DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT PROCESS: SCAN, SAVE AND SERVE

With many people working digitally and customers expecting almost instant customer service here are the benefits of adopting scanning and workflow technology to process paperwork.

Digital documents can:-

Ø  Be found quickly and easily using a simple keyword search. An often frustrating aspect of working in an office is being buried underneath a pile of paperwork. As a result, there’s a greater likelihood of an important document being mislaid, or taking ages to find. When a file is stored on a computer these problems should no longer be an issue.

Ø  You can choose how you want your scanned documents organised, whether by name of client, date, etc. The creation of a relevant folder, or by using your computer’s search facility, will mean that finding the particular scanned document will be achieved quickly and easily.

Ø  Over the course of a year, the amount of time saved on document searches will be considerable and aid a company’s efficiency. Searching in vain to find a paper document will be consigned to history, and you will now be able to find related documents from years or even decades ago with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Ø  Scanned documents can be easily distributed among other members of staff in an office, and, better still, this can be done instantaneously. Photocopying documents and then distributing them to employees, for instance, would be noticeably more time consuming and costly than digital documents.

Scanned documents save time and money, can be stored more securely, are easier to find and are good for the environment. All in all, replacing paper documents with scanned versions makes good business sense.

If you would like to find out more about how Document Management solutions can benefit your business, please get in touch with Julius or Fidelis on 08020619478/09806253912 or visit www.tecres.com.ng  - we look forward to talking to you.

How Document Management Can Help Your Auditing Process As A Small Business In Nigeria

An audit is an inspection of your organisation’s financial reports, systems and processes. This is to ensure that the correct procedures are being followed and you are free from impending risk. Auditing process also helps you highlight any discrepancies between your policies and your procedures.  i.e. Auditing helps you align what you should be doing with what you are actually doing.

One of the biggest challenges of auditing is that auditors are known for requesting for a lot of documents that you might think are irrelevant. If you rely on manual processes to manage your documents, you would have a little hiccup tracking all your documents because they would be scattered in different places. You would agree with me that manually managing documents is really cumbersome and it requires lots of time and effort and resources. What do you think will happen to your business if a document had been misfiled or lost and was inaccessible to you and your auditors? Bad processes or employees not following the correct procedures could result in non-compliance. And non-compliance of industry regulations can have a serious business, financial, legal and reputational implications. The introduction of a Document Management system can help you manage your documents, streamline your business processes and provide visibility of compliance actions.

 A Document Management system integrates seamlessly with your existing in-house applications and works intelligently ‘behind the scenes’ to link all of your applications together and easily share information between them.

Here are 3 ways in which Document Management can help your company to be audit-ready:

Document Security

With a document management system in place, you don’t have to worry about how to secure your business most important documents. Even after storing those documents you can set user permissions for your staff and control who has access to which documents and how they can use them. So you are sure your documents are in the hands of the right people.

Consistent Procedures

With business rules and workflow in place, you know that the correct procedures are always followed. Escalate approvals and reviews to ensure deadlines are not missed. Alerts will highlight any deviation from the rules automatically. Handle exceptions consistently by creating a separate workflow with its own set of rules. Using Electronic Workflows increase efficiency and accuracy.

Easy Auditing Process

With a document management enabled platform, auditors have secure access to your documents and inspection can be done without any disruption from you or your colleague. With powerful keyword search functions of a Document Management system, documents needed for audits are available in seconds. During the inspection, auditors can simply export any information they need in a digital format, saving everyone time and money.

If you would like to find out more about how Document Management solutions can benefit your business, please get in touch with Julius or Fidelis on 08020619478/09806253912 or visit www.tecres.com.ng  - we look forward to talking to you.

Saving Your Document From Risk With a Document Management Software

Are your records manageable, or are they complete mess? If your company has to store a lot of records, you need to make sure that they are organized and readily available. If your records are not well-managed or organized, then it might be time to consider Tecres Technologies. Tecres will work directly with your company to customize a document management solution that will streamline your records management process. Our solution will reduce risk and increase process efficiencies.

Records provide the evidence of your company’s activities, and can encompass a wide range of documents including purchase histories and employment records. Records are unique documents, in that they are often held to compliance standards and they often must be retained for a certain period of time. Failure to retain documents can lead to costly fees and general disarray.

If you are manually processing paper records, then your documents are susceptible to loss, theft or damage. Lost or damaged documents can lead to compliance failure, often involving costly fines. Tecres technologies will maintain your records in a central, digital depository. Therefore, you will always know where your important records are located, and will no longer need to scramble to locate specific records.

Records management software will classify, store and maintain data in accordance with company standards and government compliance. Tecres will help your company take control over your workflow, keeping documents for their required retention periods.

Tecres Technologies will automate your records to ensure that they are in accordance with compliance standards and regulations. If you are manually processing your records documents, then you are probably wasting a lot of time and money trying to ensure compliance standards. Automated records will provide your company with revamped efficiency, allowing you to redirect your employees towards more important projects. Your company will enjoy cost-savings for years to come as you will cut costs on labor, supplies, storage, etc.. Tecres will do the work so you don’t have to.

