Top 5 Reasons To Manage Your Records

Most businesses don't make money from managing their records.  As a result, document management may not be high on the priority list.  However, there are several key reasons why business should start paying attention.  Here are our Top 5:

1. Lower Operating Costs

Let's face it.  It costs money to pay for file cabinets, warehouses, office space, and staff to manage it all.  An efficient document management system will not only save space, it will save time looking for information.  Savings in space and time mean savings for the bottom line.     

2. Improved Efficiency and Productivity

This is closely linked to #1.  If staff is able to quickly access information, they can do their jobs much more efficiently, leaving room for improvement in other areas.  No only will they be able to easily access information, an effective document management system can help avoid losing vital records and time spent looking for them.   

3. Compliance

Depending on your industry, record keeping regulations may be through the roof.  Implementing a secure document management system can help ensure compliance with required laws and regulations.  Failure to do so, may result in severe penalties, fines, and even legal action.  

4. Minimize Risk of Litigation

As previously mentioned, litigation can result from poorly kept records.  If a secure document retention policy is firmly in place and followed, the risk of litigation is decreased.  Document management systems can follow retention rules and automatically destroy electronic documents once a certain date has passed.  On the other hand, it can ensure that essential records are not destroyed prior to their retention date.       

5. Security

Last, but certainly not least is security.  Document Management systems, if properly maintained and backed up, help ensure against loss of vital information due to catastrophes or other disasters.  It also provides a mechanism for managing access to records by certain staff or others outside the organization.   

The Cost of Paper

We know we don't have to convince you of the benefits of paperless records management. The statistics from a Coopers and Lybrand study speak for themselves:

·         Office documents comprise greater than 80% of corporate memory.

·         90% of documents that are handled in an office are merely passed along or shuffled through.

·         The average document gets copied 19 times.

·         50% of a professional’s time is spent looking for information. Only 5-15% is used in reading the information.

Costs:

·         $20 to file a document.

·         $120 to find a misplaced document.

·         $220 to replace a lost document.

Percentages:

·         7.5% of all documents get lost.

·         3% get misfiled.

In other words, If your company generates 200 documents a week, you will lose 15 of them (costing the company $3,300), and misfile 6 of them (costing $720). 

Looking at the big picture, there are over 4,000,000,000,000 (4 trillion) paper documents in the U.S. alone. They are growing at the rate of 22% a year or roughly 880 billion a year.

 

What about you?  How is your records management?

FAQ's About Document Management

When it comes to Document Management, our clients have asked a lot of questions.  With over 12 years of experience answering them, here are just a few:

 

 

 

Why is document management important?

Today, 80% of all mission-critical data is unstructured, 7.5% of all documents get lost, and 3% of the remainder are misfiled. Organizations are quickly realizing that document management is becoming necessary in order to be more successful. Organizing documents and information through the use of technology ultimately leads to higher productivity, greater efficiency, and improved performance. With an electronic document management system in place, your organization will be able to spend its efforts on the more important and core aspects of your business.

What types of records are being imaged?

It runs the gamut: everything from student and personnel records to board minutes and engineering plans. Many of these records have retention requirements. For others, imaging helps streamline specific business processes.

What are some of the advantages of scanning records, as opposed to just storing them in boxes or filing cabinets?

There are numerous advantages to scanning records. Imaging critical documents results in significant savings in both time and money because information is organized. Once imaged, you can instantly access any record from your desktop computer. This can reduce storage space by as much as 80% or more. Document search time is also greatly expedited.  Requests for documents can be streamlined, completely processed, and printed, faxed, or emailed to the requestor in a matter of seconds.  In addition, organizing imaged documents in a database can help with security, by granting access to only authorized users.

How do I access information after it has been scanned?

Each record type can be setup with key searchable fields, such as date, first name, last name, APN number, etc.  In addition, optical character recognition (OCR) makes electronic documents searchable by every word, so that they can be mined for specific information.

How much does document conversion cost?

Price varies depending on size and volume of the documents. On average, scanning typically costs the same as a photocopy (a standard storage box measuring 10"x12"x16" holds approximately 2,500 pages).

What format is used for scanning files?

The standard format in the industry for scanned files is TIFF. However, records are also commonly scanned as PDF, PDF/A, and JPG, among others.

For more frequently asked questions, check out our website:  http://www.sytechsolutions.com/faq.htm