According to an AIIM survey, 92 percent of all knowledge workers want a modern document management system (DMS). This result simply underlines the fact that many organizations still lack the right solutions to facilitate document-based work for employees and to optimize processes. There are numerous reasons why investing in a DMS is worthwhile! We have put together the five most important ones for you:

Yes, launching a document management system involves an initial investment. But it’s worth it. The cost savings start already in your mailroom. Consider the personnel costs of distributing mail to employees and the postage costs of forwarding mail from other locations to the headquarters. Now, imagine that all of these costs disappear, because your DMS digitally routes mail to the right person. Depending on the size of the organization, a good sum comes together. A leading European travel company, DER Touristik, was able to reduce its mail costs by around 57% simply by digitally processing tourist invoices. And that’s just one example. When incoming invoices are digitized at the entry point, they are processed much faster, which enables organizatins to take advantage of early payment discounts – and save money. Here’s another example: Depending on the country, organizations are required to store tax-relevant documents for an extended period of time – even up to 10 years. If, like the utilities provider Westfalen Gruppe, you process 66,000 tax-relevant documents every year, you can imagine the size of the warehouse required to store them, as well as the time and labor necessary to manually check and post the paper invoices. A DMS can eliminate these costs by digitally archiving all your documents. Plus, the DMS automatically complies with the applicable retention periods. Follow-up processes such as checking and releasing invoices, comparing order data of invoices with a purchase order reference, maintaining and entering data in the ERP: All this you can easily automate and digitize – or even enable automatic posting.

We’ve already seen how a DMS can reduce waiting, transportation and processing times of incoming mail and invoices. You can also reduce the lead time for other business processes through digitalization. Say you want to create and review contracts. With a document management system, preconfigured templates give you a straightforward and consistent means of creating electronic contract documents. To review the contract documents, you forward them via a workflow and get them back in the same completely traceable way. If you need to get additional information, for example, about the contract partner, you will find it quickly in the DMS – because related documents, data from the ERP, CRM and other business applications are linked and clearly bundled in electronic files. In electronic contract files you will find all contracts and related information centrally located, which reduces search times. In addition, sensitive contract information is fully protected there. Nothing accidentally gets into the wrong hands or is deleted prematurely; the entire contract creation process is transparent and fully documented. As a result, your organization is able to mitigate risks such as compliance violations or missed contract deadlines. Furthermore, your organization can enter into new business relationships, for example with customers, even faster. Your employees can also process customer orders in a shorter amount of time, which improves their ability to take on new orders, because the DMS supports you with automated workflows and their related information. At Eissmann Group Automotive, for example, each employee is able to save over 100 hours of search time every year. This is time that employees are now able to invest in other activities, like, for example, in improving quality in purchasing. At the private medical clearing house Mosel-Saar in Germany, the CEO Michael Penth also sees a significant increase in process efficiency due to its DMS: "I expect to see a drop in unnecessary work processes by 30% while also improving quality."

Protecting confidential business and personal data demonstrably, archiving tax-relevant information in an audit-proof manner – how does this work in a file system or even on paper? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well: It involves a lot of effort, results in a higher error rate (for example, due to incorrectly filed documents), risks uncontrollable access, or even document loss. A DMS can help your organization to avoid non-compliance and costly fines. In a document management system, you always know where your information is located and that it is stored safely. Companies also rely on a DMS to compliantly handle and protect customer data in accordance with the EU GDPR: "We archive highly sensitive data securely in our digital customer files. Doxis provides us with comprehensive security functions with which we ensure that customer documents do not fall into the wrong hands,” explains Martin Mermolja, Senior System Administrator of Customer Management at Switzerland’s largest telco provider Sunrise Communications. In a DMS system, an organization is able to precisely define and document who has access to and can work on customer documents – ensuring accountability in data protection audits. A DMS also uses automated retention periods to ensure that documents that are subject to retention are not lost or deleted prematurely. This makes it easier for you to comply with legal requirements regarding electronic records management. With a DMS, you can easily demonstrate compliance, prevent penalties, ensure tax advantages and maintain your image as a trustworthy business partner.

