A document management system is akin to a sophisticated filing cabinet for your computer network. Few businesses today are really paperless, although many aspire to this for a variety of reasons. It may be cost – eliminating paper, printers and all that is associated with them (envelopes, stamps, fax machines, etc) saves cash. It is also environmentally friendly. Finally, it is easier to organise – so long as things are ‘filed’ in the best place on the network, there’s no danger of that letter or memo ending up on someone’s desk under a pile of paper. Document processing can help your business take a step towards being paperless. It is the method by which physical documents are processed for use on the computer. This can be a simple matter of scanning them and converting them into pdf files. However, it can be more complex and impressive, for instance in those cases where optical character recognition is used to create an editable Word document of a handwritten document. Finally, invoice processing refers to this technology when it is applied to your accounts department. This means that physical and electronic invoices are treated the same way, so clients are not disadvantaged by using one or the other.
The advantages of this technology are many. For starters, it does take you a step closer to the coveted paperless office. In twenty or thirty years, probably many more businesses will work online only. All documents will be sent by email, and invoices submitted and paid electronically. However, while a large proportion of the population remain offline, or at least prefer to work with paper, this is not possible. What document processing and management means is that you don’t have to have a two-tier system, where ‘old school’ clients and customers find that they do not get payments or replies so quickly – with associated fallout for the relationships.
There are plenty of companies who deal with document processing solutions, and it is worth looking around to see what is available. document management has progressed significantly in recent years, particularly with the advent of good OCR, which means that simple scans of paperwork can be turned into useful files. Similarly, as more companies and individuals migrate to online banking and BACS payments, you may find invoice processing becomes more important. Either way, these are changes that will inevitably occur in the near future, so if you want your business to have any kind of longevity it’s best to think in advance.
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