Author: Felipe Bahiense

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) defines Electronic Document Management (EDM) as the use of a computer system and software to store, manage, and track electronic documents and electronic images of paper-based information captured through the use of a document scanner.

We can say that today, in this age of information in which we live, and in which data is essential for agile and accurate decision-making, documents and data are a duo of extreme importance for all organizations.

For this reason, many companies have already understood the need to automate document management through EDM software. However, what many do not know, is that not every EDM system is developed in the same way.

This means that when choosing an electronic document management software, it is always a good idea to evaluate the objectives of your business and align them with the features presented by the system.

With that in mind, we have listed in this article the most important features to help with your assessment.

Why invest in an EDM software?

Before choosing an electronic document management software it is imperative that you know why to invest in it. The first point is that, when well endowed with the essential features, the EDM solution allows employees to simplify the receipt, storage, archiving, sharing, validation and search of documents.

Another important issue: when adapted to the needs of the company, an EDM software should be able to increase its productivity and optimize the workflow, and all stakeholders and their actions are clearly identified.

With electronic management, companies gain in optimizing the daily use of documents. In addition, all industries optimize performance, cut costs, save physical space, and improve security.

The reasons for investing in an EDM solution don’t stop there. But to feel all these benefits, your company needs to know how to choose an electronic document management software.

Points to consider when choosing an electronic document management software

Among the various criteria that should be verified when evaluating investment in EDM, those that we consider as essential are:

Ease of use

Good EDM systems have attractive advanced options and features that make the eyes light up. However, when choosing an electronic document management software, ease of use should be paramount.

Look for a system that has a user-friendly interface, which is, one that is easy to use and understand. Otherwise, employees will waste time deciphering the path they should follow (in this case, rather than making the job easier, the EDM solution will eventually turn into a headache).

Also about ease of use, when choosing an electronic document management software, make sure that it has search tools that allow the location of documents by type, date of preparation, editing, metadata, etc.

Workflow automation

Making an investment in EDM will only make sense if your company has time savings and increased productivity. Think of the manual handling routine of a document.

Imagine, for example, a business document that needs signing. The path it travels (from table to table), in addition to taking time, includes the risk of losses.

Therefore, an important point when choosing an electronic document management software is to understand that the system should allow workflows that do all the management in an automated way. This management must be independent for each document type.

In addition, all those involved with the document must have an intuitive view of its history, such as: versions, revisions, approvals, issuing of copies and others.

Total information security (with flexible security)

There is no doubt that one of the most important aspects of document management is security. When we talk about flexible security, we mean that the EDM solution should keep your documents stored securely, but that the security to access each type of document should be flexible.

Explaining: when choosing an electronic document management software, keep in mind that it should allow the user to specify, according to the type of document, items such as: access to reading, editing, deletion, printing, screenshots, recording, among others.

Well, but if on the one hand an EDM solution should allow access to the document to be shaped according to the needs of the company, on the other the system cannot allow loopholes for data breaches. So when you choose an electronic document management software, check what its security protocols are.

Meeting your company needs

There are several business processes that benefit from an EDM solution. Processing product change orders, purchase orders, proposals of all types, document signing, and HR processes are just some of the examples that require a lot of paper and that electronic document management can improve.

Each company has its own private business processes. When choosing an electronic document management software, ask the vendor to show how the solution being evaluated can improve your organization processes.

Also be sure to check if the solution is flexible. Rigid and complex systems will not allow your company to adapt to the process changes that arise (and we know that changes are natural). With flexible software, your organization is sure to have at hand a tool that will always meet your needs.

Other points

In addition to what has been mentioned here, it is important that an EDM software:

• Allows storage of various types of documents, including word processing files, emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets;
• Has monitoring tools to see which users are accessing which documents;
• Has features that ensure that the user is working with the latest version of a document;
• Has the digital signature function with certificates in the ICP-BRAZIL standard, releasing the documents in PDF/A format;
• Has check-in/check-out and lock functions to coordinate the simultaneous editing of a document and ensure that one person’s changes do not replace another person’s;
• Enables keyword search; and
• Has version tools that track edits to documents and retrieve older versions.

In closing

There are several EDM systems available on the market. That’s exactly why it’s so easy to be carried away enthusiasm and allow emotions to influence choice. To prevent this from happening to you – and that the investment doesn’t become a detriment – do your homework before you even start talking to suppliers.

In this article, we have listed the points considered by us as fundamental. If you want to understand this universe better, we suggest that you watch the recording of the webinar The Benefits of Electronic Document Management (EDM).

