Digitizing physical documents provides measurable increases in efficiency, but electronic documents still need to be stored and organized in a way that makes them easy for authorized users to access while limiting access to everyone else. Document management typically includes the creation, storage, utilization, archiving, and destruction of digital paperwork.

Benefits of document management:

• Increased security through user controls and permissions
• Easy indexing and search through metadata tagging
• Document version rollback
• Smoother collaboration
• Faster document reproduction

Document management becomes much easier when coupled with a software system to tag, index, and store it all in one secure location. An electronic document management system can do all that and more, allowing for version control, audit history, access controls, multi-site collaboration, and more.

Key DMS features

• Security: Protecting your business' proprietary information
• Storage: Suitable file type support and quantity of storage space
• Organization: Robust filing systems and indexing capabilities for easy retrieval
• Accessibility: Availability whenever, wherever, and on whatever platforms your business requires
• Audit compliance: Document history tracking that shows who changed what and when, with the option to undo changes

When choosing an electronic documentation management system, businesses have many options. Some are better suited to small businesses, others to massive enterprises. Some prioritize regulatory compliance, while others specialize in innovative organizational methods. Whatever your needs, finding the right DMS for your business is crucial.

Key DMS Functions

• Version control
• Audit history
• Compliance checks
• Process automation
• Document capture and OCR
• Form and e-signature compatibility
• Cloud storage
• Collaborative document editing
• Document archiving

Law firms know better than most businesses how disastrous a small mix-up in paperwork can be. They also know how much time searching for the right document can eat up. That’s why many use a document management system that prioritizes version control and quality organization to keep things running smoothly.

Key DMS features for law firms and legal professionals

• Cloud-based software for convenience, security, and simplicity
• On-premises installation for increased control
• Significant document storage capabilities (with backups if outside the cloud)
• Data encryption and multi-factor authentication for security
• Powerful document tagging, organizing, indexing, and search tools
• Available and effective customer support for easy onboarding and service issue resolution
• Document version control to rollback mistakes
• Integrations with other apps such as Microsoft Office Suite

In construction, paperwork eats up around $1,800 per worker, per year, according to one U.K. study. Strict regulatory compliance, several teams working in tandem, and legal demands around document archiving make the implementation of a document management system essential for maximum efficiency.

Key DMS features for professional builders

• Fast and easy access to relevant documents
• Version control for rollbacks and document history
• Powerful paper scanning
• Cloud-based storage

In accounting, there is no work but paperwork. That’s why it is vital to have securely stored documents, organization, and accessibility. A document management system can help accounting firms reduce human error, up their productivity, increase document safety, and reduce spending on storage by moving things into the cloud.

Key DMS features for financial professionals

• Accurate document capture
• Fast, easy, and powerful document tagging, sorting, and searching capabilities
• Security controls such as user roles, access conditions, audit trails, and data encryption
• Cloud storage

Many healthcare practices already use electronic health records (EHR) to store patient data virtually, but those systems can only store specific file types. Moving to an electronic documentation management system can mean adding your financial records, human resources documents, and more to the same secure and easily accessed repository without compromising user access controls or HIPAA compliance.

Key features for medical professionals

• Granular access control
• Data encryption
• Version control
• Audit history
• Collaborative document editing
• Integration with EHR and other practice management software

Ensuring HIPAA compliance

A document management system can go a long way toward HIPAA compliance, but your business should also consider:

• Physical and digital risk assessments to ensure physical and digital records are safely locked away (literally and virtually)
• Rigorous staff training alongside regularly-reviewed policies and procedures that maintain HIPAA standards
• Detailed contingency plans in case of security breaches reinforced by intermittent exercises among staff

Even a small business may find the efficiency gained from a document management system outweighs its upfront costs. Such a system offers small business owners and employees easy access to all the documentation necessary to run the business, protects those documents from bad actors and malfeasance, and may even offer automation to speed up repetitive tasks that would otherwise devour precious working hours.

A document management system offers numerous efficiency and security solutions that can benefit your business, but there are a dizzying number of options. We’ve boiled down the list to five DMS offerings that stand out in their field.

Crucial DMS features for any business

• Security (file encryption, granular user permission controls)
• Ease of use (intuitive design, training materials, customer support)
• Cloud storage and collaboration (access from anywhere, simultaneous or check-in/check-out editing, commenting)
• Version control (audit history, version rollback)

You didn't start your business for love of paperwork, but you may find yourself awash in documents. Rather than take it all on yourself, you can contact one of these companies to whip that plethara of documents into shape, digitizing, organizing, and shredding to save you countless hours you can instead spend serving customers and bringing in revenue.

Why use a document management company?

• Going paperless can be a costly and time-consuming transition
• Careful document management can increase business efficiency and data security
• Outsourcing is often cheaper than upping headcount or the equivalent lost productivity

As your business grows, so will its paperwork. Document management best practices are the strongest protection a business has against disorganized document bloat. They can help the gears turn smoothly no matter how much paperwork (physical or digital) accumulates.

Keys to document management

• A standardized, intuitive document management plan that considers who needs access to a document, when they need access, and when to archive
• A document management system with sufficient storage, intuitive design, document security, version control, and any other features specific to your business
• Consistent categorization of documents
• Prioritize remote access with built-in collaboration tools
• Regular document management practice audits