Category: Organisation

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Document management in the digital sphere

The old image of document management – office workers literally pushing papers around a desk – is well out of date. Document processing in the digital world has an entirely different face. With most big organisations, public or private, on course to develop entirely digital systems, very few organisations at any level can afford to be content to use paper documents as their main resource. Financial figures and confidential files are all more secure and more efficient when stored digitally.Â

Companies which place a premium on security, efficiency and confidentiality, such as those working in the health, technology and banking sectors, almost all rely on digital document management. For instance, the NHS aims to be completely digital, across the whole country, by 2018. However, businesses in other sectors which deal with intense invoice processing, payment or documentation automatation, cash management and supply chains are increasingly turning to digital solutions.Â

The reason for this shift is quite simple: digital document processing simply offers a more accessible and more secure system, both for workers and for clients. Data can be easily searched for, corrected and analysed. And customers are less patient than ever with mix-ups caused by inefficient paper-based systems. This means that investment in digital document management equates to investment in customer service, as well as savings on office space and worker time.Â

Many companies initially find the shift to digital document processing difficult. Depending on the size of the business and its security needs, a new way of doing things can be intimidating. However, once a digital system is in place, most people find it to be much more flexible to changing regulations, demands and company developments. Most services are “future-proof”, meaning that the shift of data will usually only have to happen once. Compared to laboriously rewriting or refilling documents to fit a new system each time a tweak is needed, simply informing the document management tool to make a small tweak takes hardly any time at all.

Different companies have very different document management needs. Some companies only need simple invoice processing solutions in place to ensure their suppliers get paid on time, while others need a comprehensive and flexible approach to content management to keep up with changes in their industry or a rapidly expanding business. Many people find that once they’re using a reliable digital service, they can see far more clearly what can be improved in the way they operate, and become surer than ever that digital really is the way forward.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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Document management and your organisation’s paperwork

Document management is still a comparatively little-known idea, but one that has the potential to transform the office place. In an age in which the paperless office is a rarely-achieved ideal, the collection of technologies known as document processing (and the accounts department special case, invoice processing) can actually make this a reality.

Document management systems are highly effective collaboration tools. They allow people to store, exchange, modify and keep track of documents. There are also facilities to track the changes made and record different versions of documents. This allows many people to work on the same project, keeping it centrally without the need for many different versions or fragments that later have to be standardised and put together as a final product.

If you have paper documents, as most offices do, then there is obviously a gap between that reality and the fully online version to which you may aspire. Simply, it is hard to work across the two – sometimes having to deal with paper letters, memos and documents and sometimes with virtual ones. This is where document processing comes in. It is a set of technologies that turns physical documents to their electronic equivalents. Some of the simplest (and therefore cheapest) of these technologies involve just scanning-to-PDF: creating an image or other file out of a written document. However, at its most advanced it is possible to turn handwritten notes into editable files, like any other business document. These can then be saved into your document management system and treated like any other electronic document.

Document management and the document processing that makes bridging the gap between ‘real’ and virtual possible are therefore extremely useful technologies. Invoice processing applies this to your accounts department, allowing you to turn physical invoices into electronic ones. This is important, since many suppliers and organisations will still submit paper invoices, and these can easily be treated differently to the ones you receive electronically. They can get forgotten or mislaid, with implications for your relationships with your suppliers and for your reputation. If you are aiming for a paperless office, whether for financial or environmental reasons, then this is an effective way to help bring that about. The solution you opt for will depend upon the nature of your organisation and its needs, as well as its budget, but the number of alternatives available means there is something for everyone.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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