Thursday 10 January 2019

Electronic Document Storage: A Better Alternative

Businesses of all sizes and nature are required to store documents for personal or legal purposes. They are either stored inside a room in the form of papers or on a computer as files. These documents track and record every transaction, invoice, or modification of the enterprise that helps in calculating the output and shortcomings of the business. Further, they are presented as a piece of evidence in the court of law in case of any dispute. Ergo, proper management of these documents is very essential.

Prior to technological advancements, most enterprises relied on paper for storing documents. But with time, people shifted to electronic document management system owing to its many advantages and features. Here is a list of the various advantages of an electronic document management system:-

Reduced storage space

Contrary to paper document management system, electronic document management system is a more convenient option for most enterprises as it does not require any space for storage. In early times, an entire room was dedicated for storing paper documents that required proper maintenance. Incorporating digitalization helped the enterprises to store and manage all the documents in electronic format efficiently and reduce expenses.

Better management

When documents are stored in hard copies, a huge pile of papers forms from which finding one particular document is like looking for a needle in a haystack. In case the documents are not stored in a particular order, misplacing or losing them is a huge possibility. In electronic platforms, one finds a document simply by clicking on the search button.

Security

Security is essential to store sensitive documents securely. Any leak can have the potential to burn down the entire business to the ground, which is why DMS offers a transparent and highly secure medium to store documents. It can allow only selective people to access the documents. Further, it leaves an audit trail of all the people who accessed and modified the documents.

Backup available

Natural disasters are unforeseen adversities that possess a great threat to paper documents. Flood, fire, and other catastrophes can completely destroy every piece of document stored. In such cases, no backup is available from where the data can be retrieved. Electronic document management system always maintains a backup of all the documents that can be accessed when required.