Did you like this article? Leave a comment telling me what you think. We hope it’s been useful to you. If so, share it with your colleagues. Also, don’t forget: keep an eye on Neomind’s blog and follow our contents.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!

Document Management software allows company documents to be organized thanks to a combination of strategies, methods and tools. It is through document management that the company gains in productivity and reduces costs.

And who doesn’t want a more productive and profitable organization? While the answer is obvious, unfortunately not all companies consider the expense they incur on a daily basis due to the time and effort wasted in tracking and tracing documents.

Since we know you want a different story for your organization, learn about the importance of document management.

To begin with: what happens when a company does not automate document management?

For you to fully understand the importance of document management in organizations, let’s understand some of the risks a company exposes itself to by not having a document management system.

One of the biggest risks – especially these days when information security is being discussed – lies in the possibility of exposing important data. A document management software ensures that access to files is only possible to those who are authorized to do so.

Not to mention when critical documents are stored on laptops that can be stolen, lost, or damaged at any time. In this case either important information is lost, or can be accessed by anyone.

And to understand even more the importance of document management, we have another point to add: without it, it is impossible to know who has viewed and/or edited a document. So, if you want to audit a business process to discover errors or inefficiencies, the task will be impossible.

Now that we understand what happens to companies that don’t do document management, let’s have a look at the opposite scenario.

What happens in a company that automates document management?

Document management software enables the capture, management, storage, preservation, and delivery of documents. In other words, companies that invest in ECM have the ability to:

• Capture any type of content, store it safely, and make it available throughout the whole process, regardless of location;
• Track changes in documentation;
• Effectively organize any kind of information;
• Enable employees to search and find information quickly;
• Improve the publication and delivery of processes.

With the above points you get an idea of the importance of document management, but we can go into a little more detail.

A company that uses ECM reduces costs for printing, shipping, and storing paper. In addition to cost reduction, we also mentioned at the beginning of this article the productivity gain.

Repetitive tasks can be automated directly in document management software. This frees up employees so that they are available to perform tasks with real added value for the company.

A subject that has been discussed a lot inside and outside organizations is collaboration. ECM helps collaborative work, since information can be accessed anytime and anywhere (which also promotes team mobility).

In addition, employees will have access to authorized documents and, if necessary, can easily modify/validate/delete them. We cannot fail to emphasize security, another relevant item to describe the importance of document management in companies.

To top it off, all information stored in the ECM software is secure and, unlike paper, does not risk being lost and/or damaged. And, of course, all access is online.

But how does a document management tool work?

In order for you to understand how it is possible for all this to happen, here is a simplified explanation.

First, you need to capture the document so that the users can find it when they need it. A good ECM system allows you to capture physical documents, emails, reports, and more.

However, capture alone is not much use. That is where, once captured, the document is indexed so that it can be easily located (after all, the importance of document management is also saving time in locating them, right?).

Essentially, indexing is a way to classify a document. You add terms to the document metadata (such as order number or customer number) and these terms that make it easier to find. Furthermore, in a document management software it is possible to give the appropriate access permissions to each of the documents.

Every captured and indexed document is stored in a central repository, which will facilitate access and ensure file security. Additionally, document management systems must enable retrieval and distribution of documents to ensure that they can be used and shared if permission is granted.

We emphasize that such retrieval must be quick and easy; otherwise it is totally useless. Good document management software offers keyword search capabilities (this is possible thanks to the indexing we’ve commented above).

Another essential factor for any document management system is document distribution. This is how a user will be able to send documents to customers, suppliers and even employees.

And, of course, in ECM software you can archive or even delete a document.

Well, but to end on a high note and for you to understand well the importance of document management, there is one item that we cannot forget:

Process and workflow automation

Document distribution is just the tip of the iceberg in ECM. Document management systems that deliver results have the ability to automate processes and workflows.

To do this, all the user has to do is set up a process. For example, the sales area receives an invoice. Through this process, this invoice will be sent to accounts payable. If the system detects a problem, a notification is sent. Otherwise, the invoice will be paid and the initiator of the process will receive a process completed notice.

This shows one of the biggest benefits of document management: you no longer have to chase every document through an approval process. The system does all the work for you.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!

If you are a reader of our blog you must have seen some ECM (Enterprise Content Managament) content around here. If so, you are probably familiar with the concept, but we will quickly refresh your memory.

