Reduce Your Team's Stress with Document Management

Work will always be stressful to a degree but things can be done to reduce that stress. You working environment has a lot to do with the potential for stress. Looking into your business document processes can be one way to reduce the stress on your overworked team. 

Examine your Document Processes

Do your documents have a directed path or are they created and then hang around cluttering up your office? Does your office have file cabinets that grow and grow as the years go by? Unmanaged document processes can add loads of stress to your office team. 

Examining your document life-cycle can help you and your team become more organized and less stressed. Efficient document life cycles increase productivity, improve service and improve internal communications.

The Stages of a Document Life-Cycle

A document life-cycle can vary by document type, retention needs, and other variables. In general, there are some standard life-cycle stages:

1. Document Creation - the document is first created to document the business activity. This could be a new customer form or the generation of an invoice, etc. 
2. Active Use - the document is in the active stage of its life-cycle being referenced or processed.
3. Storage and Retention - the document is no longer in active use but needs to stored in case future reference is needed or to comply with legal requirements. 
4. Destruction - the document is no longer needed and needs to be disposed according to pre-determined company policies.

This may seem straight forward and obvious, but understand that most business do not have a clear path or policy for their critical business documents. The default strategy is to physically store all documents indefinitely. Some businesses lease entire warehouses just to retain documents that are likely never to be accessed again. 

Document Management Software

As the business world becomes more data driven, the need for digitized information will become even more acute as time progresses. The speed at which you are able to access critical data and act upon that data has become a competitive differentiator. Customers now expect that access to information will be immediate and will tolerate nothing less. The customer expectation is driven by the leaders in any space and those that lag behind provide less value and risk damaging their brand. This is now true across industries.  

Document management software digitizes your paper documents and gives your team instant access to files of almost any kind. These software solutions will allow your team to instantly access critical customer data, contracts, and other forms that used to live only in a file cabinet. 

Standardizing the way data is scanned, sorted, stored, and accessed in your company will improve organization immediately, and set you up for long-term success. Even if staff members change over the years, you will have a concrete system in place that any new team member will be able to use and understand right away.

Partnership for Success

When you decide that it is the right time to streamline your critical data systems, be sure to choose the right partner. Most companies that fail to properly implement document management fail because they chose the wrong implementation partner. At Documation, we have been providing outstanding service to businesses for nearly 20 years. Don't leave something as important as your critical document systems in unqualified hands. For more information on document management, contact us today.