A great article came out this month from the Credit Union Times, titled "5 Ways Document Management Can Improve Effiiciency" and WE LOVED IT. Our Office Systems Division has been spreading the good word about document management for a long time, so we wanted to share our insights into ways you can save time, money, and resources. One thing they uncover time and time again - organizations that need document management solutions often don't even know they do!
You know about Document Management. But do you know what Enterprise Content Management is? The article gives a great definition from the Association of Information and Image Management: enterprise content management is a set of tools and methods that allow an organization to obtain, organize, store and deliver information crucial to its operation. Its objective is to streamline access, eliminate bottlenecks, optimize security, maintain integrity and minimize overhead.
Where should you start with your enterprise content management strategy? You need to be able to find all member information in one, easily accessible place. So, evaluating your system’s capabilities against evolving needs is the first step.
Here are more strategies, edited by the Office Systems Division:
1. ADD A DOCUMENT SCANNER TO EVERY WORKSTATION
This sounds like a great plan - reduce efficiency by giving everyone a scanner to work through paper on a constant basis. No stacks to scan in at the end of the day or whenever you get the burst of energy to get to the scanner. But what will that COST? Your institution may not be able to afford that many scanners. The good news is, adding QUALITY scanners to workstations or central hubs can help increase efficiency. A good scanner will have faster paper feed times, and higher amounts of paper fed at once.
2. AVOID PRINTING
We're going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are scanning in documents to ELIMINATE paper, right? So why would you PRINT MORE PAPER? You're already doing the right thing by developing a strategy, so stay on course and share those scanned in documents electronically! If you need a good way to organize those documents in a database, look no further - we have software solutions for you.
3. PROMOTE TRAINING AND DOCUMENTATION
Scanners are not toys. Even if it was a toy, it would come with a nice set of instructions, warnings, and protocols. So make sure you give your employees a good set of instructions on how to use the scanner, handle the documents scanned, and the electronic files that have been scanned in. Different employees in different areas of your organization may need different instructions - so just make sure that everyone knows what they're doing.
4. MAKE IT EASY FOR EVERYONE TO ACCESS INFORMATION
You gave the right employees the right instructions - but does everyone else know how to access all the great information you've scanned in? Unless they do, you're looking at a lot of efficiency problems. Be more efficient by using a database. It will keep your institution organized and happy.
5. CONSOLIDATE YOUR DOCUMENTATION
We know that you still need paper. Internal applications and procedures, external member information and financial documents- there's a lot that still comes in as paper and needs to be physically filed or saved at least for a certain period of time. If your institution is bogged down by all the paper, or you're just ready for a better way to deal with it, you need a better filing system. From movable filing and rotary filing, to cabinets and shelving, there is a solutions for you - and the good news is we can help you! Having an established filing system can reduce the amount of space needed for paper, and increase your efficiency with better organization.