“The time and labor devoted to mail distribution has dropped by 75%. This has helped us to save on resources that we can instead apply to customer service,” says Alexander Erpenbach, Head of the Policy Department for the divisions Property, Liability, Accident, Automotive Insurance and Customer Center Service at DEVK. When employees no longer have to deal with manual filing and document searches, as demonstrated here, they have more time to give customers individual consultations and resolve issues quickly. What’s more, a DMS enables customer-oriented case management: For example, employees can find all contracts, emails and ongoing cases for a customer in electronic customer files – even directly in one case. This gives you a 360-degree view of the customer and the case. At the same time, automated workflows help caseworkers by immediately sending them new inquiries and documents from customers and so they can start processing them immediately. The little conveniences of paper-based work, e.g. annotations, stamps or notes for colleagues on the document itself or the entire file, are also available digitally and displayed in a clear overview. These conveniences are not only available in the office, but also while working remotely from home, on business trips or at appointments. You can also use a document management system to create digital offerings that provide customers around-the-clock access to invoices, contracts, product information, and much more. To facilitate this, simply integrate the DMS with customer portals and apps. New and updated documents are automatically available for customers to download. Employees don’t have to manually enter this information first. This in turn saves you time that you can dedicate to your customers – and thus increase their satisfaction!

Employees want digital processes! Technologies, such as automated workflows that streamline work processes, significantly increase employee satisfaction. They also help companies to attract new talent: A recent study by the magazine WirtschaftsWoche reveals that almost one in two workers switch employers when offered better technological support in the new position. They appreciate the fact that digital workflows on a centralized, organization-wide platform, take over time-consuming, manual and routine tasks. This enables employees to concentrate on strategic tasks that contribute to the success of the organization – with less or even no overtime.

At DEGES, a project management firm for large-scale infrastructure projects, employees wanted a digital solution when "the tide of documents grew and the call for a document management system grew louder," as Jens Düssel, Departmental Head of IT and Organisation at DEGES, recalls. Employees can now find project documents and associated information such as image files, CAD or GIS data much faster with the DMS. They are rest assured that they are always working with the latest document versions.

Oliver Saus of the City of Cologne’s waste water treatment authority, also emphasizes how important it is that not only individual areas but the entire organization uses a DMS: "With our Doxis solutions, we have succeeded in breaking down the information silos in the organization, setting up interdisciplinary processes across departmental boundaries and enriching them with the required information. Today we deploy Doxis DMS in almost 100% of our organization; all of our departments work with it.” This enables employees to work much more productively, make better and faster decisions and also collaborate more effectively with colleagues from other departments or with external business partners and customers.

The hydraulic specialist HANSA-FLEX has determined that each employee in the HR department now spends one hour less each day searching for documents. Filing and working on documents and processes is also much easier for them now. “I wake up every day excited to use Doxis! It genuinely gives us a huge advantage and makes our work so much easier. I couldn’t imagine going back to how things were,” reports Nina Orywal, HR Manager at HANSA-FLEX.

A DMS offers you numerous advantages that lead to a quick amortization and sustainably lower long-term costs: i.e., your return on investment. In addition to the financial aspect, another ROI is equally important: the return on information. With a DMS, you utilize the full potential of your information, access it faster, connect employees and thus create the conditions for smooth business operations. Once an organization starts to roll out a DMS, the benefits become clear and, like the state association LWL in Germany experienced, it was logical to roll the DMS out in further areas: "Over 10 years ago, together with SER, we started to implement our DMS plan step by step in implementation stages. Since then, we have implemented over 20 solutions in various forms at LWL and over 2,000 employees work with Doxis. Under the current circumstances, we would have considerable problems in many departments if we still had to work with paper files there. That’s why the investments have truly paid off!” says Jürgen Werner, Lead DMS Project Manager at LWL Organizational Development.