How Can Small Businesses Benefit from Document Workflow Automation?
How Can Small Businesses Benefit from Document Workflow Automation?
Finding and sorting through a large stack of papers can be a time-consuming and tiresome chore.
In a world that is increasingly digitizing and a business landscape that is continuously evolving, levels of precision and efficiency are required that traditional paper-based document management cannot provide.
Thanks to document workflow automation, a task that could typically take you minutes, can now be done in a few seconds.
According to WorkMarket, 54% of employees believe they could save up to 240 hours annually through document handling automation.
With additional perks such as providing seamless operations, workflow automation systems have become a necessity, rather than a luxury for most enterprises in 2023.
Read on to find out how investing in a document workflow automation system can improve the efficiency of your record-keeping process.
1. Greater Accessibility
Imagine having to leave your office every time you need to access a document from your company’s file storage.
Or perusing through hundreds of papers to find a specific document.
The process can be extremely tedious and time-consuming. Additionally, this old filing system does not provide flexibility, chaining you to your workstation.
With mobile-responsive document handling automation, you and your employees can access any work document from anywhere and at any time.
It also makes finding specific documents in a pool of files easier. This not only saves you time but ensures you have an organized document storage system.
It is worth noting that shifting to a cloud-based document workflow system allows you to digitize your vital documents.
And with everything going digital, it is only reasonable to do the same with your documents.
This means that you won't have to contend with laborious manual processes that could affect your revenue and profitability.
2. Sustainability
Besides the quality of products and services your enterprise provides, it will be held accountable for its overall conduct.
Achieving an eco-friendly business model is a good starting point, considering how the world is going crazy about sustainability.
Think about it: the more paper is used to print work documents the more trees are cut.
This may ultimately cause a strain on natural resources. The Florida Institute of Technology cites that about 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the United States.
Digitizing and keeping your records electronically will not only save paper but will also reduce the amount of trees cut down each year. Not to mention less energy use in printing papers and lower toxicity emissions.
In the end, you will be making a bold eco-friendly statement, which will be wonderful PR for you.
A win-win situation if you ask me.
3. Enhanced Collaboration
A major challenge that arises with traditional manual document handling is version control.
It can be difficult to monitor modifications on a document and ensure that everyone is working on the current version. Similarly, making changes to a document and sharing it with team members can be quite a task when using papers.
This is where workflow automation comes in, to streamline and improve collaborations.
Document automation systems ensure that everyone has a similar document even after multiple modifications.
This way, a document can be accessed by everyone and all changes made by each person tracked. Because of the nature of automated document management, employees can work collaboratively from anywhere.
This is particularly handy for remote employees.
4. Cut Costs and Saves Time
Who wants to spend nearly half their working hours trying to locate a document in a pile of files?
Such sluggish tasks can result in you falling behind.
And as an adage goes, time is money, time wasted on such manual processes may affect the overall productivity of your company.
This is not to mention that your company has to constantly budget for printing and storing facilities which can be expensive.
Luckily, with a document automation system, you can cut on these unnecessary costs while saving time to focus on increasing productivity and profits.
Like any other investment, a document automation system will involve an initial investment, however, you will notice substantial cost savings in the long term.
You will cut labor costs, minimize errors that may be expensive to rectify and allocate more resources to other departments that may need it.
5. Improved Document Security
It goes without saying that your documents are safer stored electronically in the cloud, than in boxes and stuffed in a room.
Traditional storing of documents leaves them prone to damage from mold, fire, rain, and rodents. This is not to mention that they can easily fall into the wrong hands leaking confidential information.
You probably don’t want that.
Implementing document workflow management automation into your business ensures that your documents are safe. This system allows you to control access to documents on a folders basis.
You can easily restrict and allow access to individual employees.
Additionally, a document management system is able to produce an audit trail, which can monitor who read a document, when it was accessed, and when and if it has been modified.
Conclusion
For some companies, the traditional paper-based document management system has worked just fine, but you cannot ignore its numerous setbacks.
A poorly organized document management system poses security risks, wastes time, is expensive, and hinders unparalleled workflow.
Implementing an efficient document workflow automation system that leverages cloud technologies into your company provides immense operational benefits, from efficiency to enhanced collaboration.
With all your electronic documents organized in the cloud, they can be easily accessed, ensuring that workflow is more efficient. For all your document management needs, you can try an already-tested document workflow automation solution like Adlib.
