But can document automation software handle the management and archiving of business documents? The International Data Corporation claim that knowledge workers spend three and a half hours each week searching for information that is never found and another three hours recreating that lost content.
IDC claims that knowledge workers spend three and a half hours each week searching for information that is never found and another three hours recreating that lost content.
Document automation software allows companies to store commonly used documents centrally, and also to archive sent documents to a network folder or to existing applications such as document management, CRM and ERP or accounts packages. This means that when documents are needed, they can be found quickly, which is especially useful for customer facing teams.
Security is an important consideration for all businesses. Concerns over moving to a paperless office are often based on fears of electronic documents being intercepted or manipulated. There are essentially two ways of formatting and distributing business documents that reduce this risk – fax and PDF. Document automation software allows users to decide how their document is sent, by fax or as a PDF by email, and ensures that the document is sent securely. The best solutions hook seamlessly into existing applications such as Microsoft Outlook, to automatically apply security to documents.
Conclusion
The reliance on paper isn’t cost effective for any business. For companies to move away from
Document automation software not only removes the cost of printing and posting paper documents, it also reduces the time involved in document production, archiving and retrieval, whilst offering a more secure way to correspond with customers and suppliers.
Document automation at a glance
Paper problem | Document automation advantage |
|
|
Paper processes account for up to 3% of | Eliminates the cost of document |
annual revenue | production and generates time savings |
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|
Costs of storage and lost productivity and | Quick retrieval saves time and leads to |
wasted time retrieving filed documents | better customer service |
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Concerns over document security | Document security automatically applied |
| to electronic documents. They can’t be |
| viewed by unauthorised recipients or |
| unknowingly amended |
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|
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