The True Cost of a Poor Document Management System

When it comes to mitigating poor document management risks, the key concept to remember is one bleeds into the next. If your workflow isn’t organized and well-thought-out, chances are the entire workforce feels the angst of never knowing what goes where or who aligns with whom. Managing your documents is the epitome of trailing costs and how to keep track. If the organization becomes discombobulated, a legal or brand risk could ensue.

What Are the Risks?

First off, digital documentation was implemented to alleviate the mismanagement of paper documents gone awry and lost. But what if the digital documents are just as sketchy in the workflow process as their paper predecessors? Following are the risks of an organized system that fails to comply with how the upper echelon designates from the onset:

• Managing documentation demands a considerable amount of IT worker time, which could translate to dollars lost. If the workers are spending substantial amounts of energy locating and organizing documents to keep track of business and financial progress, their hourly rate just increased.

• Brand inconsistency. Whenever there’s lost or changed clauses within the initial document, every version after that becomes a jumbled risk, both legally and for the brand.

• Security risks and compliance failures. Increased data theft and audit failures abound when the system has a snag.

It’s not merely one process that negatively propels the next; it’s going to the root of the problem within the workforce and collective communication. Being informed as a team is one caveat that can enable the document management system to succeed.

The Bottom Line

If the cost of a weak document management system is affecting your bottom line, there are several steps you can take to ensure a turnaround.

1. Develop a framework for version control.

2. Eliminate the need and wasted time searching for missing documents.

3. Upgrade identity theft protection and any internal corruption within the overall system.

4. Create an audit checklist that includes a lost document locator and requires details on who has access to what and test those details through a workflow process that is associated with each document.

To alleviate the risks of a poor document management system, one must do the diligence and investigative research to find the source. Often, print management can be a factor, as there’s a direct link to the initial location of the document. If there are any communication gaps, management will do themselves a favor by having a follow-up review of all the steps that led to the entire flawed system.

From there, proper decisions to mitigate the risks can be followed, and we are here to help! Contact us today to get started with the experts in document management systems.

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