How Document Management Gives Your Business a Competitive Edge

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Although most companies have made the transition into the digital age, some are still stuck in time-consuming paper-based processes. Many tasks and paperwork fall through the cracks with this system. With a digital solution, such as document management, the level of issues decrease significantly. Document management is a form of digital automation in which an organization can store, track, and manage all documents electronically via the computer system and software. A system such as this can give your businesses in Des Moines a competitive edge.

  • Reduce costs – Paper is costly. By getting rid of a paper storage system and implementing a document management system, you are saving a significant amount of money that can be put toward a more intelligent investment.
  • Increase efficiency – By saving money, clearing out the old paperwork, and freeing up the physical act of managing a paper storage system, your business will see increased efficiency. Digital document management allows for a more streamlined workflow and gets tasks completed quicker.
  • High level of compliance – With a digital system, you will have more control over the security of sensitive documents. You can set up rules and passwords to ensure that only the approved sets of eyes will have access to such files. All data will also be saved off-site so that the risk of losing any sensitive files are minimal.
  • Long-term security – Document management can also be seen as a safeguard against an unexpected disaster scenario. In the event of a flood or hurricane, you will have the peace of mind to know that all of your files are safely stored electronically. There is no risk of having them damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster.
  • Growth opportunities – Since most businesses have adopted document management in Des Moines, it is essential to stay ahead of the pack. With this storage system, you have the employment appeal of new, high-level, tech-savvy staff members. This system can be used across all departments of an organization, from human resources to marketing to finance. You more likely attract the right sort of employees by staying ahead of the virtual curve.

Learn More About Document Management in Des Moines

If you are looking to implement a document management system for your organization, contact Infomax Office Systems today. We would be happy to answer any questions you might have and give you more insight into how document management can improve your business.

Creating a Document Management System for Your Small Business

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A document management system will track, manage, and store all of your documents in an effort to streamline your business processes and reduce the amount of paper in your office. Creating and implementing a document management system is essential to efficiency in the modern small business. Let’s take a look at how to best go about adopting a document management system that will fit the needs of your company and seamlessly integrating it into your workflows. Read more

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Gain a Competitive Advantage with Document Management

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Companies are always in search of the latest feature or killer app that gives them a clear advantage over their competitors. The ongoing shift from paper to digital is one such advantage that many companies are implementing. Digital document management offers companies a way to shift from paper-intensive processes to faster and more efficient digital processes.

The following describes how document management can give your company the competitive edge it needs to survive in today’s business climate.

Improvement in Productivity

Whether it involves searching for crucial documents or filling out forms, utilizing paper-based processes can prove costly in terms of time and cost. Transitioning to a digital document management solution paves the way for faster searches, live auditing capabilities, and automated workflows that ultimately improves productivity for employees.

Increased in Security

Paper documents are easy to lose track of and difficult to dispose of when needed. Achieving compliance with paper documents can also be difficult, making a digital solution the best option for your business’s compliance and archival efforts. With automated file retention, fine-tuned permissions controls, controls against malware and other malicious activity, and accurate auditing capabilities, digital document management provides a secure means of completing critical workflows.

Enhanced Employee Collaboration

Today’s employees are no longer tied to their desks. Instead, you can find them using the latest improvements in mobile technology to work outside of the office. With a highly mobile workforce, collaboration via paper can prove time-consuming and inefficient.

A well-designed document management solution enables seamless collaboration. Employees can securely share, edit, and finalize project files, with the option to audit and roll back changes as needed. Teams can work together on crucial projects from virtually any location without worrying about document access.

Expansion in Profitability

A surprising number of companies are still heavily vested in paper document storage, spending billions of dollars each year on on-premises and off-site document storage solutions. Digital document management offers a way for companies to eliminate those costs by shifting their storage needs from the physical to the digital realm. By taking advantage of digital alternatives, companies can free up physical storage space, reduce off-site storage expenses, and add further value to their bottom line.

Get in touch with Infomax to learn more about how digital document management can work for your company.

