Your Document Management Knowledge Center

We’ve been discussing lately what features, benefits, and authorities to investigate and be knowledgeable of when someone tries to sell you a document management solution.

When you’ve done your due diligence and found a suitable provider, you still have to make sure you hold them to exactly what they say they’ll provide you. The simplest (yet somehow overlooked or undercooked) way to do that is with a Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Remember: there are plenty of claims a vendor can make that are immediately logical and appealing. When you're looking to buy document management solutions, those claims are the red flags that should prompt you to ask more critical questions.

We’ve discussed SaaS vendors who offer the lowest prices and affix themselves with “best of breed” labels. Be equally skeptical and prepared when you see these terms thrown around:

We’re on the Internet, and just about anything is capable of distracting us. And with all that oversaturation of content and products, there’s an oversaturation of features that are immediately appealing, but won’t provide much value in the long run. How many “industry leaders” are there? Who really provides the “best ROI”? What exactly makes something “world class”?

Document management systems are no different: most services will throw out buzzwords to trigger your survival instincts and reel you in and get you invested in a product that doesn’t provide you with what you really need – for all you know, you might not even need document management!

These are generalities, but my most successful clients that implement DMS are focused on optimizing workflow, records retention, dealing with an incredibly high volume of time-sensitive documents, and security. If you're looking to buy document management services, and a prospective SaaS vendor offers any of these features, take a step back and reevaluate how they align with your priorities

Imagine you’ve just signed the lease on a new home. And not just a new home, a better one. Nicer location, bigger space, better school system, immaculate golf course around the corner. It’s all right within your reach.

And then you realize: you have to move things. Everything. Where do you even start?

The hardest part is always getting started. Our clients take a giant leap in the right direction when they adopt a document management system, but often don’t know what to do to set it in motion.

If you have a ton of different types of documents floating around, different versions, duplicates, etc., all haphazardly saved in the moment and spread across multiple folders (and sometimes multiple users), you need to know the best practices to maximizing the value of your DMS. Take these document management tips with you:

You’ve probably been through this at least once: a company spends a lot of energy telling you about all the benefits its services offer, and you convert to a customer.

Then you come across a technical error, or you have a question, or you need access to some important info.

But when you contact them, they make you wait, they run through a script, they make you wait some more, they refer you to a bunch of different places and they come back with just enough of an answer to calm you down until the problem inevitably rears its head again.

As the old adage goes, “There are two rules for success in life—Rule 1: Don't tell people everything you know. Rule 2: …” However, I know that document management isn’t as simple as some people would assume it is, and I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t pass along the knowledge to get a consistent system up and running. And consistency is key to an effective document management system. Consider this a miniature document management consultation.

If you’re still keeping your papers and records in file cabinets and shared hard drives, chances are you’ve kept it that way because it’s the status quo. It’s the only method you know, and it seems to work just fine. One of the most dangerous things about the status quo, however, is that you grow accustomed to the untold amounts of money and time you’re losing.

One of the key recurring questions I hear from people trying to figure out how to organize their files is: “What exactly is document management?” and it’s often followed by, “Isn’t that just DropBox with more features?”

Technically, you can absolutely use DropBox (along with Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc.) to backup and store your documents. It’s a fair question, but it’s rooted in a consumer context; not a corporate context. If you want to make sure your personal photos, videos, music, and documents are safe and sound, you don’t really need a DMS. You can create and organize an intricate system of folders on any cloud storage platform.

Every organization needs a document management strategy. Having one:

• Improves access to information
• Reduces operating costs
• Diminishes litigation risk
• Protects critical information

If your organization doesn’t have one, it’s time you considered developing one. Not having one puts your organization at an unnecessary risk and decreases overall efficiency. Luckily, we’ve laid out everything you need to get started with yours.