Document management is a vague term. Everyone has to manage documents. If you write on a piece of paper, you’re managing a document. If you send an email, you’re managing a document. But, what does “document management” really mean?

Put simply, document management is the process by which you use and handle documents within your company and the workflow this process creates. By improving the document management processes in place, you improve associated costs, losses, productivity and so on. Although document management focuses on how files are managed, perfecting this part of your business can have a remarkable impact across the entire company and even down to your customers.

It’s easy to talk about how improved document management is good in a broad sense. But let’s take a closer look at a few ways document management will lead to more productivity, lower costs, and happier customers.

Improve the way your staff works with documents

Your staff is busy. They’ve become efficient at working through projects and collaborating with one another to get jobs done. When you’re in the trenches and your team is working well together, it can be tough to identify productivity threats.

But think for a second. How many people have to touch a document before it gets passed on to its final destination? What process is in place for creating, editing, proofing, and finalizing documents? The answers to questions like these will shed some light on process inefficiencies that are wasting time and costing your company money.

Creating an automated process will significantly cut down on the manual handling required for every document circulating throughout your company. Just think about how much difference it would make if you cut the time and costs needed for handling each and every document that your staff handles throughout the year.

Prevent missing documents and the trouble they cause

Losing documents is bad. But, with a lot of people and many files circulating throughout your company, human error is inevitable. Lost documents can cause anywhere from just a few dollars and minutes to thousands of dollars and hours in recovery.

Don’t think it’s that big of a problem? According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average organization loses one out of every 20 documents, spends $120 searching for the lost document, and wastes 25 hours recreating each of those lost documents.

But, what if there’s a way to take that risk out of human hands and place it safely in the hands of a secure management system. Well, that’s exactly what happens with an optimized document management program. Get a Free Office Workflow Analysis to find out how your company can save money and time with document management improvements.

Provide better service for your customers

Whether you’re a B2B business like a wholesale distributor, or B2C like a law firm, the way you run your business ultimately impacts how you’re able to service your customers. It may be difficult to connect paperwork with customer satisfaction, but your company’s document management and workflow actually has a major impact on how well you’re able to provide products or services to your customers.

By changing your document management processes, you provide more organization for your staff, allowing them to more easily and more successfully help customers. Your customers will notice the quality and consistency in your products or services and will be more likely to trust your company.

The improvement in your processes can also provide the ability to offer more competitive rates to your customers. With significant savings to be had in many cases, you’ll be able to pass those savings down to your customers and even attract a new set of people that may not have considered you at the higher rates.

Protect your documents and company from threats

Protecting your documents with locks and safes just doesn’t cut it anymore. If you’re scanning and then using your documents online then you’re adding a whole new set of risks to the equation. With a comprehensive document management system in place, you’ll get protection from these threats and others that you might not even know about.

One form of protection comes with the conversion of paper to electronic documents. You no longer have to worry about paper files “walking away” thanks to unruly employees. Instead, you’re able to control who has access to every document, see who actually does access each document, how recipients can work with documents, and more.

Improving your document management system will also add security to your collaboration with external parties. With features like firewalls, anti-spyware, and antivirus protection, you won’t have to worry about the threat of outside parties stealing your documents or breaching your data. You can also get cloud and server-based backups for all of your documents so that in case of any issues, you’ll always be able to fall back on those protected files.