Harness the information chaos with a digital office

A digital office is an environment where technology is at the service of efficiency and job performance. To achieve improvement in these fields, we need to revise and digitize business processes and acquire the skills and knowledge needed in the new digital reality.

The digital office is just outside the door – all we need to do is open it

At Mikrocop, we see that many companies still have not put in place a comprehensive document and process management solution. This has become painfully evident during the Covid-19 crisis that has forced many to work from home. People had to face a range of previously unknown challenges. They swapped different versions of documents by e-mail, eventually losing track of which was the final version, and were often unable to say with certainty at what stage a specific task was.

Such situations could be easily prevented if the company had previously implemented a digital process and document management solution. Work would flow smoothly and more quickly, and employees, offered instant access to all the information they need to do their work when they need in, would hardly notice they were working remotely.

Document capture is often the first step that a company makes when it sets off on the path towards paperless practices. Digitization increases the value of documents, making useful business information available at a click. This also opens many opportunities for informatization and automation of business processes, enabling employees to focus on the activities that create value and satisfaction rather than routine and repetitive tasks.

The key benefits of a digital office

Digitized data management improves the transparency of operations, which logically leads to better productivity and enhances data security and control. Digital business systems such as the InDoc EDGE data management platform prevent loss, erasure or other type of abuse of documents. All actions taken with regard to a document are recorded, which means that all persons who are authorized to manage certain types of documents know who made a certain modification, and when.

This is particularly important when dealing with documents that contain confidential or personal data. We know how challenging it is to ensure regulatory compliance in the paper-based environment, but with a proper data management tool the goal is much more easily attainable in the digital world. In its settings, the document management system (DMS) enables users to limit access to any documents containing personal data, making such documents available only to a select number of employees and requiring, as an additional security feature, that any authorized person wishing to access a document will also have to state their reason. With this statement recorded in the view history, we can completely avoid all forms of abuse and guarantee regulatory compliance.

An efficient data management platform enables users to access electronic documents from any location, eliminating the need for printing and copying. Document search is also made much easier since we can now search for the needed information by content or by descriptive data (metadata) automatically assigned to every document upon its creation. For incoming invoices, for example, we can select one set of metadata such as the supplier, value, date of payment, and choose a different set of parameters for outgoing invoices. Apart from simplifying the search, this feature also supports other document reviews for extra transparency.

An often-overlooked benefit of a digital office is improved team collaboration. We have all complained about team members sending and resending to each other different versions of a document by e-mail in what is a highly inefficient and time-consuming operation. Rather shockingly, employees in large companies spend up to a third of their working time searching for information. If a company puts in place an efficient corporate document management system, the editing and versioning is easier, simpler and much more time efficient.

Finally, let us not forget about sustainability. Digitalization carries a huge potential, not only in terms of process digitization and business efficiency but also in terms of reduced environmental impact. With some effort and common sense, our operations can be both digital and sustainable, and the digital office an important element in achieving this goal. Just think about the quantity of paper documents, some say nearly a half, that ends up in a paper shredder at the end of a working day.

From mail distribution and invoice validation to complex tasks

To tackle the challenges of digitalization, Mikrocop has developed InDoc EDGE, a data management platform that combines data capture, document management and business processes with e-signatures and certified long-term preservation. The platform helps the company address a series of challenges – from incoming mail distribution and validation of incoming invoices to more complex tasks. Definitely a capable tool that ensures compliance of personal data protection and long-term preservation of electronic documents, a high level of information security and facilitates mitigation of business risks. The platform is available to users in the Cloud or on site.

InDoc EDGE gives electronic document management a new dimension. Rather than just having a complete overview of the documents, users can now share their documents with each other and with other recipients, even outside the company, edit and comment, get change notifications and easily find the information they need by content or metadata. The platform improves the traceability of documents, while the capability to manage documents in electronic format improves the responsiveness and satisfaction of the team and minimizes business risks.

There are many roads to the destination. The saying also applies to digital offices and efficient document management systems. I am sure that anyone who is familiar with the constraints of office environment wishes to be able to do their work more quickly, more efficiently, to have better control over their work and better collaboration with colleagues. With the right solution, you can have it all.

Want to know more? Contact us!

Anton Gazvoda is a Business Digitalization Expert. He has been actively involved in developing complex data management solutions since 2000 and has acquired extensive experience in document and process management. At Mikrocop, he helps companies from different industries improve their efficiency by implementing optimized workflow solutions.