As you search for document management software, you want the best possible product for your needs. Among the hundreds of potential platforms available, you will notice that the best content management systems have key attributes in common. Because these characteristics are consistent among the highest-quality platforms, you can use them as a baseline to guide your search. Then, once you establish which companies provide the quality you need, your organization’s unique criteria determine the rest. Here are four attributes that characterize the best content management systems on the market. Consider these as benchmarks for platforms on your short list.
Security and Compliance
Both organizations and individuals are increasingly aware of the necessity of document control. Factor in the security needs of all the stakeholders in your company. If regulatory compliance is a requirement for your industry, this is an especially pertinent consideration. Many people consider HIPAA, GBLA, FISMA, and other legal rules and regulations a burden because of the time and effort they require. The best content management systems are equipped to carry that burden for you, meeting and exceeding industry regulation in security protocols. Additionally, the system should protect your company’s data automatically when you use a platform designed for security. File-level encryption, unique user credentials, and other built-in security measures ensure your peace of mind.
Digital content management systems are much more secure than storing paper documents in your office. Encryption and access requirements far exceed the levels of security provided by a lock on a file cabinet. Security is important on many different levels. It is vital to keep internal employee information, like salaries and reviews, private and secure. It is also necessary to secure important business documents like financial statements and banking records. From an external standpoint, it is critical that customer information is kept secure and confidential. Whether this is medical records or banking information, your patients/clients/customers are entrusting you with their valuable personal information, and it is up to you to keep it safe and secure.
Software Integration
No one chooses a content management system before they possess any content. In fact, it is likely that you have years worth of important documents and data stored in other programs. Clearly, you don’t want to spend the time to manually re-enter all that information in your new platform. Thankfully, with the best content management systems, you won’t have to. Quality content management platforms are designed to integrate with your existing content software, including all your current electronic files in the new database. These platforms also integrate online drives like Google Drive and OneDrive. Before you invest in a document management system, be sure to ask about its ability to integrate with the platforms you already use.
User-Friendliness
It doesn’t matter how thoughtful and well-designed a platform’s back-end software may be if it isn’t user-friendly. Ultimately, you want a content system that your team members will find comfortable and easy to operate. Otherwise, it may be a fight to even convince them to use it. The best content management systems have a distinct advantage in user-friendliness. Be sure to explore and test-drive the content platforms you consider. If they seem clunky, confusing, or slow, it’s best to take your business elsewhere.
As you test out the system, check out the electronic workflow feature. This part of the platform allows users to route and re-route documents to other employees or departments. This secure process should be much easier than the old paper/folder handoff method and is much safer than sending secure documents via email. Creating a workflow should be easy! A good content management platform allows e-documents to be easily accessed by employees via the workflow. It also allows users to assign priorities to different tasks so that employees know what to focus on first. Tracking document history details is also a must! This allows anyone working on a project to see how things have changed and been updated over time. Secure content management platforms also allow users to sign documents digitally. The process of digital signatures must be compliant with the e-Sign Act and UETA Act. The ability to sign documents electronically is extremely useful and convenient. This is especially true when a lot of employees are working from home and it isn’t feasible to sign documents in person.
Easy Conversion to Digital
Another important attribute of good content management systems is the ease with which paper documents can be converted to digital documents. Most businesses aren’t fully digital and have information from paper documents that needs to be digitized. Whether this is patient medical records or employee resumes, it needs to be easy to get these documents uploaded into the digital content management system. It is time-consuming and expensive to pay for an employee to enter information into a computer from a paper form. An effective management platform can extract data from scanned or faxed paper documents and upload it into the proper location and forms. This process is quick and easy and greatly reduces the manual labor of typing all the information. The process of converting paper documents to digital documents is simplified by AI technology. Once you pick out a digital content management platform that you feel works for your business, make it a goal to get all your paper documents digitized within the year. This can be a big project, but having a high-quality management system makes it so much easier.
There are many aspects of choosing a content management platform that are unique to clients’ needs. However, attributes like security, integration, user experience, and ease of converting paper documents to digital, are non-negotiables, regardless of your industry or goals. If you are in the market for the best content management platform, don’t overlook these simple and necessary traits. Interested in learning more? Contact Vasion today for more information.