With an ever-increasing number of documents being created and processed daily, more and more organizations have realized the need to go paperless. Once you have decided to invest in electronic document management software, why settle for something average? Before deciding on a particular solution, make the decision to choose nothing but the best document management software that meets your organization’s needs.
Below are key features to look out for in an ideal software system to manage your documents:
Manage paper based and electronic documents
Many people believe that document management software just helps you convert paper based documents into electronic formats. While it does help you do that, it does far more than simply digitize documents. It indexes your scanned documents, making them searchable. It also helps you create and manage documents in electronic formats from within the application. What’s more, you can even print, fax and email documents from within the document management software itself!
Minimal setup costs: Another trait of an ideal software to manage your documents is that its cost of purchase /installation and roll out is minimal; not only in terms of money but also in terms of time and manpower needed to get the system going.
Easy to learn and use
A good document management solution is designed in such a way that your staff can grasp the interface and the basic features in the shortest time possible and get productive within hours. The person evaluating the software or making the purchase decision may not actually use the software later. If the software is simple to understand and easy to use for the actual end-users (employees), it will minimize the possibility of errors and delays in completing tasks assigned to them.
Scalable
Today your department may employ only 20 people. But, as your business grows, the process managed by your department may need more staff to be deployed. If your document management system can function as efficiently with 40 or 50 users as with 20, all you need to do is create users and assign them their respective roles. Again, if your department hired temporary staff to work on a short term project and now the project is complete, you simply need to deactivate those users. A scalable solution is an asset as you can depend on it whether your business needs to hire more staff or cut down on the number of employees (e.g., an income tax firm, hiring temporary staff during the tax filing season).
Maintenance subscription program
If you are looking for the best document management software to fit your organization’s needs, be sure to check if the company or its resellers have a maintenance subscription program. This is an important feature to look out for when shopping for software. An ideal software vendor is the one who usually provides free technical support and version upgrades for anywhere from 6 months to 1 year from the date of purchase. When someone is willing to provide free initial support, it means they are confident about their product and they have the resources in place to follow through with that support; e.g., adequate tech support staff, good troubleshooting skills and a culture of customer delight. Always choose such a software provider rather than someone who merely sells the product but does not offer support – neither of their own nor from the makers of the software.
Now that you know the characteristics of best document management software, you know what to look for when you search for a reliable solution. Let us make your task even easier by suggesting a solution that bears all the characteristics discussed above: Globodox, from ITAZ Technologies. Globodox is a Windows-based document management software suite designed for businesses of all sizes. It features an integrated set of tools for scanning, indexing, searching, securing, sharing, auditing and workflow.