Category: Archiving

Document management -€“ what’€™s the idea?

Emma

With the adoption of any new technology there has to be a reason to justify the expenditure and the trouble of training personnel and moving systems. In the instance of document management that purpose is efficiency, which has numerous impacts elsewhere – not least in terms of reputation, as well as your finances. Invoice processing, for example, allows you to pay suppliers and clients on time (whilst not overpaying or repeat paying); whilst this has financial benefits, it is also an important courtesy to those you work with and will do much to maintain the relationship between you. That, of course, has knock-on impacts for the long-term arrangement between you. Cost is so often not the sole criterion for changing provider or supplier; bad service is a more common reason. People often don’t mind paying a little more so long as it’s worth it. Remove that incentive and you can find their loyalty is (rightly) short-lived. Document processing can therefore be an important tool in your customer retention, with all that means for other sides of your business.

The general idea is simple: all of your physical documents are converted to electronic ones. This is carried out by several means. At the bottom end of the scale a scan-to-pdf may be involved. More sophisticated systems use optical character recognition and are capable of turning handwritten notes into computer documents.

These files can then be stored centrally, where they can be accessed by anyone who has the right permissions. That means documents cannot be lost or destroyed, and photocopying key papers is no longer required. It allows you to treat all documents the same – letter or email, paper or virtual invoice. Companies can often unwittingly operate a two-tier system depending on which medium they are more familiar with; either they will deal with paper first and leave the electronic communications, or vice versa. The problem is that some clients may get left behind this way.

Document processing removes this hierarchy, and a good document management system will mean that your people do not have to distinguish between paper and electronic copies. This will be particularly important for your accounts department, since ignoring invoices or being slow to settle them is a sure way to upset clients and suppliers. Consequently you should find that invoice processing enables your organisation to run more efficiently – something that those who use you will like.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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Invoice processing that optimises your resources

Stuart

Document management is a essential part of any company’s operations, and also reduces costs and optimises working capital. Solutions to document processing can be catastrophic when the provider turns out to be unpunctual, or have hidden costs. With a capable provider however, routine and necessary procedures such as invoice processing are enhanced.

The way to think of the situation is not as a problem to be overcome, but as potential waiting to be utilised. These assets can be gathered via the available technologies into substantial quantifiable and consequent benefits.

quantifiable benefits of document management are many, and include the reduction of space used for paper storage, saving you commercial property costs. Integrating documentation into management systems obviates the need to store bulky amounts of paper documentation on site, allowing it to be stored if necessary in less expensive locations – and protects data from on-paper vulnerability to theft, fire, flood and vandalism. DMS archiving also preserves important paper documents from continual and damaging handling.
What is more, as well as ensuring stronger security, these systems make data retrieval more flexible and intuitive, and save time as accessing data does not even mean leaving one’s desk. Multiple indexing can be operated simultaneously, search functions are rapid and can operate a full text search, unlike paper or microfilm. Lost files are a thing of the past, as all documents are centrally stored.

As far as regulations and requirements are concerned, DMS security and control tracks the validity of stored files and lessens the risk of withdrawn licenses and even legal action, by demonstrating regulatory compliance. Due to the central control of invoice processing, DMS also greatly improves cash flow.  Less quantifiable benefits include improved day-to-day operations internally, increasing the amount of information accessible to staff. This also has a beneficial effect on customer service, allowing accurate, quick and professional response. The ability to distribute information electronically saves time and sharpens audience targeting, lending a competitive edge to your organisation over others not using DMS. For those that are, it removes a competitive disadvantage.

Finally, document management opens up the pool of information which would otherwise be imprisoned in individual’s head or separate email exchanges – or at best, ‘round robin’ emails. Once this information undergoes document processing and is utilised as shareable and accessible, its value increases and so does your employees’ ability to solve questions and tasks. Using invoice processing keeps all your financial transactions scheduled and trackable – all in all, the simplest and smartest business solution.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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