INTANGIBLE

OF DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

THE

BENEFITS

If that seems like a stretch, it isn’t: The average employee spends 30-40% of his or her time looking

for information locked in email and filing cabinets (1). Sometimes this information is found, and

sometimes it isn’t. But these are only a few of the reasons companies in accounting, construction,

insurance, healthcare, and manufacturing are going paperless through document management

so�ware (DMS) at unprecedented rates.

Although DMS marketers have become experts at describing the tangible benefits of the so�ware’s

features—features that enable third-party, industry-specific so�ware integration, overthrow

operating costs, reduce lengthy document turnaround times, de-clutter o�ices, and resolve broken

project workflows, many of the so�ware’s intangible benefits remain unexplained. Unlike the

tangible benefits of DMS, the following intangible benefits aren’t adequately measured by the

balance sheet’s bottom line, but they may become the reason DMS saves the world’s paper-dependent workforce.

Storing documents in a physical filing cabinet is like attempting to index and file away the very air we breathe—what we attempt to track will likely be rendered unfindable.

Those who attended the eFileCabinet Edge User Conference in 2015 noted that use of document

management so�ware had one particularly salient yet intangible benefit, and that benefit was

freedom. In a very real and impactful sense, relying on paper to complete the business process

through actions like faxing, storing, and si�ing through information can be likened to manual labor.

Although manual labor and white collar o�ice environments are perceived to be at opposites of the

workplace continuum, paper is what blurs the line between the conveniences of the corporate

world and the physical exertion of blue collar, manual-labor intensive environments. However, we

are only as free at work as the processes we use to conduct business allow us to be, and reliance

on paper impinges this freedom, whereas document management so�ware can enable it.

5 . F R E E D O M

Of all the intangible benefits of document management mentioned in this article, time provides

the most resources. And procrastination is not the thief of time as Edward Young put it—broken

focus is. Although the number of interruptions a worker faces each day hinges upon the industry he

or she works in and where he or she sits in the o�ice, the breaks in concentration caused by relying

on paper impose many setbacks: the time spent walking to the fax machine and printer, the time

spent searching for lost documents, the time that can’t be recaptured.

What’s more, these breaks in concentration are frequently viewed as insurmountable issues that

are ‘just part of work,’ but you needn’t so readily succumb to these interruptions with the right

technology. Even with today’s emphasis on productivity, cutthroat competition, and innovation,

workplace interruptions are as commonplace as they are hindrances to the advancement of the

economy as a whole. In a world flooded by noise, employees are increasingly deprived of the

concentration they need to succeed in the workplace, earn raises, win promotions, and make a

positive di�erence.

Not only can document management so�ware eliminate these interruptions through so�ware

integration (such as integration to digital signature solutions, which eliminate the need to print

anything, and web sharing portal integration, which eliminates the need for the fax machine) the

elimination of these interruptions gives workers the ability to work more productively and with the

unfaltering concentration that’s conducive to employees’ wellness. Compound these factors with

the myriad distractions we face outside the o�ice (advertisements, personal phone calls, bills, and

telemarketers calling at dinner) the interruptions in life, at their most di�icult, can begin to feel as if

they’re distracting you from the very purpose you were born to fulfill inside the o�ice and out.

4 . T I M E

Although convenience has saturated the consumer-tech market, many remain unaware that

enterprise so�ware has reached a parallel level of convenience. However, DMS is positioned to

reshape this understanding of convenience in the enterprise, and for myriad reasons:

Accessing any file from any place there is an internet connection is increasingly important in a

number of occupations (and especially important for traveling salesman, real estate agents, and

constructions workers). DMS facilitates this accessibility and convenience through its mobile,

online, and mac-compatible o�erings, all of which o�er improved customer/client service and the

ability to work responsively.

3 . C O N V E N I E N C E

The demand for peace of mind is on the rise as security breaches, information leaks, and other

information catastrophes made plenty of headlines in 2015. However, most of these breaches were

the result of poor internal information management, and there’s plenty organizations can do to

prevent these breaches.

Although the insurance industry has already (and deservingly) made a lot of money from ensuring

peace of mind, members of the insurance profession are discovering, through document

management so�ware, how they can ensure the same peace of mind in their o�ices that they do

for their customers; all through DMS.

Some of the peace of mind facilitators in DMS are its secure web sharing portals designed to

prevent data breaches, sophisticated data backup, secure servers, 256-AES bank-grade encryption,

and data storage with multiple artificial and physical points of presence, to name just a few. As far

as internal information breaches are concerned, the role-based user permissions of document

management so�ware keep employees from accessing certain information at the account

administrator’s discretion.

2 . P E A C E O F M I N D

A crucial part of professional growth involves encouragement and positive feedback. When

documents are lost, misplaced, and unutilized, it becomes di�icult to praise the good work of the

person who created it. Just as many works of art have been lost throughout history, many works of

art are lost in the muck of paper dependent processes—and we cannot praise a person for his or

her work if we know not where it is placed. The metadata of document management so�ware

makes information far more retrievable and securely stored, too.

Additionally, improved workflow is both a feature and byproduct of document management

so�ware. As a byproduct, workflow ensures quick and accurate task completion; as a feature, it

ensures good work can be traced to the right employees, and, therefore, that praise and blame are

delegated fairly.

1 . P R O F E S S I O N A L G R O W T H

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