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Business document management in 2020

Documentary control can be a challenge and a headache for department heads and company CEOs. To help them, alternatives such as document managers have emerged, describing its usefulness below, focusing on how the digital signature is a tool they must also count on to make the most of document managers.

Companies are permanently releasing new data and information as a result of their operations. All this results in tons of documentation, and it becomes a challenge for companies to have an optimal system that allows them to manage documents in an efficient, safe and simple way.

All this led to the creation of Document Management Systems (DMS). For companies, relying on this means to have a tool of enormous potential, becoming an essential tool for the proper functioning of the business. Why is this?

The benefits of using document managers

The benefits of a DMS are huge and truly compelling. Perhaps for those who are thinking of integration the first advantage that may come up to their minds is reducing paper usage to a minimum.

With the implementation of measures in favour of the paperless concept, there are savings in office supplies. Furthermore, it eases consultation and processing, as well as ensuring the integrity of documents in the event of incidents or loss, as we shall see later.

Document managers will help us to keep things in order, as it will be easier to sort out different types of files. As a result, the search will also be simplified, since we will be able to find the document we are looking for by simply typing in some key parameters. And of course, it will be much more difficult to lose or misplace documents.

One of the key factors that makes us opt for document managers will be the fact that all the information is centrally stored, as it may be the case with servers. This way, the contribution to mobility is huge, allowing to work with documents remotely, from anywhere and anytime.

This centralisation encourages teamwork, simplifying the sharing of documents, controlling their different versions, and the accurate monitoring of workflows. In addition, access policies can be established to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to certain documents, adding an extra layer of security.

To all this we must add its capacity for integration with other types of software solutions, such as with digital signature solutions, thereby increasing its potential, allowing to sign work documents electronically and, therefore, constituting a valuable asset for the company.

 

Document management

Using document managers in different departments of the company

Most areas of the business organizational chart can benefit from the installation of a document manager in their regular tasks. We can analyse how these are used in the most common departments of companies, regardless of their nature. 

We can start this tour in the sales and marketing department, which works daily with reports on current and potential customers, sales contracts, claims, returns, purchase records, etc.

On the other hand we have the marketing department. Here we can find market studies, statistics on advertising campaigns, website and social network analysis, contracts with the media or with companies to outsource services, etc.

In the finance and accounting department we usually come across documents such as payment orders, those related to bank credits, balance sheets, income, expenses, budgets, administrative procedures with tax authorities and all sorts of economic information.

Using document managers depending on the type of company

Regardless of the size of the company or its main activity, document managers will contribute to streamline their operations.

Let’s start with small and medium sized enterprises, SMEs, which are a key part of the business network in any country. In fact, according to May data from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Spain’s SMEs are close to reaching 3 million (2,860,755).

Although it may seem the opposite due to their size, SMEs tend to have a high volume of documents, in addition to the fact that they have fewer human, technical and economic resources to invest in managing documentation, so this type of solution can be perfectly suitable for their needs, focusing their resources on more important tasks.

On the other hand, if SMEs already create tons of different types of documents, it goes without saying what happens in large companies, especially those with multinational presence or subsidiaries scattered throughout various countries. These factors make everything even more complex and demanding for optimising operations.

When we refer to document management, we usually imagine an office where hundreds of administrative procedures are completed. This, although it is a correct point of view, does not cover the whole picture. To understand this, we can take the example of the tasks performed in any factory.

In addition to the work directly related to the manufacturing of a product or a single part, production plant operators must continuously deal with documents that include quality parameter records, non-conformity reports, occupational risk prevention reports, delivery notes, etc. Digitizing these documents would save time and will allow the company to focus entirely on the production process.

When studying the influence of the digital signature in the departments that make up the company, we have seen how the digital signature contributes to speeding up document managers. It is also worth studying its influence on legal and security aspects, essential for all types of companies, especially for those businesses with complex structure and operations.

With the digital signature we have peace mind, knowing that the signing of the documents has full guarantees, ensuring the identity of the signatory, knowing that the document has not been altered after the signature with evidence that proves this, as digital certificates, timestamps, geographic locations, utterance, image, video or a biometric analysis of the stroke of a signature drawn on a tablet, which is specifically designed for this purpose. All of this knowing full legal support.

Athento document manager integrated with Viafirma

For the users of Viafirma solutions, integration with document managers is one of the most attractive options of our digital signature folder (portafirmas).

The collaboration agreement between Viafirma and Athento (one of the most comprehensive and developed DMS on the market) has emerged from this mutually beneficial connection between document managers and both digital signature and authentication solutions.

Thanks to this agreement, Athento users will be able to enjoy all the features of Viafirma suite, not only managing the company’s documents, but also having the possibility of signing them digitally, indeed a very useful combination.

We hope you are now aware of the competitive advantage it brings to companies when combining DMS and digital signatures, helping to streamline business processes.

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