Make Your Forms Paperless with Document Management

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Every business—no matter the industry—deals with its fair share of forms on a regular basis. Purchase orders, invoices, HR forms, sales contracts, and expense reports are just some of the forms that are part of our workflows. Document management can help organizations streamline their processes into a paperless approach that will improve customer service, increase efficiency, and optimize the experience of the end user.

The many benefits of paperless forms technology
By turning to a document management solution, the hassle of dealing with paper forms is completely eliminated from your workplace. Web-based forms are perfect for instantly capturing information and pushing that data to your back-end business applications. The distribution of HR forms is a great example of how web-based forms can make life easier for your employees. Timecards, benefit elections, and reviews can easily be completed online and distributed with a few clicks of the mouse.
Purchase orders can also be completed through a web-based platform. This streamlined workflow makes it easier to process approval requests and will help ensure your accounts payable department is always in control of your company’s spending.

Eliminate headaches for your customers
Paperless forms simplify tasks for your customers. The convenience and simplicity of web-based forms allows your clients to complete forms online without jumping through hoops. There’s no longer a need for them to print, mail, or fax in information. The hassle-free experience of completing a web-based form will make your customers more likely to collaborate with your business.

The power of an electronic signature
Many businesses are hesitant to go paperless for the fear of losing the all-important signature. Fortunately, with modern document management technology, obtaining an electronic signature is easier than ever. E-signature technology can be easily integrated into your forms to allow authorized users to sign off on any necessary digital documents.

Document management enables you to experience a whole new way of conducting business through paperless forms. Contact Infomax Office Solutions today to learn how this revolutionary technology can be implemented into your business.

Go Paperless with Document Management

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With today’s advancements in office technology, going paperless is now easier than ever. In addition to the simplicity of a paperless approach, it’s an affordable option with benefits that no business can pass up. By digitizing your documents, document management will drastically improve your daily workflows while cutting your costs.

Let’s take a closer look at how going paperless can positively affect your business.

Cut your costs
The impact document management has on the ‘bottom line’ is the driving factor behind many of the decisions that a company makes. Fortunately, going paperless is an easy decision to make when you realize it results in reducing costs. Locating and processing your documents will be significantly faster, reducing your operating and labor costs. Your printer, ink, and toner needs will also decrease, saving you money on all of those costly maintenance fees.

Save time and space
Document management provides businesses with the ability to quickly locate and process documents. Using indexing and search functions, employees can quickly track down documents without sifting through boxes of paperwork. No more bulky file cabinets and shelving units to store all of that paperwork. Everything can be easily archived electronically, streamlining your document storage into one online location for all authorized users to access at will.

Secure your documents and minimize risk
With document access controls, you can be sure to protect the critical assets that make up your business. Your business will have full control over what documents can be accessed by particular individuals through user permissions and access rights. These security features are included on mobile devices as well, maintaining security while your employees are on the go.

Go green for our environment
There’s no question that going paperless will reduce costs and optimize workflows. An added benefit of this approach is the positive effect it will have on the environment. Today, more than ever, businesses across the county are going green to reduce their environmental impact. With less need for ink, toner cartridges, and other printing supplies, a paperless office reduces waste that will burden our landfills and potentially harm the environment.

For more information on how to go paperless in your workplace, contact Infomax Business Systems today to learn about our document management solution.

The Link between Document Management and a Green Office

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It’s true that little changes add up, but reusable mugs and water bottles only take you so far. The best way to lessen your environmental impact, particularly when it comes to your company, is to go for a major business component revamp—like transitioning from paper to electronic document management. Read on to learn about the link between document management and a green office.

Paper Loses Purpose
With an electronic document management system, you no longer need to print every piece of information—in most cases, sharing and collaborating is simple and friction-free. You can share, email, review, and even sign digital documents in a centralized system. Document management eliminates the need to print separate copies for every department; you can all work from one central, up-to-date file.

Raw Material Madness
You’d be astounded at the amount of raw material you conserve when you move to digital document management. Less printing means less toner used and fewer cartridges manufactured. When you consider that manufacturing a single toner cartridge requires three liters of oil, it’s clear that curbing your printing habits can have a major impact. Your local landfill will thank you, too.

