The future of document management is tied to the evolution of digital technologies. In 1965, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, predicted that advances in technology would cause computing power to double every two years. This principle, known as Moore’s Law, has held true for over fifty years, demonstrating the incredible rate at which technology is becoming more and more powerful. Moore’s Law is unlikely to change any time soon; as we move through 2016, computing abilities continue to advance at an astounding pace. With the rapid evolution of digital technology, business practices are in a state of perpetual change, and the needs of businesses are evolving. Document management must rise to meet these needs.
What does the future of document management hold in store? Moore’s Law gives us some clues. Moore’s prediction can be applied not only to increases in processing power, but also to increases display capability, bandwidth, and storage per user. With these elements improving, the functions of document management systems will be enhanced dramatically. It seems safe to assume that as the DMS evolves, it will be able to handle more documents more efficiently, while carrying out a greater number of functions than ever before. As Tjeerd Brenninkmeijer points out in an enlightening article for CMSWire.com, the DMS platform that your business chooses will affect your business operations for up to ten years in the future. By choosing the right platform, you ensure that your DMS will be conducive to the technological changes of the future, maximizing your efficiency and ROI. For this reason, it is crucial that you and other key players in your business are farsighted and deliberate in making your selection.
Because business content is residing more and more in web environments, Brenninkmeijer explains, connections between DMS and web content management systems will be an essential factor in the future of document management. The DMS of the future will be more flexible and more agile, capable of evolving to accommodate the changing needs of business. Additionally, the DMS of the future must have more sophisticated search functions, driven by rapid increases in the volume of documents; 36 percent of a typical knowledge worker’s day spent searching for information, and only 56 percent of the time do these searches yield the correct information.
Sensitivity to context will also be of great importance to the future of document management. Authorization protocols will have to be sensitive to the nuance of circumstances, so that access to crucial information is possible in dire situations. Increased automation of DMS processes should facilitate collaboration between document management businesses and their customers, as well as increased access to external documents. With more intelligent automation, greater context-awareness, more sophisticated searches, and greater flexibility, the future of document management looks bright.