EDMS May Sound Like a Medical Condition, But It Could Be the Cure for What’s Plaguing Your Office

By Bill Thomas
From my “DocuBLOG” column
Bill works for USA-ONE Interactive

In the 1980s there was a concentrated movement in business away from paper documents toward a logical, efficient means of managing documents through the computer. The result was EDMS — Electronic Document Management Systems, a “cure,” of sorts, for what ails the office.

Today EDMS is considered a profound solution for offices large and small. In fact, whether your office is a 1-5 person shop or a multi-location enterprise, an EDMS can infuse your organization with a refreshing efficiency that saves time and organizes your operation beyond your highest expectations.

Here are just a few of the ways an EDMS helps:

• EDMS saves steps and time by allowing staff to locate files from their desktop computers rather than searching in big metal file cabinets that may be across the room, down the hall, in the basement or in a distant location at a satellite office. And never forget: time is money, especially when you are paying an hourly wage to those who are searching for documents!
• EDMS protects your valuable corporate documents. Because of the off-site back-up systems inherent in an EDMS, your important information is safe from fire, flood and other disasters. You enjoy peace of mind that comes with document security.
• EDMS eliminates lost files. This alone is enough reason for most organizations to adopt an EDMS for their offices. Because of the indexing and Metadata recorded for each document stored in the system, it is difficult to misplace anything. How often have you or your office staff searched hours for a document buried in a metal file cabinet, accidentally thrown away or stored in the bowels of the building never to be found again? If your company is like most, it’s more often than you want to admit. EDMS puts an end to these ugly searches. What a tension tamer!
• EDMS controls the flow of information. Do multiple people in your organization work on the same document at once and need to coordinate comments and revisions? EDMS turns yesterday’s coordination nightmare into a smooth, seamless process that allows everyone to be heard. And, its ease of use allows you to produce a completed document in much less time than hard copy methods that were used in the past.
• EDMS keeps authorized persons in control. Do you worry that your company’s proprietary information and trade secrets will fall into the hands of those who would do your company harm? This is certainly a legitimate worry if you’re dealing with paper files and metal file cabinets. However, if you have an EDMS, you can electronically restrict readership to those who “need to know.” Also, there are ways to gain document control by managing who can modify a document and who can delete a file. It’s a much safer environment for the organization.

Clearly, EDMS has transformed the office and cured many of the ills that plagued yesterday’s workplace. If you haven’t made the switch from papers and file cabinets to electronic documents and an EDMS, you’re not only living in the past, but you’re risking some of your company’s most precious resources. Make this year — this month — the time you take action.

Document Imaging - Delivering Efficiency for the Digital Age

By Bill Thomas
From my “DocuBLOG” column
Bill works for USA-ONE Interactive

Document imaging technology helps businesses finally begin to deliver on what over half a century ago IBM scientists first touted: the paperless office. With the aid of document imaging, businesses today can streamline operations by replacing many hard copy documents with digitalized ones. Through document imaging faxes, emails and regular file documents can be digitalized, saving space, time and money for the organization.

Basically, document imaging is a matter of scanning files and paper documents, then having them converted into digital images that can be stored in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) or digital files on your network server, computer hard drive, CD, DVD, or Document Management System. Often organizations prefer to have their document imaging stored off-site with a third party provider. This can be an excellent choice that offers greater security for important company documents and reduces employees’ workload, freeing them up to handle other tasks.

Another advantage of document imaging is the capacity it offers for using optical character recognition (OCR) on scanned documents. Using OCR an employee can search a document for specific text blocks and then copy them to another application — a real time saver!

One of the great advantages of using document imaging is the ability to scan in a faxed or paper form and then be able to fill it out online — even check boxes. Once complete, the form can be sent via email.

Other advantages include:

• Document imaging makes it possible to add comments to a scanned document on your computer and then publish it by email to others.
• Document imaging allows anyone in your office to circulated scanned documents as email or as an Internet fax.
• Document imaging permits the reorganizing and pagination of a scanned document and then the distribution of it via email.
• Document imaging lets you copy images or text from scanned pieces and insert them into other documents.

In all, document imaging cuts paper costs, handling costs and storage costs and that leads to a more efficient office and workforce. And, once a document is scanned, any authorized person can access it wherever an Internet connection is available.

Clearly, while document imaging does not fully eliminate the need for hard copy documents, it does take a giant leap toward a more efficient, more earth-friendly office.