1. Guidelines on Choosing the Right Document Management
System
Selecting the correct document management system for your
business is a critical decision. Whether you want a better way
to manage your files or simply looking to go paperless,
remember the right choice can make or break your business.
If you have employees who spend a major portion of their
day retrieving and filing documents, or you may be renting a
warehouse to store all your old records and business files
then investing in document management software is a good
idea. Rather than spending to rent space to store files you
can invest in an online document management system, that
too at a much lower price and with greater benefits.
But before you get a system you should do a little bit of research. When you first start investigating your
options ensure that you are aware of the distinction between document management software and
document imaging systems. The fundamental difference between these two is that document imaging
systems are tools that help you convert paper records to electronic files and document management
software are tools that help you manage electronic files. In your search for the best online document
management application you will come up with innumerable choices but don’t get swayed by their
marketing lingo.
First you should be aware of how your process works and what content is involved and then you can
start looking for technology that will help accelerate these processes. Now decide who will be in charge
of evaluating the document management system. Usually, for this task most companies rely on their
System Support Technicians/Records Management/Subject Matter Experts/Management people.
Next is setting up the evaluation criteria. For this you can create a spreadsheet or a template including
the things you are looking for. Whichever document records management system you choose should
either match with your expectations or exceed them, never compromise. Some of the things that you
can consider while evaluating different vendors are:
The company's background
Do their products follow industry standards?
The market size for the product
Can solid references be obtained for the company in question?
Financial Stability of the company in question
How long they have been in the business of providing document management systems?
Last is final evaluation. Analyze the data you have gathered and filter out the ones that are not matching
your expectations. From the remaining vendors analyze the features of their product. See what features
are most important to your organization and accordingly add values. Once completed you should be
able to decide. The right system will completely transform your business so before selecting make sure
to do some research.