5 Reasons Digital Records Management Should Keep Up

Information management is critical for organizations in almost every industry. From Fortune 500 companies to healthcare facilities, where and how you process your paperwork matters. If you stick to paper-based processes, you run risk of falling behind other businesses and taking a lot of risk.

In many organizations, there is resistance to digital innovation. Changing habits is hard, and changing everything can seem like a confusing, unnecessary, and wrong funding priority. Shouldn't all this money be spent on something more important?

Most importantly, will it be difficult to implement?

Not really. Going from paper documents to a digital document storage and management solution—a core enterprise content management (ECM) feature—is easier and cheaper than you think. In fact, you are wasting your business money if you resist process change.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't give up on process switching:

Reason #1: Your Customers Won't Get Best ServiceNo matter what your role in organization, your main goal should be to serve your customers or clients Providing best service. This is what makes customers happy and makes them spend more money, and this is what ultimately makes a business successful.

In this fast-paced world today, digitally transforming your business can make your customers happy. Customers want e-invoices, fast response times, low-cost service, and access to their records anytime, anywhere. All this will become available to your organization after transition to digital storage and management of documents.

Reason #2: You risk a costly regulatory auditGoing digital will not only provide fast customer service, it will also protect your company from potential consequences of a catastrophic event. Misinterpreting confidential documents such as medical information is a serious violation of HIPAA and other regulations, and following paper process increases likelihood of this happening.

If your company accidentally passes a regulatory review, easy access to all records will make process quick and painless, and your company back to day-to-day operations in no time.

Reason #3: Your employees are wasting time and money on inefficient document managementDid you know that your employees write paper documents by hand, file them into files, and then retrieve them again when needed . How long did they go? That's a lot of wasted time - time you pay them for. By digitizing and making their day-to-day work more efficient, wages you pay them will be more cost-effective. When your cellsmines are more efficient, you save money, and those savings are passed on to your customers in form of lower prices.

Reason #4: You won't be able to hire best peopleInefficient use of your employees' time is more than just a waste of money. Jobs where employees blindly apply cannot attract or retain best people in your industry. New hires straight out of college and those who have worked in your field want to work somewhere that has a technology-driven, forward-thinking, and modern company.

Most of workforce is accustomed to using technology in all areas of life. If they are forced to use outdated, inefficient processes in your organization, they will go to competitors who will not bury their talents.

Reason #5: You'll fall behind competitors that don't rely on paper-based processesIf you're too outdated, your employees won't be only ones leaving for competing companies. Your clients too! Inefficient paperwork means slower service and higher bills for customers. This is not conducive to your company's long-term business.

But it doesn't have to happen to you. Take a recent example from Toshiba Business Solutions. They implemented a document management solution to manage sales orders (from creation to payment). They managed to develop a flawless workflow that not only improved cash flow by $4 million per month and saved $1.25 million per year, but also simplified management and access to information, and allowed real-time business metrics to be developed. Clearly, these cost savings and process simplifications have helped them stay ahead of competition in technology industry.

If a large company like Toshiba Business Solutions can seamlessly integrate digital innovation, then so can you. Digital document management software is easy to use at any level of business and can really help your organization stay relevant, competitive and profitable. Positive ROI arrives much sooner than you think (often as little as 12 months), so going digital will pay off.