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What is Document Management?
Home » Enterprise Software » Document Management » What is Document Management?Documents must be managed. Every document, even junk mail is managed in one way or another, even if it is read and tossed in the trash. Failure to act on a document by reading it or filing it is poor document management. Poor document management leads to lost opportunities and loss of revenue when important forms, letters, receipts, and contracts are not handled in an efficient and effective manner.
Document management is the use of technology to maintain better document control, to retain documents better through scanning, OCR technology, and digital storage. A filing cabinet is a crude form of document management, and when a small company is diligent in filing papers correctly every time, in a manner that makes them searchable in the future, that filing cabinet can be an effective document management tool. However, it doesn’t take long for a small business to outgrow the file cabinet stage and move directly into the world of digital document management.
When it is necessary to retain large numbers of documents over time, it soon becomes necessary to maintain many records that formerly would be retained in their original paper format, but in a new, digital format that is both searchable and alterable. When hundreds of documents accumulate in a business in the course of a single month, that business should consider the possibility that they need to incorporate a better document management strategy. No longer will filing and keeping copies of all original documents be efficient.
Document management is designed to make office life easier, but if your business is beginning a new document strategy, it may get bumpier before it gets better. Figuring out which documents must be scanned and retained digitally is only part of the equation. It is also necessary to keep up with email agreements, digital photos, and other digital documents. Document management is not just about turning paper documents into digital documents. It is also about retaining and finding existing digital documents within the existing system.
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