In today’s business world, time is a tremendously valuable resource, and efficient use of time by employees is essential in determining the overall productivity of a business. When valuable time is wasted in searching through drawers and file cabinets for elusive paper documents, frustration—and markedly diminished productivity—ensues. Market research firm International Data Corporation estimates that “the typical enterprise with 1,000 knowledge workers wastes $2.5 million to $3.5 million per year searching for nonexistent information, failing to find existing information, or recreating information that can’t be found”1. More startling statistics come from professional services network Coopers & Lybrand. “90% of corporate memory exists on paper”; “of all the pages that get handled each day in the average office, 90% are merely shuffled”; and “professionals spend 5-15% of their time reading information, but up to 50% looking for it”.
Switching from a paper-based to electronic document management system (EDMS), then, can yield a variety of benefits for a business’s efficiency and productivity. Such a system not only replaces paper files, but also compiles a secure, easy-to-access repository of electronic documents that can be sent through the same workflow as paper documents. The return on investment (ROI) of such a system comes in the form of time saved by employees—time that can then be used on more productive tasks—which enhances efficiency and productivity, resulting in better progress and greater gains for dollars spent within a business. But how can a business maximize the ROI from an EDMS?
In seeking to yield the greatest possible returns from an EDMS, a business must consider where its employees spend most of their time and which of its practices can be best streamlined by automation. When making decisions about what practices ought to be automated, a business should prioritize important, everyday processes that require little human touch over practices that might require greater involvement from employees. This will free up valuable time for employees to spend on more specialized and demanding activities. Practices such as processing sales orders and gathering documents for approval are appropriate for automation.
Just as a business should prioritize practices, it should also prioritize documents in the transition to an EDMS. When faced with a vast quantity of paper documents, the easiest solution may seem to be indexing all of these documents in the new electronic system. But this can lead to electronic clutter, in the same way that an overabundance of paper documents leads to physical clutter; transferring clutter from paper to electronic format defeats some of the purposes of electronic document management—organization and easy access. Ultimately, an EDMS will be more efficient and more rewarding if a business prioritizes its documents, indexing only those it needs and letting go of those that are not business-critical.
Thus, with proper prioritization, smart strategies, and a mind to maximize returns on its investment, a business can make the very most of its EDMS for optimal organization, efficiency, ease of access, and productivity.