How to Best

Manage
Business
Documents
Through

Digital
Collaboration
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration

Digital collaboration is a lifeline for today’s these major areas include:

businesses.
As companies from all types of industries
become more reliant on digital processes
and communication, solutions need to
emerge to make them both easier to use
and practical. No longer do businesses have
to be dependent on physical documents
and paper trails. Advances in collaborative
document management software help
companies and organizations gain the
upper hand over competitors. This starts
with the ability to smooth out process
workflows within the organization, and
requires enabling more cost-savings and
time management productivity wins.
Though it’s important, finding such a
solution is not only about money.
• How CDMs can be used across
organizations, and between the main
office workers and mobile teams.
• How to maximize operational efficiency
with CDMs in the digital landscape.
• How to use CDMs effectively to manage
corporate security and compliance
matters.
More importantly, you’ll recognize the
warning signs for companies. Those that
don’t move forward to a more secure,
collaborative, real-time document
management system might be undermining
their business, their employees and their
clients.

Research firm Gartner estimates enterprise

professionals spend as much as 40% of
their time looking for information. Locating an enterprise
just one document, on average, takes about
18 minutes while in an AIIM report (PDF), content or document
survey respondents reported 37 minutes.
AIIM (Association for Information and Image management
Management) also reported an enterprise
content or document management system system can improve
can improve productivity by at least 18%.
Human error is another issue. According productivity by at

18%
to Coopers and Lybrand, as many as 15%
of paper items filed by companies are least 18%
misplaced.

The answer to improved workflows and

more secure digital document management
is a collaborative document management
solution. In this whitepaper, you’ll learn
about three major aspects of how
collaborative document management
(CDM) helps businesses. Explained in detail,

