Document Management Solutions for Canadian Small Businesses
Operating your Canadian small business is challenging enough without the issues of paper handling, document filing, meeting data retention policies, and so much more.
Document Management Systems (DMS) offer many solutions for businesses of all sizes and industries. You do not have to be a large enterprise or global business to afford or benefit from a feature-rich document management solution.
Challenges for Canadian Small Businesses
No matter what industry or service you represent, operating your small business requires the use and retention of paper documents. There are many challenges generated from the sheer volume of documents required to run your business including:
- Purchase orders for supplies and product materials
- Financial statements and audit reports
- Contracts or other agreements with vendors and customers
- Personnel and payroll reports and pay statements
- Inventory records
- Customer orders
- Invoices to customers or clients
With all these documents flowing in and out of your small business, you’re left with many questions related to how you can manage this information more efficiently.
How do you store and file all the paperwork you need for your employees and customers? Especially as your company grows, filing, printing, copying, and sharing business documents becomes even more problematic.
- Storage – What must be retained? How much space will it take? Where can you store it in a secure environment?
- Time and efficiency – How much time do your employees spend just filing and retrieving documents?
- Collaboration – Does everyone who needs the information have access to it quickly and easily?
- Compliance – Local, provincial, and national jurisdictions mandate what documents must be retained, and for what length of time
- Security – Some of your documents contain personal, health, financial, or business-confidential information. Is it properly identified and secured appropriately?
- Access – Many businesses today include mobile workforces that spend more time outside the walls of your business than in an office or other brick-and-mortar facilities. Can your employees get the information they need – wherever they may be – securely?
Your solution: a feature-rich document management system.
How First Phase Data Provides Solutions for Your Canadian Small Business
Document management systems have expanded incredibly in features and functionality since their inception. Even small Canadian businesses can afford and benefit from the many advantages offered by a DMS:
- Cloud storage – No more does your business require a growing number of file cabinets or off-site storage for documents. Documents created electronically can be imported and stored directly in the DMS, cataloged, and indexed to suit your needs. This makes retrieval fast and easy, using multiple search capabilities to find the information more efficiently.
- Lost documents are in the past – Your document management system will retain all documents based on your business policies.
- Your business will notice an immediate boost in productivity, with less paper created, elimination of filing, and no time-consuming retrieval of paper documents.
- Reduce printing and operational expense by storing, sharing, and distributing documents electronically, all managed by your DMS.
- Efficiency is also increased through implementing an automated workflow to route documents as you determine. This is perfect for such functions as approving purchase orders or notifying sales personnel of new promotions.
- Leverage email – store and route emails to employees or customers right from your document management system.
- Save money – Printing and handling paper documents is costly to Canadian small businesses. You may never get to a totally paperless office, but you can certainly take giant steps in that direction with electronic document storage and distribution. Your savings add up quickly with a streamlined operation, less paper and toner consumption, and fewer printers to maintain or replace.
- Compliance can be automated – Set your retention policies in the DMS, and let the system manage your documents safely and securely.
- Sharing documents is a snap with your document management system. With your information in the cloud, authorized individuals can access the documents they need anytime, anywhere.
- Security is a major benefit of any document management system. You have control over what types of documents can be saved, edited, deleted, viewed, and shared – and by what individuals or departments. Sensitive information is safe and secure from loss or misuse. Your employees and customers rely on the protection of their confidential information. A document management system will provide the level of security you can count on.
With your data safe and secure in the cloud, a document management system can grow with your business, giving you added flexibility and agility.
Contact the professionals at First Phase Data to help you evaluate the benefits of a complete document management solution that streamlines your Canadian business operation, improves productivity, and increases customer satisfaction. Our technicians are available directly to help you with answers to all your questions.
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