Myth #1: Our organization couldn’t afford an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS).
US managers spend an average of 4 weeks a year searching or waiting on misfiled or lost papers. That’s a month’s pay every year per manager that organizations are losing, in the search for a paper document. That’s expensive. Now, if any document that was needed was available with a few clicks, that month of searching is reduced to minutes. The money that is saved, even after purchasing an EDMS, can be in the thousands, or even millions, which makes it more expensive to run an office on paper.
Myth #2: We would have to eliminate all paper to implement an EDMS.
Going paperless is a gradual process, as paper documents have to go through a conversion process before they can be used in an EDMS. And, there might still be a need for paper usage in your office. In fact, your office will probably never be 100% paper free so you will never have to eliminate paper from your office completely.
Myth #3: We would need a dedicated IT staff to maintain it. While it is beneficial to have one person if your office who knows the ins and outs of the EDMS, it is not necessary. Electronic Document Management Systems are designed to make workflow quicker and easier. They are very user-friendly and with time and experience, all of the members of your staff will be able to use the system efficiently without any need for a dedicated IT staff.
Myth #4: Our employees will resist the change.
Let’s face it – some people just don’t like change. But the transformation from a paper-intensive office to an office utilizing an EDMS is an easier transition you and your staff might think. If your staff utilizes computers and email, they will quickly realize that the paper documents they have spent hours looking for in the past are now instantaneously available at their finger tips and are as easy to access as their email.
Myth #5: Paper is more reliable.
In today’s offices, workers are accustom to using mainly paper documents and believe it is the most stable medium for company information. On a piece of paper, the information they need is physically right there in front of them. They can read it, fold it and make changes. But paper documents are often inaccessible to those who need them because either another co-worker has them or they have been lost or misfiled. That isn’t reliability. Reliability is having the information you need, exactly when you need it. A feature provided by an EDMS.
Myth #6: Paper documents are more secure than digital documents.
Locked office doors and file cabinets are about as secure as paper documents can get. Unfortunately, locks can’t always stop theft and can only partially defend against water, fire and other natural disasters. Digital documents are secured by different levels of password protection and each time a document is accessed the time and user are recorded. Digital documents are not susceptible to fire, water damage or theft and are automatically backed-up, so losing data for any reason is virtually impossible.
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