Benefits of Digital Document Management
Digital document management is a surprisingly simple concept. It involves the conversion of paper documents into image files that are stored in an electronic repository. Because all the files are in one location, it is possible to find needed information in mere seconds. Document management systems can be used for a single person’s documents or an entire company’s document system. Managing documents is an important aspect of almost any company. Paper documents and filing systems are disorganized and messy but document imaging can help companies to find digital versions of all paper documents quickly and easily. In addition, it is often viewed as a component of enterprise content management (ECM) systems. Paper documents can be scanned into the computer and, using optical character recognition capabilities, the typewritten content can be fully editable and searchable. In addition, combining documents with e-mail messages can make it very easy to organize information as well as share important information throughout a company.
Digital content management can be seen as a digital filing cabinet. Nearly all Americans have big bulky filing cabinets filled with important documents. Most of these people would certainly benefit from putting these documents into an internet filing system. Not only will this reduce the need to search through papers and files, but one can actually search for a specific word or clause in one of their documents! This makes one wonder why everyone hasn’t switched to digital content management. In addition, many document management systems go hand in hand with personal storage and backup services as well as web-based groupware, e-mail, mailing lists, word processing programs or spreadsheet programs. This component of document management software is Personal Knowledge Management. It seems odd that there would be a program to organize one’s own knowledge; however, most Americans are so busy that they need their “knowledge” stored on a system to pull up information when they need it. Personal Knowledge Management is defined as a collection of processes that an individual carries out to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve and share knowledge in his or her daily activities and how these processes support work activities.
Although it is a great way to organize one’s information, document management solutions are not for everyone. Some companies are concerned about personal information being available for everyone. Important data is usually protected by a password but the information is still on a public system. The password can be easily shared and information readily available for anyone. This is especially relevant in the healthcare industry where confidential patient information can be available for an entire office. There are some things that need to be worked out in the document management industry, but overall it is very beneficial for any companies and can reduce disorganization along with paper waste!
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