For any organization, be it banking or large enterprises, documents are very significant and have to be dealt with effectively. The pile of physical paperwork can be badly frustrating, resulting in misplaced files, disorganization, and inefficiency.
It is here that the EDMS comes into play, revolutionizing the way that businesses store, manage, and retrieve their documents. Whether yours is a small business or a large corporation, it is very important to understand how an EDMS manages to simplify the cycle of enterprise functions in order to enhance productivity and security.
This tutorial will lead you through what you will perceive as key advantages of an EDMS, showing how EDMS facilitates the searching and retrieval by describing features to look for, the major types of EDMSs available, and giving some advice concerning the selection of an appropriate EDMS for your organization.
The main advantages of using an EDMS
The core purpose of an EDMS is to centralize document management by digitizing, storing, and organizing documents. The whole concept of DMS has many benefits for any industry:
Efficiency and time-saving: One of the most notable benefits of an EDMS is that it saves time. Employees no longer need to manually sift through stacks of paper or multiple file folders to find what they need. Digital documents are stored in a centralized system, accessible in seconds through a quick search.
Cost reduction: By reducing the requirement for physical storage facilities, such as filing cabinets, paper, and ink, an organization is able to reduce many operation-related expenses. Moreover, with increased work speeds, less employee time is required to manage documents, which can be utilized in other essential areas of work.
Enhanced security: Paper documents easily get misplaced, stolen, or destroyed. An EDMS provides high-level security across the enterprise with features like encryption, access controls, and audit trails that put your sensitive documents in front of authorized eyes only, safeguarding your critical data.
How does an EDMS improve the search and retrieval of documents?
One of the major pain points in document management is the difficulty of finding specific information in a timely manner. A robust EDMS solves this by optimizing the search and retrieval process.
Metadata and indexing
EDMS allows users to assign metadata (e.g., tags, keywords, author, creation date) to documents, making them easier to search for and retrieve. Instead of relying on file names or folders, metadata enhances the search capabilities by allowing users to filter through multiple criteria.
Full-text search
Full-text search capabilities are also provided by many EDMS systems, wherein they peer inside the complete text of a document for keywords or phrases. This is quite useful when long documents, such as contracts or researchpapers, are being searched, wherein the title or metadata does not include the information that is sought.
Quick retrieval from multiple locations
Whether stored in the cloud or on local servers, an EDMS centralizes document access. Workers aren't required to switch between several platforms or locations to find what they need; the system pulls information from all storage points.
Version control
An EDMS creates the conditions whereby the users are always working with the most recent version of any document. It does this by regulating any confusion brought about by the use of copies. The system keeps tabs on changes, stores previous versions of documents, and allows the users to revert to any of its earlier iterations when they feel so.
Key features of electronic document management systems
When evaluating different EDMS options, it’s important to look for key features that ensure efficient document management. These include:
User-friendly interface: This will make the system very easy to understand and use immediately, by making it intuitive so that employees get used to the system in the shortest time possible.
Integration with other tools: Their compatibility or assimilation with other software tools that your organization uses, which involve CRM, ERP, or setting up email systems, is crucial.
Document scanning and OCR: The general expectation from any EDMS is to have strong scanning features combined with OCR capabilities for converting scanned documents into fully searchable and completely editable text.
Mobile accessibility: With the growing trend of remote work, having a mobile-friendly EDMS is vital. It allows employees to access, upload, and edit documents from their smartphones or tablets.
Security features: Look for features such as role-based access control, encryption, and secure sharing options to protect sensitive information.
What are the main types of EDMS?
There are different types of EDMS available, each catering to specific organizational needs:
1. On-premise EDMS
This type of EDMS is located on your organizational servers. You have full control over the system and data within but with the added care for its security and hardware updation. On-premises EDMS will suit those organizations that deal with very sensitive pieces of information, required to take stringent security policies into consideration.
2. Cloud-based EDMS
Cloud-based EDMS stores the documents on third-party servers, usually over the Internet. This solution is scalable, very low maintenance, and accessible remotely. This is a solution that will ideally suit businesses needing flexibility, trying to reduce the upfront cost associated with it, or whose workforce goes mobile.
3. Hybrid EDMS
Hybrid EDMS represents the ultimate of both on-premise and cloud-based systems combined. This means that it will enable an organization to store the most sensitive documents on-premise while the non-critical files use the cloud services. It's flexible and thus allows companies to tailor their document management strategy based on the nature of the data they handle.
4. Industry-specific EDMS
For instance, an EDMS meant for such industries as healthcare or legal may need industry-specific customizations with preloaded special tools for document management in accordance with the regulations of those sectors.
How do you choose the right EDMS for your organization?
Identify precisely what problems you want to solve with the EDMS you're selecting for your organization.
Examples might be that it will make document searches faster or reduce clutter. Still, some thought is to be given to your needs in the future, the system should grow with your business.
When it comes to the time to decide on an EDMS for your organization, KORTO should be your go-to. KORTO will be a secure anchor for recordmanagement ensuring that compliance is realized smoothly and with no disruption.
If it is integrated with a system like Microsoft SharePoint, KORTO will be able to understand document metadata and convert it into record classification, further enhancing organization through AI-driven categorizations.
