What is a document management system (DMS)? Simply stated, a document management system is an automated way of organizing, securing, capturing, digitizing, tagging, approving, and completing tasks with your business files. Although most document management systems store data in the cloud, a DMS is much more than just cloud storage. Because advanced document management systems, like eFileCabinet, handle the large amounts of paper flowing into your business for you, you can spend time on the work that you love. For example, someone with a large filing cabinet of papers can set up automation for the most common types of documents they handle and track the progress.

What are the benefits of using
a document management system?

Now that you know what it is, we will discuss electronic document management systems in terms of the benefits reported by our customers at our Edge User Conferences and within our customer success stories—terms which everyone can understand. These benefits are just some of the reasons organizations are going paperless through document management solutions at unprecedented rates.

A document management system is freedom

Freedom is the most frequently mentioned benefit of our customers and this freedom was largely found in the ‘lightness’ associated with going paperless via a document management system.

This ‘lightness’ also overthrew the painstaking processes of faxing, searching for information for long periods of time, manually handling documents, forms, and more. Most existing customers did not understand the pain of working in a paper-dependent office until they experienced work without it, realizing that paper, in some sense, is what kept manual labor alive—even in the white-collar world. Most of the world’s information has been created within the past 3 years, and a significant portion of it is contained in an electronic format. Imaging documents is only the first step in organizing digital information. Without a document management system in place to automate, secure, and potentiate documents’ value as mission-critical assets to an organization, the information contained in these documents will not deliver its full value.

A document management system is free time

When it comes to work, time is practically as important as the currency of your paycheck, and opportunity cost proves this: The more time you spend boggled down by administrative tasks associated with paper such as walking to the fax machine, printer, and filing cabinets, the less you are paid for the expertise defining your role, and this detracts from your value to your organization no matter how talented you or your employees are.

The more time you have at work to do what matters, the more wisely you can use it. Although many view paper-related interruptions at work as ‘part of their jobs,’ it needn’t be that way with the right document management system technology, and this mindset—in large part—is what keeps workers partaking in the oppression of their professional lives. Relying on an electronic document management system to overcome these inefficiencies can literally change the trajectory of professionals’ lives, and the businesses for which these employees work. Document disarray is the number 1 cause of organizational chaos, and without the means to manage, optimize, and orchestrate information, there will be little if any means for organizations to receive the information assurance they need in today’s era of digital transformation.

A document management system is convenience

Convenience isn’t just meant for consumer-driven technology—it has also gained a strong foothold in small to mid-sized businesses. For instance, cloud-based document management solutions and its mobile app make it possible to access files, collaborate, track, and securely send sensitive information from anywhere there is an internet connection. The built-in web portal of a document management system also gives users the ability to share very large sets of files securely via their mobile phones. Although accessibility and security were once viewed as mutually exclusive benefits of technology solutions, the document management system brings each of these benefits together in a single functional solution.

From a security and convenience standpoint, this is important for workers in small healthcare clinics, whose IT managers must utilize the document management system to keep sensitive information secure when employees store office-related information on their own mobile devices, and from anywhere there is an internet connection. In the accounting industry, DMS’s Mac compatibility and mobile applications provide the responsiveness that CPAs’ clients demand now more than ever, and the same is true of the finance and insurance industries – particularly as financial advisers and insurance agents spend more time traveling and meeting clients at their location of choice.

A document management system is peace of mind

Security breaches, information leaks, and other data catastrophes dominated the headlines in 2017 and have already made several headlines in 2018. However, most of these breaches were the result of poor internal information management, and an electronic document management solution provides the tools to keep information safe both inside the office, at home, and anywhere else you have an internet connection. Recurring 24-hour data back up, secure Amazon Web servers, 256-AES (advanced encryption standard) bank-grade encryption for data in transit in the mode of SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and data storage with multiple artificial and physical points of presence are only just a few of the peace of mind facilitating features comprising top-notch document management systems. Additionally, the role-based user permissions feature of document management software mitigates the fear associated with the rise of internal data breaches, which comprise over half of all data breaches occurring in the past two decades. Organizations failing to quell the rise of internal data breaches with their own solutions will fall victim to internal breaches in greater numbers. In 2017, ransomware has also become a significant problem for organizations, but document automation technologies are paving new roads for organizations to combat ransomware attacks.

Types of document management system products