While document management solutions on the market today deliver a host of benefits related to efficiency and productivity to businesses of all sizes and in all industries, many misconceptions about the technology still remain. Below are five document management myths, along with some helpful insight to help dispel these common misunderstandings.
[As is the case with our 8 things series, the opinions expressed in the 5 myths guest columns are those of the guest contributor and not necessarily mine or AIIM's. This guest post is by Greg Milliken, president of M-Files. As usual, contra perspectives welcome.]
Myth #1: Companies must choose either a cloud-based OR an on-premise document management deployment.
Reality: The cloud offers businesses new options and flexibility related to deploying technology, but on-premise software solutions are still the dominant deployment model and continue to offer important benefits. However, it’s possible to get the best of both worlds. Organizations can leverage their existing on-premise technology investments AND take advantage of cloud-based solutions that augment current systems, and do so without significant capital investment and incremental resources to support it. In fact, GigaOM notes that 60% of businesses plan to implement a hybrid cloud model, combining cloud and on-premise deployments.
Myth #2: Companies in regulated industries require expensive and complex solutions to ensure compliance.
Reality: Highly-configurable and affordable document management solutions exist that can be easily and quickly customized to meet legislative mandates and regulatory requirements. This is particularly important for organizations that must manage documents and records in a specific manner to ensure compliance with regulations and standards such as ISO for Quality Management Systems in manufacturing and other industries, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EU GMP Annex 11 related to electronic records and signatures in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries (i.e., medical devices, biotechnology, etc.), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the medical/healthcare sector, and Sarbanes-Oxley in the accounting and financial services space.
By maintaining a detailed audit trail of all document activity, securely tracking activity by individual, and supporting electronic signatures, a configurable and easy-to-use document management solution can provide the controls necessary for companies to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations, while simplifying the implementation and ongoing administration of the solution and saving a lot of money.
Myth #3: Document management systems are designed for large companies -- not small businesses.
Reality: Document management systems have historically been expensive, complicated products that require extensive IT services and support, which generally made them inaccessible to small businesses. As a result, many smaller companies still employ archaic processes for managing their documentation and related processes, which inevitably leads to loss of data, productivity, and most importantly, money.
However, document management offerings designed specifically for small-to-mid-sized companies are now available. These solutions provide fast and easy access to crucial information and empowers small businesses to promptly address the needs of demanding customers. With a reasonable price point and straightforward implementation, especially when considering cloud-based options, small businesses can now reap the same benefits associated with professional document management that used to be only reserved for larger organizations.
Myth #4: Implementing a document management system requires a significant investment in new user training.
Reality: The successful adoption of ANY new system is largely based on how easy or difficult it is for users to learn it and incorporate it into how they already work on a daily basis. If new users must spend significant amounts of time learning a complex new system, or even one that forces them to change the way they work, they will perceive it as hindering rather than improving productivity and they will go out of their way to find a way to work around the system. Document management implementations with the highest user adoption and satisfaction rates are those that do not require workers to significantly change how they already work. A recent AIIM blog post also touches on this issue: It’s the Users … An Old Story Repeated Many Times. Like the New York Yankee great, Yogi Berra, said, “It’s Déjà vu all over again.”
The good news is that there are document management solutions on the market today that are easy to deploy, easy to use, and easy to train new users on because they are based on familiar interfaces and platforms that many employees already use.
Myth #5: Document management systems are difficult to integrate with other core business applications.
Reality: Most companies utilize accounting/financial management, CRM and/or ERP systems to help them manage financial, operational, sales & marketing and other administrative tasks and activities. Despite the fact that documents are a critical component of most business processes, these systems are not designed to manage documents. As a result, document management inefficiencies significantly limit the effectiveness of these systems and their resulting ROI.
A bi-directional connection between a core business application and a document management system enables fast access to related documents directly from within that application, and is actually quite straightforward to implement if the document management system provides the necessary interfaces. In this case, it can be easily implemented with simple SQL statements or web services in a couple of hours. When integrated with ERP, CRM, accounting, etc. applications – and accessible across the company, including sales, HR, marketing, accounting and more – organizations can reach their full business productivity potential by linking important documents to associated records within each application, dramatically increasing the ROI of all systems.
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About the Author: Greg Milliken is the president of M-Files Inc., the developer of M-Files professional document management software and the cloud-based document management service M-Files Cloud Vault. For more information, visit www.m-files.com.
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