Clutter is depressing. In an office, it can drive down productivity and employee morale. Fortunately, there’s one straightforward and easy-to-implement solution to reduce the amount of clutter in an office – a document management system (DMS).
Most of the clutter in an office is a result of paperwork. Whether it’s filing cabinets full of invoices that haven’t seen the light of day in a decade or piles of paper reams and toner cartridges, these supplies collect dust and sap an office of its energy.
A document management system can significantly reduce the amount of paperwork in an office – and therefore cuts down clutter.
5 Reasons Why Every Office Needs a DMS
Any Enterprise Content Services (ECS) platform worth its salt includes DMS. DMS is a software application that helps companies reduce the amount of paper-based processes they have in their office. By digitizing and automating these processes, a company can enjoy the ease of management and efficiency created by electronically stored documents. For companies looking into business office organization ideas, a DMS is a fantastic first step that declutters an office while helping companies adopt more digital tools to stay modern. DMS helps:
1. Reduce Reliance on Filing Cabinets
Filing cabinets have long been the status quo in an office. However, they’re also time-consuming to manage, and documents tend to pile up on top of them until it becomes unwieldy. As a manual chore, they’re prone to misfiling. Plus, they have a habit of taking up valuable real estate that could be used for other more high-impact business processes.
A DMS can help break an office’s dependence on filing cabinets. By digitizing documents and putting them into electronic filing systems with automated workflows, employees can enjoy less office clutter and easier access to the information they need to do their job.
2. Digitize Important Documents
Think paper documents are safe? Think again. A piece of paper is not just easy to lose but easy to destroy. Between coffee spills accidental shredding, , or documents that disappear, there’s a lot that can happen to that information being protected from the “dangers” of the digital environment.
A single copy of a physical document is one of the most dangerous ways to secure valuable information. However, multiple copies mean more printing and more paper floating around the office. Instead, use a DMS to digitize relevant documents, keeping them securely stashed where they’re in reach and searchable if there’s ever a need.
3. Cut Back on the Printing
One of the key reasons that many companies turn to document management services is to reduce their reliance on their printers. Printing is a major expense for most offices, which the IDC once found could cost as much as three percent of a company’s total annual revenue. Likewise, printers and supplies take up a tremendous amount of space.
According to the EPA, the average office worker prints an estimated 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. That’s 20 reams of paper being added to an office environment per employee. Imagine if it was possible to reduce that. A DMS helps companies leverage digital tools for document management and manipulation to ensure that only what needs to get printed is printed.
4. Eliminate “Just in Case” Document-Related Items
It’s good to be prepared, but is it necessary to hang onto that backup fax machine, that tangle of random power cords or that hoard of cyan cartridges that were purchased because they were on sale? “Just in case” items tend to creep into an office because they seem like a good idea at the time. However, as time goes on, they also tend to collect dust.
Quit the habit of hoarding “just in case” and switch to an electronic DMS. When document processes are digitized, things like backup fax machines are no longer necessary, and the office gets to use that space for usable supplies.
5. Store Backups Offsite
Unlike excess supplies, sometimes clutter consists of handy items – backups are one of those items. While it’s best practice to backup documents and important paperwork, a DMS can help make those backups even more secure.
Offsite backups are much more secure from a security and disaster planning perspective. If something happens to the office or its computers, such as a cyberattack or a fire, offsite backups securely stored in the cloud can still be accessible from another location. Therefore, choose a DMS to eliminate the clutter of backups stored in the office itself, and enjoy another layer of security.
Eliminate Clutter with a DMS
Documents & data are the lifeblood of a business, but they can also be a tremendous source of clutter. A DMS helps relieve this problem by digitizing documents and automating the processes that help them move through a company. Enjoy a cleaner office, faster document processes, and more security by choosing a reliable document or enterprise content system to manage the office paperwork.
ImageNet Consulting helps companies achieve operational efficiency with the right tools and strategies to power a modern office. Contact us today to discuss the best way to store documents in your office.