COVID-19 Reveals Document Management

Most professionals charged with leading the technology and infrastructure in the workplace find document management as a “very important” digital workplace technology, according to the Simpler Media Group “The State of the Digital Workplace Report.”  More than 73% of them selected document management, beating enterprise search, group chat/team collaboration tools, knowledge management, and mobile enablement. Less than half found artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning/automation as very important. They want document management before these other technologies.

However, only 12.6% of them said document management is working well in terms of effectiveness in the digital workplace. The survey was taken before businesses needed to worry about the onslaught of work-from-home employees, due to the COVID-19 world health pandemic. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistic 2019 report, more than 26 million US workers had some form of work-from-home privileges and that’s only growing.

So what about now? What can organizations do to ensure their document management practices are in check during the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath?

Think of Document Management as Digital Currency

“Document management has been overlooked and under-loved for a long time,” said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of Deep Analysis. “Yet they are the systems where the most valuable and sensitive documents businesses create and use are stored and managed. Documents are essentially digital currency. If we lose or cannot find contracts, invoices and bills, then we literally lose money or businesses stop. Yet despite the critical importance of document management, few have invested well in these systems, fewer still manage them properly.”

The move to remote work amid the COVID-19 crisis has exposed the weaknesses of many systems, according to Pelz-Sharpe. He cited a case where workers, ordered to stay at home, were unable to do much of their work because they could not access the documents they need to do their job. In another instance, workers have been deemed “essential” and ordered to come into the office only because they could not otherwise access the documents they need to do their work.

Thinking Strategically About Document Management

For all the talk of modernization and transformation, document management systems have been low on the priority list, according to Pelz-Sharpe. Legacy, on-premises systems still dominate, and in many cases, no longer fit for purpose, he added. “Moving forward, any organization should be thinking strategically about document management and how it should work and be integral to modernization efforts in the future,” Pelz-Sharpe said. “I do, quite understandably, hear some claim that this can all be solved by moving to the cloud, but I think that is simplistic and doesn’t really address the core issues.”

Why Documents Are Integral to the Supply Chain

The current crisis reveals what some information managers have always known – documents are an integral part of the supply chain. Businesses critical documents all have a lifecycle. It’s one that often originates outside of the organization and will cross boundaries of customers, partners, suppliers and third party agencies. Technology already exists for a new wave of information management, but few embrace it. We have technology to automate many currently manual activities. Dramatically improved user experiences, plus the ability to safely and securely access anything, anytime, anywhere is widely available.

Build on Top of Familiar Tools

One reason many report their document management systems don’t work well is because many organizations take the stick-based vs a carrot-based approach. By providing tools that people already use or like using most, and then adding the document management and compliance pieces behind the scenes, users don’t even know they’re there. Building on top of tools that are already used in droves is a frictionless way to provide IT solutions to employees that apply document management and compliance principles without negatively affecting usability and productivity.

Taking the next step

Ready to explore why a properly implemented document management system is a COVID and post COVID necessity?

Let’s start a fact finding, no obligation, conversation about your goals and objectives.