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How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration
Companies Still Lagging Behind
Despite innovations in wireless portability
and cloud networking, many offices around
the country still rely on using server-based
document management processes. In doing
so, many workers often have to print out
the “latest versions” of critical, time-sensitive
documents. This not only wastes time and
paper resources, but also creates bottlenecks
and confusion in approval stages.
Just from an environmental point of view,
this is a wasteful practice to companies. By
resorting to printing and checking documents,
an office worker may use up to 10,000
sheets of paper in a year. If you are a small
to medium-sized business, and use paper
processes for document collaboration, these
alarming statistics below can help convince you
to move to a more modern form of document
management.
• Financial: Financial giant Citigroup
estimated a potential $700,000 annual
savings if every one of their employees
conserved just one page a week using
double-sided copying.
• Environmental: Reduce.org notes
producing 400 reams of paper is the
equivalent to the carbon-absorption
capacity of 1.25 acres of pine forest.
• Efficiency: Electronic forms and methods
of filing enable people to find and process
information in a much shorter amount of
time.
Now, everyone wants
to see accurate and
precise documents on
a single screen
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Collaborative document management with
the flexibility to be used from different
types of devices is clearly the way ahead.
It’s up to companies to learn how it makes
sense for them to get there.
Managing the Continuous
Flow of Content
Far better options exist for companies
today to increase project efficiency and
reduce the number of paper documents.
Small and large companies can better
manage their business through digital
collaboration, state-of-the-art software and
web-connected tablets, laptops, and mobile
devices.
As businesses grow, projects arise and
there is a seemingly endless flow of
materials for teams to collaborate on.
Business development and operations
segments have become one entity in many
cases, forcing technical teams and content
producers to work together. This is called
DevOps in many circles. For companies with
document-heavy content silos, it’s DocOps.
Industries and communication are more
layered than when the Internet was new.
It’s not about copying printed materials
to the Web. Now, everyone wants to see
accurate and precise documents on a single
screen – often via their mobile devices. Even
in the creative fields, automated workflows
enabled by collaborative document
management solutions let content creators
and content managers collaborate, creating
a more robust and natural platform for the
business that supports the art - analytics,
communication, project management, and
customer support.
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration
1. Using Collaborative
Document Management
Across Organizations
Group collaboration on documents and
projects can help drive digital efficiency
between home offices and field teams in
many industries. For example, collaborating
on projects between senior HQ teams
and field teams in sales, construction,
or distribution of medical supplies can
increase the likelihood of innovation
through very practical, systematic,
organized productivity. The many features
of collaborative document management
solutions help allow for faster edits in
documents, shorter times to obtain
contract signatures and quicker approval
times. Efficiency in these areas can boost
teamwork in your organization’s key areas
because less time is spent on process.
The best solutions offer a seamless
link between home offices and mobile
workers and provide an intuitive interface
for building a document workflow. Such
assistance enables your business to build
and control the flow of documents between
team members, to clients and partners and
among senior executives. Team leaders
can customize this workflow based on
the company’s size and specific industry
requirements.
Customizable features, listed below, help
digitally streamline collaboration and
business processes.
Manage Users and Groups
Individual users and entire groups can be
given access to work on specific documents.
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Any authorized user can then easily access
the file from wherever they are. Team
members can request information, approve
contracts, edit a document, or approve
a draft document that a number of co-
workers may have collaborated on. And
that collaboration is tracked. Previously
paper-intensive approval processes can
change, drastically reducing the time of
processing, filing, and delivering paperwork.
Benefits of Streamlined Collaboration
Streamlined collaboration does more
than save time and money. It simplifies
many collaborative processes. There are
numerous functions allowing mobile
workforces to manage the flow of
documents as a team. Some of these
include:
• Share Feedback: Authorized users can
highlight text and figures in documents.
They can also add handwritten mark-
ups within the interface or provide other
forms of annotation if necessary. Digital
collaboration allows teams to point out
important details or indicate where
editing or explanation is required.
• Fill Out Forms: In the office or remotely,
forms can be filled out online to accept
approvals, sign contracts, and more.
Paper-based financial, medical, or
construction contractor forms become
digital. You can save the latest versions
or sign off on them without transferring
paper over long distances or requiring
the right person to travel to the right
place.
• Sign Contracts: Digital contracts
drastically reduce paper flow and critical
time in industries such as construction
where contracts and subcontracts
are part of the daily work. Document
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration
security and compliance with regulatory
and internal company policies are all
reinforced using a centralized platform.
Approved personnel can remotely sign
off on purchase orders, change orders,
invoices, and payroll documents.
Editing and approving documents, filling out
forms, signing contracts, and more are daily
processes business teams already know
about. Employees can begin performing
these tasks as soon as a CDM system is
set up. The company can therefore begin
managing the flow of documents right away
once authorized personnel are signed in.
Impact on Team Communication
Digitizing business documents has many
advantages as do enhancements to team
communication. The positive aspects below
help all project members complete their
duties:
• Co-workers can communicate the
need for changes and other requests
electronically. These notes can be used
for updating a document to a new
version.
• Users can access the newest
documentation, contracts, forms, and
other collateral to all authorized team
members.
• The software avoids different employees
contributing the same things on the
same topic. Writing, editing, and
approval are completed by accessing
specific documents within the workflow.
• All related information is in one place
so the entire team can access the latest
details and analyses.
• Users have the ability to draft, edit,
transfer, and store documents using
mobile device applications in connection
with other co-workers.
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• The solution creates audit trail so it’s
possible to see who exactly worked