According to AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management), ECM is a “dynamic combination of strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver information supporting key organizational processes through its entire lifecycle”.

Many companies need ECM and haven’t even realized it yet. Others think ECM is dead. There are also those managers who have doubts about whether an Enterprise Content Management software is really the best option.

If you can relate to these cases, then grab your coffee, sit comfortably in your chair and get to know the main signs indicating that a company needs ECM.

Your company needs ECM when…

Before you start, keep in mind that there are several reasons why a company needs ECM. There are also several particular cases, but in this article we will give a general overview of some very common situations that we see around. Let’s go?

1 – …documents are disorganized and scattered

Documents are on your desk, in your colleague’s drawer, inside physical files, basically…. everywhere. Especially for administrative areas, such as HR, this can be quite a problem.

What happens if you don’t find the contract of a supplier? Or a sales order? Or even: what happens if you find it, but had to look around the whole company for it? This can be commonplace, but when it comes to dealing with paper documents, if we add up the time spent looking for them, we will certainly be worried and see how much we stop being productive.

Not to mention the cost involved in storing physical documents, as manual record keeping is expensive. Among costs with storage space, supplies, equipment maintenance, and processes involving labor and wasted time, your organization might be spending a lot of money without even realizing it. An effective ECM system can virtually eliminate these costs.

Ok, you can say: “but my documents are all scanned and made available in shared folders on the computer”. If this is your case, the situation has improved a bit, because at least you already understand the importance of being a paperless company.

However, what about the organization? With ECM, all your documents are organized. There is no need to worry about different naming conventions among employees or the incorrect completion of a document.

2 – …there is difficulty in finding the right documents

This is a very clear sign that your company needs ECM, and to explain it, we have a question: what happens if you need a specific document that brings special information?

If you have an ECM system, you won’t need to pick up document by document to search for such information. Just enter the solution, search for a term (or a date, an author etc.) that the system does all the work and finds what you are looking for in a matter of seconds.

3 – …any disaster can mean loss of information

You’re right not to want to think about it, but what would happen if some of your company documents were stolen today? Or if there were a disaster (a fire, for example)?

Once again, it’s not something we worry about (and of course we don’t want it either), but if your organization has risk management, the protection of information is something that shouldn’t be left out (and if you don’t perform risk management, it’s time to implement it in your company!).

Keep in mind that, with a disaster recovery system in place, the probability that you can continue working normally increases, even after an eventual problem. This is because with an ECM your information is protected.

4 – … there is no control over who accessed which documents

It even seems like a contradiction to talk about information security at a time when there’s so much discussion about it. However, one of the signs that a company needs ECM is when it has no access control over its documents.

An Enterprise Content Management software allows the author of the document to assign permissions to it, such as: permission to who can access it, change it, print it, among others.

Not to mention that it is common for organizations to store information about company policies and procedures in an individual or shared network folder. Or – believe me – on an employee’s desktop.

Without a central location to store this information, how is it possible to efficiently manage the distribution of information to new and existing employees? How to provide visibility for documents that employees have signed (or not)?

Corporate content management systems solve all these problems. Good software has functions that allow you to see which employees have reviewed the necessary policy documents and who has accessed what. The tip here is to invest in an ECM that includes an easily configurable workflow that automatically notifies employees – and other interested parties – when an action needs to be performed on a document.

This brings us to another matter:

5 – …it’s difficult to identify at which stage of the process a document is

That is another reason why your company needs ECM ASAP: imagine that a contract has been created for a client. There is a whole process that must be respected, which begins in the creation of the document and ends with the client’s signature.

Imagine that, for some reason, the document is forgotten in someone’s drawer. What do you do? Do you create a new contract?

Especially if the ECM is fully integrated with a BPM (Business Process Management), it is possible to create specific flows for any event to be carried out on a document. In addition, with an Enterprise Content Management tool the user is able to identify who the document is with, at what stage of the process it is and if there are any activities delayed (such as signing the contract).

6 – …it’s difficult to ensure compliance

Every organization has a compliance standard it must maintain, which can be on the internal, state or federal level. The implementation of an ECM with security features (such as access control and audit trails) helps companies to ensure that they are in full compliance and allows them to avoid fines and severe penalties.

In addition, good ECM systems allow the electronic signature of documents and release it in PDF/A format.

In closing: did the signs that your company needs ECM catch your attention?

In case you have identified your company in the items above, we have two invitations. The first one is to access our checklist to make sure that it is time to invest in ECM and the second one is to check our website and try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants.