Choosing the right document management solution to meet your company’s unique needs can be a daunting and overwhelming task. How do you pick one that fits within your budget, comes from a reputable company, contains all the features that you need and offers the right level of support and services?
We’ve outlined five steps to follow during your document management solution planning, decision and implementation process so you can be confident that you’ve chosen the right provider and the right software.
- Set goals: What do you want to get out of your new document management solution? Outline ideas such as eliminating paper, minimizing mistakes, eliminating manual data entry, implementation with other accounts payable systems, reduced labor costs and faster approvals. If you’re already utilizing a Microsoft Dynamics ERP system, you’ll want to make sure that your new document management solution seamlessly integrates with it to help further streamline your business processes.
- Define requirements for the system: Every company is unique and has specific ways of handling certain processes and procedures. With that in mind, your new document management system should be able to meet those unique needs. Whether the software meets those requirements out-of-the-box, or entails customization by the vendor, you definitely don’t want your new solution to make things harder by changing the way you do business. How many invoices do you process? How do you want approvals to work? Keep these questions and others front-of-mind when researching and talking with potential vendors.
- Research vendors: You wouldn’t just choose a car off the lot without doing some research on its safety ratings first, so why do that with document management vendors? Explore vendor websites, read testimonials, check for certification and talk with current customers. You may also want to ask questions about how the company handles things like support, product upgrades and implementation.
- Establish and maintain a budget: Document management solutions are a big investment, but it’s still important that you decide on a budget and stick with it. That said, you’ll need to do some investigation on costs outside of the actual software itself. Does the vendor charge extra for support? Implementation? Training? These will affect your overall cost, as well.
- Determine ROI potential: While document management can be expensive, it brings with it substantial ROI potential, which is important to keep in mind when getting buy-in from senior management. Calculate your current cost-per-invoice, as well as the savings potential from the implementation of software, risk mitigation and other ROI. Use this ROI calculator as a starting point.
Feeling a little better? We hope so! Finding the document management solution that’s right for your company doesn’t need to be as stressful as you think if you follow some of these simple steps ahead of time. You’ll be on your way to seamless solution implementation in no time!
by MetaViewer Paperless ERP for Microsoft Dynamics