3 Ways to Align Information Management Initiatives With Your Business Strategy & Goals

“Going paperless” is not a new concept. If you’ve been in business for some time now, you would recognise it as a buzzword for those wanting to transform their business into a more modern, efficient and environmentally responsible business.

It’s true that transitioning from paper to electronic files can offer several benefits to enterprises. However, as with any business decision, your document management efforts can only be worthwhile if it’s aligned with your overall business objectives. It would be a waste of resources to start campaigning for a paperless office simply for the reason that everybody is doing it.

It’s important to have a clear understanding of document management and how it relates to the specific needs and requirements of your business. Through effective document management, you can simplify your processes, increase productivity and reduce costs. Information—now considered the most valuable asset of a business—can become more organised, secured and protected with the right office technology solutions.  

To make sure your document management strategy is on point, consider the following 3 recommendations:

Identify your target outcomes. Be clear about the results that you want to achieve. Some businesses implement new methods of document management because they want to clear up clutter and maximise their office space. Others want to increase business efficiency. There are also those who want to shift to e-documents as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts. Whether you aim for just one core outcome or several success metrics, the important thing is to establish your targets early on and share it with everyone in the team.

Determine areas of priority. If this is your first foray into optimising your document management strategy, the entire experience can be overwhelming—not to mention costly, if you’re trying to do everything in just one sweep. A more practical approach is to identify the areas that you want to tackle first. These are the steps in your workflow and processes that urgently need improvement and, if improved, can deliver significant results.   

Manage and justify costs. Transitioning from paper-based processes to automated, electronic document management involves significant costs. At the same time, the shift doesn’t necessarily need to be outrageously expensive. The key is to first focus on your outcomes — and then align those outcomes with systems that will be most useful in achieving your business objectives. It also pays to invest in the services of a consultant who can give expert, objective and useful guidance on how you can leverage technology to bring positive and lasting change to the business.