Go Green with Document Management

Go Beyond Document Management to Business Processes Management

Many paper-based processes, while at their core essential to a business’s operation, can be improved when transformed into digital processes.  That’s why it’s important to go beyond your old document management system (or outdated paper system), and look at your business processes to see how they can be better managed using today's AI and automation technologies.  The benefits are amazing!

Document management, whether digital or paper-based, refers to the organization and storage of documents,  in a predetermined system that enables users to find, share and edit documents. Electronic document management systems commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, indexing and retrieval capabilities.  Paper document management systems commonly provide...file cabinets.  

Why You Shouldn't Scan Documents

It might sound counter-intuitive for a company that calls itself "Paper Alternative Solutions" to publish a blog post telling you not to scan documents, but stick with us for few minutes, and you'll find out why...

Despite the decades-old promise of the "paperless office," there are still plenty of paper documents that are created and distributed.  Moreover, the information on that paper -- be it a form, an invoice, a student or patient record, or an unstructured document like a letter -- needs to be captured accurately and made accessible to the people who need to use it.  

Document Management vs Records Management vs Content Management

This is an update of an article published by Paper Alternative in February, 2017.  It's also the most popular post we've ever published.  Apparently a lot of people are confused about the various terms that are used – document management, records management and content management.

When you need a better way to organize and manage essential business information, we invite you to refer to this article.  You need to know what each of these is before you can decide which of them you need. Bookmark this article for future reference.

Four Requirements for Effective Document Management

Most businesses, even the most organized, have document management problems.  An Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) can help organizations  manage documents better with a systematic method for electronic creation, storage and control of documents.  Consider these important EDMS requirements:

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 Gartner Redefined ECM and What It Means for You

ECM – Electronic Content Management – has generally been used to describe products that manage unstructured content.  (See our previous blog post Document Management vs Records Management vs Content Management for a detailed discussion about the differences among products.

Gartner says that “new technologies, external market challengers and digital business requirements are changing organizations' requirements for managing digital content.”  Indeed, in some aspects, content management is merging with people management to provide better customer service.

How to Decide if EDM is Worth the Cost

Organizations have been managing information for as long as they have needed to record transactions.  From clay tablets to papyrus and palm leaves, as soon as humans began recording events, trading goods and marking property boundaries, some form of documentation has been used.

Eventually, parchment replaced papyrus, then paper replaced parchment, with the first papermaking process documented in 25-220 AD.   Later improvements to the papermaking process came in the 19th century with the invention of wood-based paper.  But all that easily manufactured, readily available paper created a new problem…where and how to keep it in an orderly fashion.

What’s Your Document Scanning Sweet Spot?

sweet spot

noun

informal

1. the point or area on a bat, club, or racket at which it makes most effective contact with the ball;
2. an optimum point or combination of factors or qualities.

For most organizations, the sweet spot for document scanning is that point at which the benefit of going paperless surpasses the cost of scanning. 

But, when you’re trying to convince those who hold the purse strings that going paperless is the way to go, just how do you get to the sweet spot, or ROI?  Just how do you convince the accounting gurus that scanning documents is not a waste of time, money or resources?   How do you prove the benefits?

What Our Readers Told Us About Document Scanning

Last week, we wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn't Scan Documents.  Amazingly, that post garnered more views, more social media comments, and more requests for information than any of our positive posts about Document Scanning.  Why did this post resonate so widely? Here's what our readers told us: