document management in minneapolis provides host of benefits

1. Document Managementin Minneapolis Provides Host of Benefits

2. Summary Document management in Minneapolis provides electronic systems designed to capture, manage, store, distribute and archive documents. Common in businesses and other organizations, these systems act as a digital filing cabinet. The common thread among all document management benefits is savings in both cost and time.

3. More specifically, document management in Minneapolis allows businesses to:

4. Document Imaging • Capture documents in any format – including paper, e-mail, mainframe reports and e-forms • Manage content according to your organization’s business rules and gauge the health of processes in real-time • Store, organize and track your content so documents are there when you need them • Distribute documents as soon as they’re needed so processes run fast and costs stay low • Archive and protect your documents so you meet and stay in compliance with internal and external standards

5. Tangible Benefits Produce Cost and Time Savings Tangible benefits are those things that can be measured in the sense that the benefit can be quantified. The common thread among all document management benefits is savings in both cost and time.

6. Reduce Amounts of Paper and Physical Storage

7. Reduce Amounts of Paper and Physical Storage Paper, by way of applications, resumes, receipts, work orders, invoices, bills and more, consumes time across an organization because of the way the company interacts with it. Slow processing, difficulty retrieving files, incomplete information, duplicate work – all are productivity killers and customer service nightmares for a business trying to stay competitive. Plus, paper takes up space. The cost of commercial property and the need to store documents means paper storage competes with people for space within an organization. Scanning documents and integrating them into a document management system can greatly reduce the amount of prime storage space required by paper. It also allows any documents that still have to be stored as paper to be stored in less expensive locations.

8. Improve Document Organization and Information Flow Overwhelmed with paper is one thing. Overwhelmed by information is another. After all, paper is something most organizations want to eliminate. Information, on the other hand, is the lifeblood of a competitive company. Critical documents mean anything important to an organization. If you’re in financial services, mortgage and loan documents are critical. For those in the insurance industry, anything connected to claims processing is pivotal. Healthcare includes everything about the patient. And company size doesn’t matter when it comes to vital personnel. Any broken link in the information chain can create havoc. Decentralized, poorly organized or difficult to retrieve documents of all types can lead to lost time, reduced productivity and duplicated work.

9. Improve Document Organization and Information Flow Lost documents can be expensive and time-consuming to replace. Within a document management system, imaged documents remain centrally stored when being viewed to eliminate misplacing. New documents are less likely to be incorrectly filed, but can be quickly and easily found if needed. Document management in Minneapolis retrieves files by any word or phrase in the document. Known as full text search, this capability is impossible with paper or microfilm. A document management system can also classify and store documents in a variety of ways. In addition, archiving versions of documents in a document management system helps protect paper documents that still have to be retained. It also keeps electronic documents in a non-proprietary and native format, such as Microsoft Word or Excel.

10. Enhance Operating Productivity and Efficiency Most organizations have some version of the low-value task. Often those tasks involve moving paper from one person to the next. For example, document management would eliminate the time wasted on calling the main office, finding someone to retrieve the file, time spent retrieving and faxing the file, and reviewing the fax once it’s received. Businesses of all sizes can centralize the management of changing business documents, and provide offline synchronization for remote users. This process ensures everyone accesses the most up-to-date version of the document. No more problems with clients or customers working from old document versions. And, users no longer have to worry important notations are disappearing with the paper they were written on.

11. Enhance Operating Productivity and Efficiency Document management in Minneapolis makes it easy to share documents electronically with colleagues and clients over a network, by email or via the Web in a controlled manner. Paper documents usually require photocopying to be shared, and microfilm requires conversion to paper. Document management reduces the associated costs of paper production and distribution. Finally, the increased productivity of processing invoices, debt collection and other accounting documents, ensures cash flow can be optimized and controlled centrally. As a result, documentation required to make cash flow decisions can be accessed immediately.

12. Improve Customer Satisfaction Reduced response times and more accurate responses reduce the time spent on manual customer service tasks. Company personnel are free to focus resources on other core business activities. The same information that was previously stored as paper or microfilm can now be distributed to customers and target audiences electronically. Electronic distribution reduces time-to-market for products, services and support, as well as improve the impression external recipients have of the organization.

13. Improve Security Document management in Minneapolis can provide more flexible control over sensitive documents. Document management provides an audit trail of who viewed and/or edited an item and when. A document management system also removes the possibility of having confidential material or trade secrets unattended. Another security feature includes disaster recovery. Document management provides failsafe archives to combat threats from fire, flood, vandalism, theft and other disasters.

14. Simplify Compliance Requirements With the increasing levels of compliance regulations and required audits, both internal and external, keeping track of necessary documents is more important than ever. A well planned document strategy can ease minds and facilitate compliance requirements. In addition, many document management systems will manage length of retention and final disposition of documents. The risk of non conformance can lead to fines and other penalties. A combination of security control, audit trails, archiving and disaster recover ensure a company is able to authenticate the validity of information stored and demonstrate compliance. Document management in Minneapolis can make storing and retrieving documents and images simple and secure. An effective system will cut costs, eliminate a lot of wasted time and properly allocate resources. In short, document management brings clarity to all of your data and allows for easy tracking of company records.

15. About the Author Leah Swartzbaugh is Director of Marketing for AMI Imaging Systems, a leading document management and document imaging firm in Minneapolis. Visit http://www.ami-imaging.com/ for more information about document management in Minneapolis.