Document management workflow in the company – why digital is the way to go?

A sea of paper documents in the organisation means increased chaos, time consuming documentation handling processes and high risk of losing, destroying or overlooking important letters, not to mention leaking confidential information. Since the number of documents processed by companies has only been steadily growing, giving rise to more and more challenges, problems and needs, the companies are increasingly aware and they turn towards dedicated document management systems with electronic document management workflow. This choice enables them to eliminate the majority of the crucial problems and enjoy seamless and efficient circulation of company documentation.

Traditional and digital document management workflow

Traditional document workflow is going out of fashion and loses popularity with each coming year. Companies and organisations are increasingly aware of the issues that emerge due to paper documents, and thus they increasingly give them up. The traditional approach to document circulation resulted in the accumulation of physical, paper-based documentation, which usually piled up on employees’ desks in an uncontrolled manner, introducing chaos into the company, extending decision-making time to unprecedented lengths and generating unnecessary expenses, required for purchasing paper, printer ink, printing infrastructure maintenance and hiring staff responsible for managing and securing the physical documentation archive. Traditional document circulation had another downside – it hardly ensured any protection of sensitive, confidential data, and the access to such data was virtually unlimited in many companies – not to mention the associated risk of losing, destroying or overlooking important documents.

Digital document management workflow solutions proved to be an effective solution to these problems. Electronic document management workflow comprises converting physical documentation and a traditional archive into their digital equivalent and storing the entire documentation in electronic form, thus bringing about the concept of paperless office. Implementing such a system allows the organisation to get rid of piles of paper cluttering people’s desks, eliminate the risk of losing or overlooking documents, speed up and continuously monitor document transfers between authorised staff members, all while greatly reducing the cost of document management workflow in the company. Electronic document workflow also means much better protection of confidential data, which can only be accessed by authorised users. What is more, the very access to the documents is much easier and faster, compared to the traditional way. The implementation of electronic document management workflow is inseparably tied with modern enterprise IT solutions, which enable the realisation of its full potential in practice.

Modern DMS for managing documentation workflow in the company

Digital document management workflow is implemented with a dedicated software solution – document management system (DMS for short). What is more, the most advanced solutions of this kind offer the possibility to fully automate document workflow and a significant part of tasks related to documentation, using the so-called workflow automation. Thanks to this, employees who are tasked with handling business processes do not have to think every time about what to do with a given document and who is the intended recipient – the system guides them, using pre-configured scenarios, procedures and policies, supporting the proper implementation of tasks. They also do not have to manually enter and type in data from documents and invoices into the system – the OCR feature will handle this for them. Such innovative solutions and tools enable a significant acceleration of work and guarantee that every task is done correctly at every stage.

Implementing electronic document management workflow allows companies to streamline their operations in almost every area of its activity. What is more, such a solution also significantly reduces the amount of manual work, since there is no need to comb the paper documentation resources manually. Finding the needed documents is nearly instantaneous, which translates into increased work efficiency and faster decision-making processes. Deploying electronic document management workflow also has a positive impact on the company image, which is perceived by stakeholders, employees and customers as more innovative and professional.

Document management systems – what are the features of the best solutions on the market?

All the benefits of electronic document workflow can be obtained by choosing the right software solution. While searching for a DMS, which will be well-adapted to the changing needs of the company over time, it is worthwhile to pay attention to highly-featured and future-oriented low-code platforms. They are highly advanced software solutions, equipped with a number of innovative mechanisms and features, which will be appreciated by every company that is in the process of dynamic growth. Low-code platforms enable quick deployment of tailored, functional and standardised business applications with no code or only using it where it is justified for technological or economic reasons (with more complicated business scenarios or advanced integration with other systems, which will be particularly appreciated by large companies and multinational corporations, with an extensive business structure and IT ecosystem). An important advantage of low-code platforms is the possibility of using their full functionality by users who do not have programming skills – business applications can be built in visual tools using drag&drop method, which enables direct, proactive participation of employees who “know the process from the inside out” and will eventually use them in their everyday work.

The top-of-the-line low-code platforms that are currently available on the market offer an additional benefit that will be appreciated by every growing company and organisation – the ability to efficiently manage change and introduce the required modifications on an ongoing basis throughout any stage of application life cycle – even after deployment – with immediate results. This ensures optimal Time To Business, which is an important attribute of competitive companies in the digital age.