Storage Strategies
Document management can completely transform how you deal with documents once they’re out of primary circulation. It’s true that compliance regulations necessitate some hardcopy files, but it’s important to examine how much of what you’re printing and storing is actually required. Instead of dozens of cabinets filled with paper files (the vast majority of which will never be accessed again), you can store your documents on a tiny hard drive.

Poisonous Power
Until we’re running on 100 percent clean and renewable energy, more office equipment means faster draining of limited resources and the release of toxic pollutants. When you manage your documents digitally, you can cut back on the machinery required to run an office smoothly. Cut back on wattage by eliminating printers, reducing copiers, and consolidating multiple devices—like printers, scanners, copiers, and faxes—into a single machine. You will use less power to keep your office humming and will need less energy to control your climate.

Document management is a powerful way to improve your company’s green credentials and lessen your impact on the environment. To learn more about the big benefits of document management, contact Infomax today.

Delete Duplicates with Forms Solutions Software

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When digitizing and automating business practices, it’s smart to start with cumbersome processes and major functions. You’ll get the best bang for your buck by optimizing these areas. Increase your operational efficiency by utilizing forms solutions software, a digital tool that will give you a great return on your investment.

Understanding Forms Solutions Software
Forms provide an easy way to capture consistent information, and their standardized format helps ensure that records are complete. Forms Solutions Software generates forms in digital format only, but with the look and general experience of paper forms.

Forms Solutions Software vs. Electronic Document Management
Both Forms Solutions Software and Electronic Document Managment (EDM) support electronic capture of data to maximize efficiency. Both rely on the automation of standard processes to improve productivity. However, EDM typically starts with physical paper, and digitizing documents usually involves manual data entry or scanning. With Forms Solutions, meanwhile, you skip the paper entirely, capturing data directly as it is entered into a computer-based form.

Deleting Duplication
● Data capture — With direct input into the computer or device, Forms Solutions require no extra data entry and no Optical Character Recognition (OCR)—making it faster and less error-prone. Autofill functions save you time by completing standard fields, and mobile integration provides access anytime, anywhere. Employees can enter data while they’re on the go, from wherever they are.
● Workflow — You’re tired of emailing documents back and forth. Filing multiple cross-referenced copies of customer financial records is redundant and time-consuming. Forms Solutions automate and digitize your workflows, providing tagging, account association, routing, and notifications.
● Away from paper — In addition to data accuracy and workflow hassles, the financial and environmental costs of relying on paper forms is substantial. Shipping, handling, printing, storage, raw materials… they all cost you and your business. Forms Solutions, meanwhile, make your data easier to store and integrate into your Enterprise Resource Planning software.

If you’re tired of duplicating data entry and filing, stop juggling multiple copies and get started with Forms Solutions Software. This powerful tool still possesses the functionality of paper forms but includes all the benefits of instant digitization. Contact Infomax Office Systems to learn more.

4 Document Management Best Practices

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Document management is a powerful tool for removing excessive paper handling from your organization’s workflows. By keeping in mind the following best practices, you’ll reap the maximum benefit from your document management system.

1. Prioritize system automation  
Take a moment to look at your current operations and determine where you want to invest your time and energy. Is the productivity of one specific department at the top of the list? Or are client-facing processes your priority? Consider a customer service document search that currently takes up to 48 hours; utilizing digital document management for that process can change your business’ response time from days to minutes. Focus your automation efforts on the area or tasks that will make the biggest impact and go from there.

2. Rethink paper-based workflows 
When moving to digital document management, rethink your approach to the paper-based processes involved. With document automation, rules and algorithms can do much of the work that used to require human management. So, as you transition to document management, do more than just replicate your paper-based processes—redesign them. With some strategic thinking, document management software can transform your business workflows.

3. Index data strategically    
Indexing is about capturing the document information that your users and programs will interface with—keywords, client names, dates, and more. When selecting document data to index, make it practical and useful. How will your end users be looking up the document? Choose fields that frame documents in ways that make the most sense for your business, and you’ll avoid bogging down the indexing process.