on an item at a specific time. You can
also see how long it took for them and
whether someone else is currently
modifying the record. End results up to
the present are instantly available.
Up-to-Date Documents
All of the newest documents are stored in a
highly visible interface. Team members are
guaranteed to be working off of the latest
versions of collateral, forms and contracts
when they sign in. Any business can
depend on the latest financial information,
contracts, billing, product data, and
performance analyses to be available in real
time.
Up-to-date documents need to be available
and are accessible everywhere from the
office computer to a worker’s tablet in
the field. Users can therefore provide
annotations or sign agreements regardless
of where they are. With the right kind of
system, the mobile workforce is as efficient
as business processes demand.
Up-to-date documents
need to be available
and are accessible
everywhere from the
office computer to a
worker’s tablet in the
field
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration
2. How to Drive Digital
Efficiency Using
Collaborative Document
Management
Workflow Automation
The concept of an established workflow can
be hard for some people to get their heads
around. But the need is real and a good
CDM solution makes the need for it easier
to explain.
Automating the document workflow
ensures the right people see the right
things at the right times. For the sales
team out in the field, calling up CDM on
work-authorized tablets can help them
follow-up on the most pressing documents.
Each stage of the process can be tracked
as team members can see the workflow
clearly outlined on their device screens. For
example, users can respond to requests
for information, approve contracts, or
collaborate on updates and new drafts. And
most importantly, daily communications
are streamlined, allowing everyone to work
more efficiently through every step of a
project.
Eliminates Inefficient
and Manual Processes
It’s already been said collaborative
document management eliminates
paperwork. Lost papers, manual document
delivery, filing, correcting, and time-wasting
printing all contribute to process deviation.
In addition, by converting to digital
document management, you can forego the
use of equipment aimed at the shrinking
paper printing market. Here are some more
examples of what you can eliminate.
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• Hardware: Printers, scanners, copiers,
and the wiring and supplies that
accompany them are not necessary.
All document processes are completed
through the platform. No longer will you
be burdened with printing inefficiencies
and scanning workflows. You also don’t
have to acquire, maintain, and fix as
many devices, reducing downtime and
expenses.
• Manual Document Delivery: All
documents are stored online. Since it’s
all electronic, the potential for delays
and human error in the delivery process
is eliminated. Transporting documents
to other departments, floors, or even
buildings is no longer necessary.
• Time-Intensive Work: Tasks such as
changing the format of documents and
combining multiple formats into one
are eliminated. Digital solutions can
enable you to choose whether items
are automatically converted to common
file types such as Word, Excel, or PDF.
You also will not spend time looking for
valuable documents in a computer or
file cabinet.
App / Cloud Storage Integration
It’s beneficial when a mobile app can be
integrated with data stored in the cloud.
Documents, PDF forms, and metrics
stored remotely can then be accessed by
anyone in the team. It also helps make
better use of cloud storage, since mobile
teams are completely connected to the
entire workflow. They are not tied to their
desks or even the home office. This feature
solidifies the product as a centralized
document repository.
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration
Reduced Document Process Deviation
A CDM solution, at it’s core, eliminates
process deviation through workflow
automation and by taking the place of
manual processes. By automating where
a document goes after an individual
completes it, there is zero chance of it
accidentally going to the wrong person.
Additionally, it ensures that all documents
move through their related process
in a timely manner. All in all, using a
collaborative document management
system reduces the risk of human error and
work deviations.
3. Staying Secure
and Compliant Using
Collaborative Document
Management
Collaborative document management
software does more than allow teams
to collaborate and access information
any time. The storage is simplified and
also more secure. Electronic backups,
disaster recovery, and access control
are guaranteed when you implement a
collaborative document system. Here are a
few more examples:
Legally-Binding Signatures
Integrated tools enable you to provide
digital signatures. These are legally-binding,
so you don’t need any other type of
signature verification system. Employees
and customers can sign documents directly
on a tablet. There’s no trading of contracts
back and forth and no risk of losing
documentation while it is being moved or
filed (hopefully) in the proper location.
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Electronic backups,
disaster recovery, and
access control are
guaranteed when you
implement a collaborative
document system
Security and Company Internal Policies
Company policies are often the result
of learning from trials and tribulations
in workflows. They are built using many
ideas and decisions. The most current
policies can be used to adapt the usability
of the digital collaboration system. Using
these, administrators can configure the
appropriate user and group permissions
so all activities comply with your internal
policies. Using just one example, teams can
decide on how long a document they need
will be automatically stored or at what time
it can be removed from the system. This will
likely differ depending on the department.
Protect Sensitive Data
With digital collaboration, even the most
sensitive data are moved away from a
paper workflow. Data whether at rest
and in motion can be secured. Specific
segments of information can be locked,
and the data encrypted until an authorized
party attempts access. This level of security
prevents documents from being lost or
compromised.
How to Best Manage Business Documents Through Digital Collaboration

Increasingly this area of data protection Collaborative document management

is more important. So ask questions until
you feel comfortable with this part of the
CDM puzzle.
Digital collaboration and workflow
automation has many other advantages,
not to mention eliminating paper,
hardware, and manual delivery. The
platform enables work processes to be
completed faster. Employees, managers,
executives, and entire departments
then have more time to concentrate on
marketing, sales, and other business
activities associated with building revenue.
streamlines operations and communication
across all facets of your organization. This
includes collaboration between home
offices, field teams, and those working at
home. It also improves efficiency though
digital workflows. All this means that
business owners can devote more time
to building the business, new ideas and
driving revenue. That’s a relief for many and
the time has come for such a solution to
take hold.

Collaborative document
management streamlines
operations and communication
across all facets of your
organization

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