Exploring Workflow Basics: How Document Management Can Help Your Business

How to Identify the Workflows Already in Your Office

Workflows are the regular sequences and processes that we use in the workplace to accomplish tasks. These will naturally vary depending on your industry, but every office setting will have numerous workflows.

• Generally, most businesses develop their initial workflows by accident and exploration. When an organization takes on a new task, its employees must determine how to use the available resources to accomplish the goal. The solutions are seldom the most efficient ways to approach the problem and usually rely on the employees’ previous experiences.
• When workflows are efficient, they can increase employee efficiency across the board. Information is received and processed, then passed on to the appropriate team members for the next task. Ideally, there shouldn’t be much downtime between each action; thus, it is essential to develop simple, streamlined workflows.
• Common examples of workflow complications are bad habits, incomplete information and a lack of resources. Bad habits are usually developed by failing to examine the workflow for ways to do it better. Inadequate communication systems and a lack of teamwork can result in information problems.

Document management is a common theme within workflows for office workplaces. Whether it’s receiving information from the client, communicating within the team or producing documents for product development, your business needs to master this aspect of every workflow.

Incorporating New Approaches to Document Management

Every business needs to have some method of document management. Even restaurants, retail shops and barbers - whether it’s recording transactions or submitting orders to suppliers, there’s always a paper trail. Office-based businesses engage document management more directly, more commonly, and as a bigger part of their work. As companies continue to incorporate more digital technologies, these documents are more frequently digital.

Nevertheless, physical documentation is still inescapable. Receipts, inspections, working notes, certified communication and more each begins as physical documents but must be retained for the future. Historically, this need has led to bloated filing cabinets, complex organization systems and large quantities of wasted time digging up old documents. Such inefficient workflows warranted new technology to dramatically improve them for a digital workplace.

Introducing Kofax Solutions to Optimize Document Management

Kofax developed several solutions to the typical document management problems that businesses faced. These three programs focus on different aspects so that organizations may benefit most from one or a combination of them.

Power PDF
Power PDF offers your business many functions. It’s perfect for companies that create or edit PDFs digitally and occasionally need to scan documents. It integrates with Microsoft Office to let you convert PDFs easily between Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, as well as to JPG image files and back. The Power PDF dashboard also gives you the ability to combine or split PDFs, as well as improve usability with dynamic bookmarks and tables of contents. Multiple team members can work on PDFs simultaneously, and it works well with your company’s internal network to edit PDF files from anywhere, including using some cloud-based options such as Microsoft SharePoint.

OmniPage
Where Power PDF emphasizes working with PDF documents after scanning, OmniPage prioritizes document capture. It employs industry-leading OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to produce superbly accurate PDF scans of your physical documents. It can read both typed and handwritten text and allow your employees to search through any scanned document with ease. It uses your existing file structure to store new documents exactly where they’re needed based on the scanned content and works with most scanners today.

PaperPort
This software is the best option when it comes to organizing any document for digital access. You can use any device to capture information while on the go and upload it to a shared storage space. Improve cooperation between multiple offices and teams that are geographically split but unified in function. PaperPort incorporates many of the scanning features found in OmniPage with a focus on simplified organization. If your business has an excess of paper documents and physical clutter, then PaperPort can help your office become more organized.

Determining the Right Fit for Your Business

Every business is unique and your team won’t face the same problems as another office. Nevertheless, there are common challenges when it comes to document management and file organization. Kofax has developed multiple solutions and tailored each software option to address a broad set of obstacles that impede business workflows. There are several ways to determine which solution is correct for your business.

• Visit our productivity product page to compare or chat with a live rep to learn more.
• Explore each program’s datasheet or submit an information request through each product’s subpage to hear from a specialist who can answer any question about the software.
• Get a free 15-day trial to bring the program into your office. Experience how Power PDF, OmniPage, and PaperPort can each substantially improve the way that your team cooperates.

Whichever method appeals to you the most, our team is here to help you. When your team has exceptional software to help them efficiently overcome their challenges, your business is ready to Work Like Tomorrow.