Document Management

Interactions with your clients generate a lot of paper work including consultations, office visits, contracts and invoices. In order to manage the vast amount of documents and information that inundates your office, it is imperative to have an innovative and efficient system that allows for easy storage and quick retrieval. With a document management system, you will be able to access all of your documents from the convenience of your computer’s desktop without sacrificing information security. Whether you are in the medical industry, education, or other professional services, a document management system can fit your business.

With a document management system, you can easily create custom folders to manage all your company’s information. The integration of a document management system allows for a more efficient and cost effective way to grow your business and improve customer service. The system endows you with an accessible and user-friendly access point for all client records. The system takes you one step closer to a paperless environment by making it easier to replace your bulky filing cabinets with streamlined hard drives.

Document management systems capture and store the scanned documents using a simple multifunction system. You can easily convert paper documents to a digital format. Once you have a digital document, you can easily pass them from department to department and even to your clients. Retrieving documents has never been easier. Instead of sifting through hundreds of paper files, you can call up documents by keyword or date.

You can easily email or fax multiple electronic documents and also scan and upload multiple documents at once in an efficient manner. You will be able to communicate important information to colleagues, clients, prospects and business partners. With all the possible benefits, there is no doubt your company could grow with a document management system. continue reading...

Keying in data off of business forms is often a very monotonous and time-consuming process. Plus, the more the processes are rushed, the more errors are made.

Fortunately, you can utilize your multifunction systems to automatically enter routine data. Data Capture software has the ability to read data from scanned documents and translate it into your business applications. It can also index the scanned documents for easy retrieval later on.

Data Capture software uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to translate scanned text into editable text. When the document is scanned using a multifunction system, it is routed to a folder where it is processed.

The software allows you to set up capture zones to handle multiple areas of information. These OCR zones can acquire the data and insert them into their respective data fields. In order for this to work correctly, all you need is a uniform form that is structured similarly every time such as an invoice, delivery ticket or an explanation of benefits. Consistent layout is key.

Data Capture technology provides the ability to replace manual data entry in a variety of ways. A couple of examples include: processing invoices, storing scanned documents for retrieval at a later date, organizing delivery/shipping tickets and even managing payroll.

Minimizing manual data entry can drastically improve the cost-efficiency of your office and it can be applied to a variety of situations. continue reading...

The intellectual property of your business is vital to its continuing success. Therefore, it is important to ensure confidential documents are not susceptible to security breaches. Whether it is a computer virus or a disgruntled former employee, you need to ensure your information is safe from unauthorized viewers. Luckily, with document management systems, it is easy to integrate advanced security features into your current workflows. Electronic Document Management can help protect your documents and increase productivity. If you are unsure if a document management system is right for your business, here are ten things you should know about document security:

1. Document management seeks to prevent data loss from the various kinds of threats to data. Unless a systematic approach is adopted for document security your business could be shut down by a breach of security.

2. Very few businesses can survive a complete loss of business data. Even partial losses can prove extremely serious, especially to smaller businesses. Consider what would happen if you lost all your customer data and invoice records from a computer virus. It can render you unable to recover your fees from credit customers that can equal a few months of sales. Or consider the secret product formula that gives you an edge in the market being stolen.

3. Document security starts with an intricate look at all the risks documents face and the impact of each. A clear view can make upper management aware of the real dangers that can easily occur, and as a result they are more likely to support security-enhancement measures.

4. One of the primary security measures is preventing unauthorized access to documents. Only authorized persons should be able to access each type of data. Access restrictions should be placed both on classes of data and levels of employees and can be integrated easily with the access controls on your multifunction device.

5. All documents should generate automatic audit trails to monitor who accesses specific documents. Most data losses have been attributed to employees and it’s essential that a record of their activities is on file.

6. Firewalls and Antivirus programs can prevent access to data on the internal network by external entities, such as hackers and viruses. However these tools probably only scratch the surface for the security of your company’s data. Protecting individual workstations doesn’t necessarily mean all your documents are secure.