4. Track key metrics 
This is a tree-falling-in-the-forest issue—you’ll only know how well document management is working for your business if you track the numbers. Understand what your goals are for digital document management, establish baselines with your current system, and track your progress toward these goals. With regular data reviews, you’ll learn exactly how much time is being saved by automating a given process, and whether or not you have further streamlining to do.

Document management can be transformative for your business, so be sure to follow these best practices to get the most out of your system. To learn more about document management, or for help optimizing your existing system, contact Infomax Office Systems today.

Document Management Can Help Green Your Business

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In the search for sustainability, it can often feel as though we have to choose between the planet and profits. Fortunately, new technologies are making environmentally friendly choices both smart and cost-effective. Document management is a perfect alignment of efficient technology and good corporate citizenship.

Whether the data you manage starts as digital assets or are scanned from paper originals, document management is about using software for the storage, searching, sharing, and tracking of business information.

Read on for a few ways document management systems can help your business go green while saving green.

Reduce printing needs – By going digital, your use of consumables like paper and toner can drop dramatically. Digital forms and customized routing of electronic documents eliminate the need for burdensome duplicate and triplicate forms and prevent the need for copies of copies for sharing purposes.  Document management can also reduce your carbon footprint and printing budget with the implementation of page caps for individual team members, ensuring your business is always printing smart.

Eliminate storage expenses – With document management, piles of paper are turned into streams of ones and zeroes—the language of computers. Instead of filling costly office space with rows of file cabinets, digital documents can be saved on DVD-ROMs, servers, and hard drives, using a tiny fraction of the space needed for physical documents. How would that space better serve your business once all those old paper files are shredded and recycled?

Improve access efficiency – Digital documents can be indexed and searched right from your desktop. This improved efficiency saves your business money, as your employees can easily access files that once took them hours to find in filing cabinets. You can retrieve records from a designated date range, pull up the order history for a specific vendor, and even search the content of documents for keywords. A well-designed document management system makes accessing your data fast and intuitive, whether it’s for daily customer service or infrequent archive searches. This improved productivity means you’ll be going green while saving green—it doesn’t get much better than that!

Document management is a smart and easy way to green your business. It’s kinder to the environment, faster for your staff, and better for your bottom line.

Contact us today to learn more about document management solutions and how Infomax can help you implement this green strategy.

Streamline Forms with Digital Solutions

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Data is a vital part of any business, so the method with which you collect that data must be carefully considered. Many businesses rely on forms completion to keep track of information such as customer history, inventory tracking, and client invoicing. Ultimately, these forms can create a headache-inducing paper chain, while eating up valuable resources and negatively affecting your bottom line.

Wouldn’t a simpler solution be to digitize your forms, thereby streamlining your manual processes? By converting your forms to digital versions, you can easily keep track of them and share them instantaneously.

Here are some of the ways forms solutions from Infomax can simplify your data collection processes.

  • Rapid deployment. With electronic forms, you can create all of your forms quickly, and deploy them just as fast.  No more waiting for print services or a form order to come through. Your workflows will be streamlined and more efficient, as well.
  • Mobile functionality. By capturing forms information digitally, you can easily access it from anywhere. Custom templates and version controls provide the same functionality of your physical forms with the added benefits of file syncing and digital mobility.
  • Paper and forms cost savings. By converting your forms to digital versions, you are drastically reducing the amount of paper your company uses and receives. You’ll save on form production and printing, which can add up to tremendous savings for many businesses.
  • Easier signature capture. If your workflows require signatures as part of the approval process, online forms make it easy to digitally sign documents and keep the workflow moving forward. By streamlining the signature process using digital applications, you can save an immense amount of time and frustration.
  • Instant Access to Data. With digital forms, your data is instantly accessible, in real time, and can be easily updated from anywhere. You can make quick and informed business decisions with all the information you need.

To learn more about how streamlining forms with digital solutions can help nearly every area of your business, contact Infomax today.