we have to remember how important it is for the company to optimize and automate Document Management with EDM/ECM (Electronic Document Management) software. To understand better:

How does EDM/ECM contribute to information security?

For your company’s information to be secure, you need to pay attention to some points:

• An Eletronic Document Management solution allows version control: each team member authorized to view a document should be able to see the most up-to-date version, but also all revision versions. Imagine a company’s legal department: professionals in the area must be able to see the versions of the revisions to be able to understand what has been changed and if it makes sense.
• An EDM/ECM solution has access control and security: access permissions are assigned to each document, and access can be granted to a group or a user.
• A GED/ECM solution has a digital signature: electronic documents can be signed with certificates in the ICP-Brasil standard.

Concluding

As information is the most valuable asset of companies, data and documents generated by organizations must be very well managed internally. Therefore, Document Management (especially the way information is stored and accessible) is essential for any organization that cares about the security of its data. After all, we are sure that no business wants to experience the chaos of finding out that its most sensitive information has been leaked and having to put itself in Zuckerberg’s shoes to explain why. Isn’t it?

In addition to the module for Document Management (ECM), to the module for Document Management (ECM), in the Fusion Platform we have an accelerator (ready-made process adopted) focused on Information Security Risk Management. In it, it is possible to map and record each situation of risk to the organization’s information security, as well as define actions, probabilities, and impacts. It also allows frequent monitoring of risks, their actions and the results obtained. Try our solution now or request a demo to learn more!

If you follow articles from AIIM (Association for Intelligent Information Management) you may have come across the term “paperless company” a few times. Because we understand the importance of the subject, in the post Paperless: what it is and how to take the first steps, we made a general overview of the paperless environment.

On the occasion, we commented on the reasons for having a paperless company and how you can start the transformation in your area and organization as a whole. In this new article I want to complement the topic a little more and bring more ideas to help your business reduce – and maybe eliminate – the use of paper.

But, before starting, I will propose a discussion:

What prevents transformation to a paperless company?

Instead of talking about the reasons for making the transition to a paperless company, I’ll take a slightly different approach. The reason is simple: for many people, it is impossible to think of a life without paper.

Psychology explains this with the term “haptic perception”. The word “haptic” comes from Greek and means “relative to touch”. Currently, the term designates the science of touch, which is what happens when you touch the screen of your smartphone to give a command.

When we talk about paper, many individuals like the way it makes them feel, as it brings a feeling that because it is a physical item, it is something real. For many people, information inside a computer or in the cloud doesn’t seem so real because it’s not so palpable.

This perception of the real x unreal happens at an unconscious level, and in many of us it is a belief that we do not even know we have. But the fact is that, according to haptic perception, we need to feel with touch to assimilate that such a document exists or that such a contract has really been signed.

Leaving the field of psychology, a very big barrier to transformation into a paperless company is the simple question “how?”. Every change requires efforts and I understand that it is at this point that the barrier can be great.

Transitioning to a paperless business requires discipline and more work, especially at the beginning. For example:

• Who will scan existing physical documents?
• Where will they be stored?
• How to ensure document security?
• Who will have access to them?
• How will the documents be signed?
• Will the documents have legal validity?
• How will these documents be managed?

These are just some of the questions that may arise and that can be an obstacle to the transformation into a paperless company. In order to show you that there are answers and solutions to each of your questions, check it out below.

Step by step for a paperless company

Change is hard. The first point you need to keep in mind is that the example must come from above. It’s no use for a manager with his own physical document archive to want to demand a paperless environment, right?

And for the change to make sense, it is important to present to everyone in the organization the advantages of a paperless company. About the positive aspects, you can talk about:

• Productivity gain
• Improved efficiency
• Increased security
• Environmental issues
• Corporate Governance
• Cost reduction

In the article Paperless: what it is and how to take the first steps towards the paperless era. We present more details on each point.

Once everyone understands the importance of paper reduction (and future elimination), we can move on with the steps.

Set goals

Everyone knows where they should go, which is the transformation to a paperless company. So that efforts are directed and the goal is not lost along the way, set goals.

You can, for example, set goals for each department and for the company as a whole, encouraging all employees, at different hierarchical levels, to make the transition. In order to achieve this, you can create some sort of reward for when the goal is achieved.

Whether with a reward or without, the important thing is for everyone to understand the goal and the deadline to achieve it.

Make an overview of the impressions

What is each area printing? What do I need to print? Are all prints really essential?

The answers to these questions may show that several impressions are unnecessary. For example, many people have the habit of printing emails to take a certain agenda to a meeting.

Nowadays we have cloud applications that allow you to share information in a very secure way, such as Google Docs, Evernote, and Dropbox.

Digitize what’s important

Each department made an evaluation of the printed documents. Those that can be discarded should literally go to waste. The others need to be digitized.

At this stage, the “heavier” work begins, because for some sectors the amount of documents is much greater, such as the administrative, financial and HR of a company, for example.

Create a digitalization strategy

Initially, by “strategy” I mean “habit”. Once the necessary documents have been scanned, keep in mind that this will be the procedure to follow at all times.

After that, think about the strategy itself. Here I like to talk about processes, because they are what move our companies. Imagine the following: who should read the scanned document? Will it be necessary to take any action, such as signing it electronically? What is the purpose of the document? Is there any action triggered from it?

To exemplify, here at Neomind, before we were a paperless company, a simple travel expense report needed on average – between printing and copies of invoices – three copies of 30 pages each. All this control was necessary so that we could reimburse expenses.

By eliminating paper, we created a process in which the requester fills in all the information in one system (the Fusion Platform). This information goes to the financial department that makes the check and posts the payment. The process is simple, but notice that it occurred in stages (that is, through a process), the last of which is the payment of expenses itself.

So, when creating the habit of digitizing, also think about activities that must exist for the document to follow a flow. This brings us to the final step:

Automatize

Automation is not necessarily a step that happens after another. Ideally, the paperless company should be automated at the beginning of this transformation (at the goal setting stage).

It is important to clarify that when I talk about automation I refer to document management. For you to understand: an EDM (Eletronic Document Management) software  allows the user to publish and control documents securely and much more accurately than they would do manually with printed materials. What’s more, all this in one place (which means that documents will not be scattered in drawers, files and employees’ desks).

In addition, an EDM application allows you to configure approval flows for each document, as well as security settings (who can view and edit it? Who will be allowed to delete it?). Also, software keeps all actions recorded, which means that no user can change or delete a document without anyone knowing about what happened.

Finally, every paperless company needs to ensure that documents are stored legally and with legal validity, and this is also a characteristic of good EDM systems.

Concluding

Once you’ve completed the paperless step-by-step guide and seen how it works in practice, you’ll realize that with time and cost savings – as well as improved document security – your employees, customers, and the company as a whole will benefit from the change.

Many organizations already know how heavy it is to have to store and control piles of documents. However, there are few that really make a greater effort in this direction. Observing digital transformation trends, we have seen that the elimination of paper is among them.

Will your company be left behind or will it take action? To continue the discussion, we recommend reading the text: What Document Management does for your company: from workflow organization to paperless environment.

How about starting digital transformation now? Get to know Fusion here.

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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.