Go Green with Document Management

Is Your Business Future-Proof?

In general, the term "future-proof" refers to the ability of something to continue to be of value into the future.  Future-proofing may sound like it requires a crystal ball to see into the future, but, I assure you there’s no fortune-telling required.  If you stay ahead of the technology curve and workforce changes that are happening now, your business will be better able to minimize shocks and stresses as they develop in the future.

What this means is that you should maintain and upgrade your business infrastructures on a regular basis.  While you don’t necessarily need to be the earliest adopter of new technology, it’s advisable to be in the first wave.  By future-proofing legacy systems along with talent, companies can realize lasting success with today’s new wave of solutions, services, business models, markets and value propositions.

Unfortunately, too many companies take a “wait and see” attitude.  By holding back on acquiring new technologies and talent, while focusing only on close-at-hand projects, these companies get only incremental gains. They stop short of getting full benefit, even when they improve processes, automate tasks and connect operations. This stop-gap approach won’t future-proof their businesses for the ever-expanding digital future.

Electronic Document Management is Strong and Growing

A recent Press Release on Market Watch indicates that, “In 2018, the global Document Management Software market size was 800 million US$ and it is expected to reach 960 million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 2.5% during 2019-2025. 

For a technology that’s been around since the 1980’s, that’s an astounding amount of growth.  Unlike other technologies that appear and are quickly made obsolete, Document Management remains strong and continues to grow.  What’s given this technology it’s life blood and high demand?

Six Features that Make ImageSilo® Great 

If you ever wondered why Paper Alternative Solutions settled on ImageSilo® as our go-to-choice for document management, here are six “little” features that make ImageSilo a big success for our customers:

How Government Agencies  Improve Workflow

Government and paperwork are virtually synonymous.  From tax forms to motor vehicle registration; court documents to school enrollments; business licenses to grants – dealing with a local government agency invariably results in paperwork.  If you’re a citizen, the paperwork is a hassle; for the government agency, paperwork is a cumbersome fact of life.

Regardless of the size of an agency, there are thousands of documents to handle, process, file and keep track of.  But this paper-based bureaucracy is changing…

In today’s political climate, many jurisdictions want to keep taxes low and implement cost-saving budgets, while still maintaining government services.  This calls for creative solutions to improve efficiency, cut costs and reduce paperwork. 

Paperless business workflow management is a powerful tool that can help your agency lower costs and improve efficiency ini 2018. 

When Document Management Isn’t Enough – Here’s What to Do

If you have a Document Management system, and you’re still having trouble finding the data you need, there’s a problem!  When document management alone hasn’t brought efficiency to your business, it’s time to figure out what went wrong…and fix it.

Managing files and documents has always been a big challenge in business. From the days of paper documents and multiple file cabinets to modern “data in the Cloud,” technology has come a long way! Today’s Content Management Systems are powerful software platforms that save time and money.

However, even the most powerful Document Management System won’t automatically improve your business efficiency.  Here’s what it takes:

Why Document Management Is Still Relevant

Document Management (DM) has been around since the 1980’s.  Initially, DM consisted of vendor-developed software systems designed to manage paper-based documents, including printed and published documents, photographs, prints, and so on. 

As personal computers and word processing applications became common place, newer Electronic Document Management (EDM) systems were developed to manage electronic documents, which were often stored on the users’ local computer or server.  These earliest electronic document management (EDM) systems managed either proprietary file types, or a limited number of file formats. 

In the late 1990’s and into the early 2000’s, these systems became known as document imaging systems, because they focused on the capture (via scanning), storage, indexing and retrieval of the image file formats that were generated by scanners. Eventually, EDM systems evolved to a point where they could manage any type of file format that could be stored on the network. The applications grew to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security workflow and auditing capabilities.

How Streamlined Business Process Can Drive Growth

We're a small business, so we know how important growth can be. We've just had a huge uptick in growth, due in part to a good business plan, smart marketing, and a little bit of luck.  One thing we can tell you is that, while growth is a good thing, it'a not sustainable without a plan for managing the growth.  And it takes some expertise!

Good thing we're in the business of business process automation and document management! There's no better way to handle and encourage growth.  Fortunately, we were set up from the beginning to handle growth; we knew ahead of time the importance a framework for process automation and document management.  Even so, rapid growth has resulted in the need for rapid change in internal processes,  Fortunately, with an ImageSilo® platform already in place, we were ready.

9 Questions to Ask Before You Implement Cloud ECM

Introduction
With the use of Cloud Electronic Content Management (ECM) expanding among all industries, it’s a sure bet that if you’re not looking at Cloud ECM now, you will be soon.  This trend reflects an overall comfortability with cloudbased applications and services, as well as a nearly universal recognition of the cost-savings that Cloud ECM applications can bring to organizations. 

When Is a Business Like a Mule?

Answer:  When it doesn’t produce

A mule is a hybrid that occurs when a horse and a donkey mate.  As often happens with hybrids, a mule can’t produce offspring.  This lack of production is a problem with many different types of hybrids – plants, animals and, even business offices, when they maintain their data in a hybrid environment…some paper files, some electronic files.   

Getting to the Data (and ROI) in Your ECM