7. Verified backups and storage at separate locations can help the business recover from data losses caused by different events, such as natural disasters like a fire, accidental or intentional deletion of data from hard disks. Electronic Document Management will make it easy for you to have an alternate location for data storage.

8. Electronic Document Management will verify your backed-up data to ensure it is recoverable in case of need. Systematic policies and procedures can ensure that all critical data is backed up in an up-to-date or even real-time manner. In the absence of Electronic Document Storage, not all data may be backed up and data loss recovery can prove incomplete.

9. Electronic documents can be tampered with comparatively easily, but document management puts authentication procedures in place to validate critical documents at the recipient’s end. Features such as electronic signatures can help ensure that documents have not been altered since they were signed.

10. Above all, regular evaluations must be carried out to identify current security vulnerabilities. Electronic Document Management Systems provide easy to access interfaces to allow for constant optimization.

Standards for information security can help businesses understand the complex issues involved and implement best practices for document security. With increasing dependence on electronic documents, this is an issue that cannot be ignored or left to untrained staff. Luckily, an easy way to increase your document security is through an Electronic Document Management System. continue reading...

Are you looking for ways to improve your business? An excellent place to start is by looking at your business processes.

Regardless of what industry you are in, paper and digital documents are the vehicles by which information flows through your business. The efficiency of this process can greatly affect the productivity of your office and ultimately, your success.

The good news is that new technology can help improve your business by streamlining the flow of information. This process enhancement can make a tremendous impact including the following:

• Increasing Profits
• Enhancing Competitive Advantage
• Improving Customer Service
• Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

The first step when considering how to better organize a process is to ask, “What is the final goal of this process?” For example, the final goal of a delivery process is to get the invoice paid.

The second step is to plan out the process step by step, looking for inefficiencies and the use of manual labor. Mapping out all the steps reveals bottlenecks that can be eradicated and manual steps that can easily be automated. This makes it easy to create a faster and more predictable process.

Document management technology can easily be integrated into your processes to eliminate inefficiencies and enable you to do more with less.

. continue reading...

This year over 1.2 million office multifunction systems will be installed in the United States and the movement continues to grow. These systems provide printing, copying, faxing, and scanning features in one cost-effective device.

The basic logic behind these systems is obvious: it is just practical to combine these similar functions for cost savings and fewer devices to supply.

However, some of the largest reasons behind the rapid implementation of these systems extend beyond cost savings. Multifunction devices can merge with document management software to allow process automation and deliver bottom line results.

• Modernized Communication: Multifunction systems email, fax and print together. Scan to email functionality delivers paper documents securely to their recipients as email attachments. Fax routing directs incoming faxes to email addresses.
• Automated Business Processes: Multifunction systems offer a convenient on-ramp to get paper onto a digital network. New capture software provides the technology for information to be read from scanned documents where it can be routed through a pre-defined workflow.

• Expanded Security Features: Security and compliance are hot new issues for virtually every industry. Multifunction systems can help enhance your corporate security with a secure Electronic Document Management System.

If you are looking for a corporate initiative to save money, then you likely are considering or have already implemented multifunctional technology. Even if you already have a multifunction device integrated into your business processes, there are always new features that can improve the efficiency of your office.

continue reading...

Tags: Document Management Systems

This is the challenge businesses face today—to take fragmented repositories of information and combine them into one, concise system. From copiers and fax machines to Microsoft Office and email, we expect these technologies to make our life simpler. Instead, they can tend to make it more complex.

Enter Document Management Programs

Many small businesses and corporate departments are enjoying the benefits of new document converging technology. Paper, digital and email documents are finally able to be handled by one system.

- Scanners and Multifunction Systems enable the rapid conversion of paper documents into common digital formats like PDF files. These documents can be sent as email attachments our directed to a network folder.

