As daily operations grow in complexity, business information management can help facilitate data access and security
Successful businesses are complex machines, and they’re only growing more complex over time. A study from The Boston Consulting Group shows that business complexity has increased on average by nearly 7% year over year for the past 50 years as organizations keep pace with customer demands, new technologies, and legal and regulatory changes.
Information management is one of the most significant causes of this shift. Even small businesses need to keep track of and secure copious amounts of information — the larger the business, the more complex maintaining these systems inevitably becomes. If your business is still in its infancy or is small by nature, you might wonder, “What is business information management?” in the first place. We’ve laid out the basics here, along with why your organization should integrate an information management system and features found in the most successful implementations.
Read our guide to business information management systems to find the practices, tools, and software you need to keep your business’ essential info accessible.
What is business information management?
Business information management is the process by which organizations create, store, retrieve, use, and dispose of information.
Depending on their position, an employee may interact with thousands of pieces of information throughout their workday, such as:
- Physical or digital documents
- Customer or patient records
- Financial records
- Emails
- Receipts
- Memos
- Agendas
- Other notes or loose pieces of information
Further, employees working in operational, tactical, or strategic positions within the business may require different information to do their jobs. They will have different needs when accessing, processing, and archiving that information.
Information technology (IT) departments are generally responsible for providing the tools these employees need to create and use this information. They also may need to ensure each piece of information is secured to minimize data breach risk and maintain compliance with necessary regulations, all while reducing the potential for friction in accessing this information throughout the workday. However, they may not know the most effective tools for each department within the organization to do this. Business information management processes help to bridge this gap, ensuring staff members have the requisite data to complete their job accurately, efficiently, and securely while facilitating intra-department and intra-organization collaboration.
Did You Know?:The fi-7900 features a 500-sheet automatic document feeder capable of processing scans at speeds up to 140 pages per minute.
The benefits of business information management
Being deliberate with your approach to business information management may unlock numerous benefits, such as:
- Improved decision-making: Whether you’re comparing portfolios to make educated investment decisions for clients, examining accounting data to guide financial decisions for the next fiscal year, or need to research notes attached to a patient’s records, having the correct data at your fingertips helps ensure you’re making the best choices for the immediate and long-term future.
- Increased operational efficiency: When data is disorganized, productivity may suffer. Instituting business information management policies and integrating appropriate technologies helps reduce the time it takes to find essential data while enabling collaboration between in-office employees, remote workers, and co-workers at locations across the globe.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction: With increased access to crucial data, employees can better serve their customers, clients, or patients, providing help faster and more accurately than ever before.
Did You Know?:The fi-7900 comes bundled with our powerful and intuitive PaperStream software, which provides automated image cleanup and centralized administration features in a simple, easy-to-use user interface.
Components of effective business information management strategies
While every organization’s approach to information management will be different, there are several features and best practices any business can benefit from:
- Easy to use: Systems for managing data should be intuitive and straightforward to reduce onboarding times and decrease errors that may result from overcomplexity.
- Centralized storage and availability: Placing crucial data within a central repository (such as the cloud) provides a single source of truth for users that need to access this information. It also makes searching for and tracking information more straightforward and predictable, as employees won’t need to hunt down important data across multiple servers or systems.
- Technological implementation: Business information management systems integrate a wide range of technologies, such as scanners for digitizing paper files, customer relationship managers (CRMs) for tracking leads and storing contact information, productivity software for content creation, and much more. IT departments should properly integrate these tools into a holistic, organization-wide system to help ensure maximum compatibility.
- Data management policies: How long should files be stored until they are archived or deleted? Are there any critical compliance or security regulations employees must follow when interacting with data? Are there file name or storage requirements to consider to maximize data searchability and employee access? Organizations should address these questions and more when crafting their data management policies to help ensure employees are aware of and follow them during their workday.
- Regular training: Subject to any applicable recordkeeping and compliance rules or regulations, covered businesses and their employees should undergo regular training on data access policies, procedures, and technologies to keep best practices at top of mind.
Our recommendation: fi-7900
Those in the market for a business information management system-ready scanner have no shortage of options. We take great pride in having spent the last 50+ years researching, designing and developing some of the most advanced and powerful electronics in the world, including our professional grade fi and SP series of scanners.
Built to purpose for the most demanding document handling jobs, fi and SP scanners are capable of processing tens of thousands of pages per day at the highest levels of accuracy. Their intuitive integration capabilities with all existing work suites minimize time-to-value for businesses looking to invest in tools that will pay dividends for years to come.
The fi-7900 provides enterprise-ready digitization capabilities in a low-profile, heavy-duty design. Its 500-sheet automatic document feeder and scanning speeds of up to 140 pages per minute will make short work of even the biggest projects. It’s more than capable of working around the clock, with a daily duty cycle of 120,000 pages. Click here to learn more or shop the rest of our production scanner line.
Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed attorney regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.
