The paperless office can be achieved by using document management in lieu of traditional paper based filing systems. While there are various desktop document management systems in the marketplace, increasingly businesses are looking for cloud based solutions as a cost effective, more flexible option, that allows access to documents anywhere, at any time, and on any device.
At the most simple level, cloud document management (CDM) is using online software services so that your team can stop using paper and printed documents.
When businesses first started trying to be “paperless” in the 1990s it was very difficult because technology really hadn’t been adopted by enough people to enable documents to be sent electronically. Fortunately technology and working practices have changed so that nowadays this is much easier. Paper won’t go away, but we can make a lot of the process of running a professional practice simpler, use electronic tools and modern business workflows. These can save you both time and money.
Making a switch to working practices and supporting technology is not easy. But let’s start from your current software “departure point”.
Many styles of Cloud Document Management
Storing documents in a web server or “the cloud” is not new. There are many services like Dropbox, which allow me to upload a document and you to download it. These are really handy if the file sizes are large.
But there is a big difference between a simple cloud storage system and a document management system. For example, editing a document online is not usually a feature of simple storage services. The purpose of a cloud document management system is to give you much greater visibility over your documents and to support facilities such as online editing and workflow within your office.
Organising your documents is a major benefit of electronic over paper offices.
Allowing files to be stored and categorised into folders is just one layer of functionality. Here I can decide who in the firm (and which clients) can access a document, whether they can edit it or just read. Allowing self-tagging for categorisation is really useful when you want to find something but can’t quite remember which client matter it relates to – some cloud document management solutions can do very sophisticated search and categorisation. Searching inside documents, not just the file names is really helpful in this use case.
Fully Featured Cloud Document Management
Nimbus is a fully featured cloud document management solution. This means we have GOT IT ALL! Boasting apart, if your firm is thinking of moving or upgrading your CDM, we suggest you find a solution with a high functionality because your staff will find it saves them time and it saves you money.
Because Nimbus has a fully integrated Client Portal with Digital Document Signing, it means that sharing a document with a client is just a matter of setting a “published” flag. This means there is no uploading, downloading, scanning or copying, just one common document in the cloud!
When your CDM solution also integrates into your Practice Management software, another layer of potential double-handling is eliminated. But that’s a discussion for another day!
Nimbus Cloud Document Management features.
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