Document Retention
Every document has a lifecycle, beyond which it will not be used on a daily or regular basis. Any document that’s required for regular transactions will need to be readily accessible. For example, if an invoice has been paid for, it may no longer be required for regular access. This means the document has become inactive.
However, you cannot discard such documents. ECM allows you to ‘retain’ such documents for prospective future needs. They may be needed for fiscal or legal requirements. An ECM system will thus also help in managing the retention process.
Benefits of ECM for Email Management
Most of your employees spend a significant amount of their time dealing with emails. Email has become the most important communication medium in almost all industries. It is used for sharing different types of information. Whether the information is to be shared inter-office or with your clients or other stakeholders, email is a cost-effective and quick way to share almost all types of information.
Studies show that an average employee in an organization sends and receives hundreds of emails per day. Imagine the volume of emails sent and received by a single employee in a month. You can only imagine how many emails are sent and received annually within your organization. They can be in the tens of millions. Considering that emails are now big repository of valuable information, it has become more important than ever to manage emails more efficiently and effectively.
Email management can also be simplified with the help of ECM system. So how does this system help with this key aspect of your business?
Such an email management system will capture all the emails sent and received by your employees. It will index all the messages to make it extremely easy to retrieve any message with just a few keystrokes and clicks. An ECM system will also allow you to apply custom rules that determine the messages which are to be stored.
Remember regulatory compliance also applies to email management. Emails have to be managed and secured effectively to prevent any legal complications. The FRCP regulations have made it mandatory that organizations not only make electronic documents, including emails, secure but also easy to recover.
It is now important for organizations to have the knowledge of all the information they store, where it is stored and how it can be retrieved. ECM based email management allows you to access any email based on different search keys and make it available instantly.
Conclusion
Even in this age of digitization, majority of organizations continue to rely on paper-based documentation. According to surveys, over three-fourth of American companies continue to rely on paper documents. Most of them are unable to find any reliable and easy-to-use system for managing their financial data. An ECM system helps you address all these concerns while securing your data, reduce costs, and make your business more efficient.
Since 2002, Archiving Systems, Inc has been providing Laredo, Texas businesses with the document management solutions they need. From document scanning to installing software and providing technical support, we do it all. Contact us for more information about ECM.