- Optical Character Recognition technologies convert scanned text into editable text. Documents can be scanned directly into applications like Microsoft Word where they can be edited.

- Electronic Document Management Systems provide a central repository for scanned images, electronic documents and emails. This means that you can find everything you need with one search.

Can Your Customer Service Be Improved by Document Management?

Fragmented systems delay customer service interactions and extend billing cycles. Misfiled information hampers audits and regulatory compliance efforts. Inaccessible information is not available to support management decisions.

You can take advantage of our expertise to help streamline the flow of information in your organization- and start being more productive today. continue reading...

When considering the many costs that an organization has to expend, one of the most misunderstood is that of printing costs.

The Gartner Group estimates that as much as 30% of organizations' print costs can be eliminated with simple technology solutions.

The Business World is a rapidly changing entity, and technology helps adapt to these changes quickly and will help a company keep its competitive advantage. Paper has always been an inefficient medium for conducting business processes, and recently has become a key focus for Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives. So what are the main reasons for a company or organization to move towards the paperless environment?

Below are the two main categories:

1. Operation Efficiency and Business Process Improvement

Using a digital repository can improve productivity. This is an obvious benefit. Any time you can reduce the time required to perform a required task, that time can be applied elsewhere. A basic online search for a customer file requires about 5 seconds. To accomplish the same information lookup with a physical file cabinet can take 10 – 25 minutes, or perhaps even days if the file is held in offsite storage. This is just for basic lookups, and not complex searches, which could take weeks if performed through the physical file system.

2. Risk Reduction

An ECM/DM system allows for the backup of critical files. What would happen to an organization if their file room was destroyed by a fire or flood? Business Continuity Planning is a critical theme today, allowing an organization to insure that a disaster of any kind will not bring business to a halt. Scanning paper files provides the ability to backup and restore key business documentation. continue reading...

The core of any business is a group of processes. Predictable processes like invoicing and collections, order fulfillment and customer support are the fundamentals that drive businesses to success. Continual improvement of business processes leads to better results like increased revenue, reduced expenses, faster collection, regulatory compliance, and reduced risk.

The following are a few points to consider that will help improve your business processes:

1. Begin with the end in mind. Define what the real goal of your process is.

2. Map Out the Process. Think of the four Ws: Who, What, When and Where.

3. Determine what inhibits your process. There is always a more efficient way to complete a task.

4. Consider any risks. Are you overlooking any potential regulatory or legal problems? Is your business prepared for a natural disaster?

5. Determine the costs. Consider the hard costs of the process along with the labor costs.

6. Envision a Better Way. Improvement always begins with a vision of a preferred situation.

Processes: Tied to Documents

Since documents are the key vehicles by which information flows through business processes, by devising a well thought out plan you can leverage technology to improve business processes and start being more productive today. continue reading...

This year over 1.2 million office multifunction systems will be installed in the United States and the movement continues to grow. These systems provide printing, copying, faxing, and scanning features in one cost-effective device. The basic logic behind these systems is obvious: it is just practical to combine these similar functions for cost savings and fewer devices to supply. However, some of the largest reasons behind the rapid implementation of these systems extend beyond cost savings. Multifunction devices can merge with document management software to allow process automation and deliver bottom line results. Modernized Communication: Multifunction systems email, fax and print together. Scan to email functionality delivers paper documents securely to their recipients as email attachments. Fax routing directs incoming faxes to email addresses. Automated Business Processes: Multifunction systems offer a convenient on-ramp to get paper onto a digital network. New capture software provides the technology for information to be read from scanned documents where it can be routed through a pre-defined workflow. Expanded Security Features: Security and compliance are hot new issues for virtually every industry. Multifunction systems can help enhance your corporate security with a secure Electronic Document Management System. If you are looking for a corporate initiative to save money, then you likely are considering or have already implemented multifunctional technology. Even if you already have a multifunction device integrated into your business processes, there are always new features that can improve the efficiency of your office.   continue reading...