In every type and area of owning and managing a business, you deal with a lot of papers. There can be designated cabinets for arranged files and business documents by names or companies or by alphabetical order, or even a whole office space to store all that papers. It can get messy, documents stored like this can get lost, get rearranged by someone and it can be hard to find the next time you need it.
There are so many businesses that benefit by going paperless already, and managing and organizing all your business’ documents can take advantage of those too. Scanning, storage, and organizational tools can be combined and into a single system to transform your business into a paperless workplace. This can be made easier by using a document management software solution.
Choosing the ideal document management software for you can be tricky. This article will help you understand what this software program is and what it can do for you and how to choose the right one to fit your needs.
Document Management Software Overview
Document management software is a tool that makes it easier for you to store, manage and organize all your electronic documents from your paper-based information through document scanning. They are stored and streamlined in a central system that you can easily access anytime you need it.
There are a lot of functions you can use this system for to organize your documents effectively. This includes storing a wide variety of document types such as word-processing files, PDF’s, spreadsheets, and even emails. Using a document management software, you can easily search documents from your entire document library through individual keywords.
This software program will also allow you to track who is viewing certain documents and what time. This function will also let you put restriction access to certain and confidential documents. Through this software, updates on documents and information can be made easily where you can also track all the edits being made to all the documents and retrieve its previous versions.
Document management software also features a function that allows you to regulate and control when to delete the already out-of-date documents. Through this management software, documents can also be easily accessed, edited and shared through various devices like tablets and mobile phones making it possible to continue your work even outside the office.
Types of Document Management Software
There are two different types of a document management software system you can choose from. You can read this comparison of document management software types to help you choose what is best suited for you and your business’ needs.
- Self-Hosted Document Management System. This type of software stores all its information and documents inside of your business’ own server. It will store documents as much as your service allows. Self-hosted systems come with a one-time license fee that could be based on the number of users, which is for computer systems only. Some software charges a one-time fee for the software itself and another for a license fee of each user.
With this type of system, there is also an optional yearly charge for customer support and software upgrades. However, the best part in a self-hosted document management system is that it doesn’t rely on anyone else run. You can still have access to your system and documents even if you don’t have an internet connection.
- Cloud-Hosted Document Management System. This type of document management software is hosted by your software provider and can be accessed online, anytime and anywhere as long as there is an internet connection. This will give you more access to your system and information since this can be integrated into different devices such as laptops, tablets and even through your mobile phones.
For a small business who doesn’t have a huge budget for a management software upgrade, this cloud-hosted system allows you to subscribe monthly or yearly depending on what is more convenient for you. The subscription price also varies depending on the amount of storage you want and the features you need. This will eliminate the unnecessary expenses for functions you don’t even need.
The best thing about this type of system is that all upgrades and maintenance made by your software provider is free. You also don’t need an IT specialists to install and maintain the software in your system, reducing a large initial cost and maintenance expenses. Backing up all your information and documents is made easy in this software system since they are automatically saved in the cloud, which also ensures the security of your documents.
Aside from these two, comparison of document management systems helps in letting you look for and find the right management software system that has the ability to help you achieve your goals.
What can Document Management Software Do for You?
There are countless of benefits and advantages in using a document management software to organize and store your business’ documents.
- Having a central system to store all your documents, you minimize a stockpile of papers in your desk and cabinets. This will make it easier for you to find and view information whenever the need arise. This will save you the time and effort in looking for certain documents hidden in a stack of paper.
- Better Collaboration. Getting your workplace paperless and automated, it is easy to collaborate between employees working on the same project. You don’t waste time and effort in having to print revisions and double checking all of it. Updates can be made easily and automatically through your system. Going paperless will also save you from having to put a physical storage space in your office and turn it into a space that generates revenue instead.
- Using a document management software program can give you security on your documents. You can track who views and edits certain documents and put restriction access to certain employees to view confidential information and documents.
- Backup Storage. Having all your important documents physically stored can give you a lot of risks. This can be lost of destroyed when a disaster occurs. However, having all your business documents and critical information stored in a document management software can protect it from whatever disaster might happen since they have backup storage you can access online.
Choosing the Ideal Document Management Software
In looking for the best document management software solution, you have to consider first what features and functions you need in a management software and how much you are willing to spend. This will help you narrow down the long list of document management software available in the market to the ones that will work best with you and what you need.
However, there are also the basic and common features and function of a document management software that you should never overlook and taken for granted when you are buying one.
- Easy to Use. When it is your first time to use this kind of software program, you might want to consider its simplicity. It should be simple enough and easy to use and train your employees with. Having a system that is too difficult to use will lessen its effectiveness and is not a good investment at all.
- File Structure. Aside from a management software that is easy to learn to, it should also be easy enough to navigate. Cabinet-drawer or folder approach is the easiest structure to organize your documents.
- Searching Access. When looking for certain files, you won’t always remember its file name. For this, you can choose a system where you have other options in searching for files, not only through their file name but also through their content.
- Software Integration. If you already have existing software programs in your business such as time tracking software, CRM software, and other software systems, it is efficient to find a document management software that can easily integrate to these. This will help you easily incorporate certain documents that needed to be incorporated.
- Mobile Integration. Since most people nowadays have mobile phones, and there are times someone has to work outside the office, a software system that can be accessed through mobile phones and other devices like tablets can be an advantage. It will allow you to continue to work wherever you are.
- Scanner Compatibility. Since the center tool of storing your paper documents in this management software is through scanning, you need the document management software that is compatible with a different variety of scanners.
- Storage Security. There are confidential and critical information and documents in all businesses that is not for everyone to access. A document management software that has a feature that allows you to create access permissions through certain documents will help you establish its security.
Using a document management software program can sure help you manage all your business’ documents in a secure and central system that will give you and your employee easy access anytime and anywhere you are.
Document management system best practices can only be done using the best management software that can help you accomplish all your tasks. The trick in finding the best document management software is knowing what features and functions you need and finding the software that fit those needs. To know more about document management software and its works, visit CrowdReviews.com and read our https://www.crowdreviews.com/best-document-management-software reviews.
Keith Moore
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