In this tech age, one cannot ignore the benefits of a document management system in any organization regardless of any sector. When we are using artificial intelligence like SIRI, or ALEXA in our daily lives, then why not our business should turn modern.
The concept of document control is simple, the main purpose of document management is to create, modify, review and share the documents in a digitized format to reduce the use of paper and of course to save the time and energy. This educational video will give you helpful ideas about how it works to reduce time, workload and energy.
To complete the process, the DMS follows a few steps.
- The first one is to scan all the paper documents with a high-speed scanner, and capture all the system generated reports like invoices, e-mails, etc. and index all those contents by sorting them with their purpose. Some keywords are used in the time of sorting to make the retrieving easier.
- All the documents then get stored.
- With the use of proper keywords, or phrases or plain text, the documents are retrieved when necessary.
- The system makes you able to share any retrieved documents via e-mail or any other file transfer process.
Two types of document management software (DMS) are available in the market.
- On-premise/on-site/self-hosted DMS
- Cloud-based DMS
In this article, the discussion is about why cloud-based document software is most suitable for businesses, without comparing both types, it won’t be possible to choose the better one. Let’s get into more details in depth to clear all the doubts.
- Working Procedure
Both types of DMS follow the same work procedure; however, the main difference relies on their storage.
The on-premise DMS stores all the scanned or captured documents in the server of the organization, whereas the cloud-based DMS stores the records in the cloud.
- Expense
The on-premise DMS is costly itself, and it has to be bought in one go, and as it is already mentioned that an on-site server has to be present in case of on-premise DMS, so it can be guessed without saying that this type of DMS comes with extra expenses. Not only this, a dedicated IT team is required to maintain all the backups and security of the data. Whenever a new update comes, an extra amount is needed to be paid to purchase the latest update.
When you hear cloud computing, it might sound costly, but actually, it is not. The cloud-based environment ‘doesn’t come with the extra expense, only a computer and fast internet connection are required. The payment of the software is monthly similarly to the internet bills, and the latest version ‘doesn’t need any extra money to download. The entire maintenance process, including the security, is the host’s (service provider) responsibility, so no need to hire an IT team for the safekeeping of the data. ‘It’s cost effective in every way, so for the small and medium businesses can make the most of it.
We have done a rough calculation on expenses for both the types of DMS; the initial investment is a couple of thousand dollars for self-hosted DMS where the other one costs few dollars.
- Accessibility
It is possible in many companies that the companies are having branches in different cities or different countries, as well as working from home is becoming more popular day by day, sometimes even the employees have to visit clients to attend a meeting. In these cases, having direct access to the documents matters a lot. However, if you are outside the office, then there are no chances of accessing the files if your office has an on-site DMS.
The cloud-based DMS like filecenter DMS is more appropriate in these types of situation, as it enables accessing from any device having an active internet connection. Also, if you want to test your internet speed then I recommend Speedcheck Internet Speed Test. It’s very reliable and efficient.
- Easy to use App
‘There’s no chance of smartphone applications available for on-premise DMS as it ‘doesn’t work on any device. However, many cloud-based DMS comes with smartphone apps, so when you require any file, you can use your phone anytime to access those files. Even it is possible to download files for using it offline.
- Security
As the security of the files entirely depends on the organization having an on-premise DMS and no one can access the files from outside the office ‘it’s not hard to guess that the data are completely safe in this type of DMS.
It ‘doesn’t mean that the cloud-based DMS ‘doesn’t come with any security. Even when the hacking has become sophisticated, still penetrating in a cloud-based environment is not easy. Many new features regularly get added in the latest versions of the software to make the security tighter.
However, some guidelines should be followed in both types of DMS for maintaining the privacy of the data.
- The DMS system allows full monitoring of everyone working with the same system. So you can keep track of every employee working with which files.
- Certain people can be given permission to access some particular files so that no other person can retrieve those files.
- While transferring the files, the files should be encrypted, the attachments of the e-mail should be password protected.
- Password protocol needs to be maintained as well as you should change the password regularly. Easily guessable passwords are no good for file protection; a solid password contains at least one number, one special character, and a combination of capital and small letters.
- If you are dealing with a trustworthy service provider, many worries or problems regarding the security of the files will get sorted.
- Storage Space
As cloud-based DMS do not need an on-site server, so the storage space is completely virtual and infinite. The larger companies rely on self-hosted DMS as mostly they have a massive number of data to deal with. Small and medium business owners can easily trust cloud-based for their own benefit.
These were some primary reasons to compare between both the types of DMS and with these basic ideas, you can guess why choosing cloud-based DMS will be such a good idea for your organization. Cloud-computing has made an enormous change in the way of working. Futurists claiming that in the near future, there will be some more upgrades in cloud computing that will make the workflow more and more smooth. You may click here to learn more about its benefits.
Even nowadays, the purpose of the DMS isn’t limited to storing and retrieving data; it does more than that. The DMS integrates itself with the system in such way that all the other application will literally ‘talk to” it, and thus on behalf of you, it can create some results or verify a document for any errors.
When you talk to the software provider, you can come to know about some other useful tools that will complete your work within minutes, ‘it’s highly advisable to deal with the expert vendor to make your document management experience pleasant. Get at least three quotes before purchasing the software.
In this modern era, you cannot ignore the efficiency of the document management system, so without much thinking just go for the cloud-based one, you ‘won’t regret it ‘that’s a guarantee.
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