If you a SMEs owner or an entrepreneur that wants to protect important business documents, you can begin the process by reaching out to Julius or Fidelis on 08020619478/ 08062539412 to get a free consultation.

4 Ways Going Paperless Will Help Your Small Business and Environment

In this 21^st century, we have seen technology evolving like never before. 10 years ago, there was nothing like a smartphone that can perform the same function as a laptop but now, not only are those devices available they are also affordable. As the years go by, we have seen noticed an increase in the need to go paperless.

Going paperless offers a lot of benefit for you as in individual who is just starting a business and has limited resources to spend. It offers a lot of benefit ranging from slashed storage, printing and email management costs. Going paperless is also a great way to keep your document secured and can help keep your office space clutter free.

Today, we’d be sharing with you some more benefits of going paperless especially as a start-up entrepreneur;

Save Money

There are so many benefits of opting for a document management system and trusting Tecres technologies to carry you through the process of choosing software that is best for your business. As the sub-title suggests one of the major driving force for being going paperless is the fact that the can save the money used in acquiring papers and file cabinets.  Once all your documents are organised in one system with document management software, you will totally eliminate the need for paper in your business. Not only will you save thousands of Naira by cutting paper cost, you will also save space and money on document space.

RELATED POST: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Choose Tecres Technologies 

Contributing to a Healthier Environment

Going paperless is a great way to create a sustainable and eco-friendly environment.  Papers and other paper materials are made from raw materials sourced from trees. Trees are continually cut down, forest destroyed for there to be a continuous production of paper. As all these deforestations are being done, they have a severe impact on the air that we breathe.

Saving Time and Effort

By choosing to go paper-free with Tecres Technologies, you have signed up to a life free of cumbersome paper. Reducing the number of papers you file by adopting a document management system will also relieve you of the stress of filing, organising and retrieving of these documents when you need them. With a document management system in place, your employees don’t have to work tirelessly trying to file a lot of paper documents thereby giving them more time to do other important tasks.

RELATED POST: Cut Storage Cost With Us At Tecres Technologies 

Documents Are Accessible Anywhere Anytime

With a document management system in place, you and any member of your employee can easily access any of your organisation’s important documents without necessarily being in the office. When your company depends on the regular paper filing system, time and effort are spent trying to manage these documents.  Human error can contribute to these documents getting lost or misplaced due to incorrect filing. With our help, all of your important information is accessible at the same time wherever you are in the world. 

When it comes to document management for small business, Tecres technologies is one that will help you go through the process smoothly. If you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you can get started with the process of going paperless by calling Julius or Fidelis on 08020619478/08062539412 to get a free consultation.

5 Reasons Why Human Resources Managers Should Embrace Document Management System.

If you are thinking about departments with the largest amount of paper documents in an organisation, you would be thinking of the account and human resources departments. This means that these two departments have lots of documents to be stored and archived. It also means that the documents should be kept in such a place that they can easily recall when there is a need.

Making provision for professional document management software is a creative thinking approach to improving the way documents are kept and managed in the Human resources department for the following reasons;

RELATED: The Cost of Paper documents in an Organisation

1.      Increase Productivity and Efficiency

With a document management system in place, HR documents such as application letters, Resumes, employment forms and others could be stored electronically. This makes it easy for staffs of that department to easily access any document when there is a need. This electronic filing of HR document increases efficiency and productivity because there would not be a need for a filing cabinet or a filing officer. It would also hasten the approval of most HR Process as the head of the HR department can easily get access to an employee’s file without having too many papers flying around his/her table. The case of missing documents would also be a thing of the past and training materials could be easily disturbed to the entire staff of an organisation without having to print a lot of papers.

RELATED: Document Scanning for Educational Institutions 

2.      Document Security

Human resources department is usually saddled with the responsibility of managing different types of data which are most times confidential. With an electronic document management system in place, HR managers don’t have to worry about safeguarding confidential documents. This software eliminates the use of paper and also prevents documents from being stolen, destroyed or modified without authorized permission. A good document management software will also provide the necessary security for your electronic files.

3.      Reduces Cost

In the business world we know that time spent is also calculated as money spent and with the help of a document management system, you can reduce the time and money you spent on preserving your documents. This is going to be really effective and useful for employees who spend more than half of their time doing manual sorting and filing of documents.

Automating and streamlining many of these duties of sorting, filing and archiving documents with adequate document management software would imply that there would be a reduction in the number of admin staffs needed as a result you save something for the business. You can also save cost from photocopies, postal deliveries, cabinets and files.

4.      Enhances Collaboration

With document management software in place, documents can be retrieved and modified while access is denied to others while the documents are still being used. This function can help reduce duplication of vital documents. The collaboration feature on such software allows multiple users to view and modify a document at the same time.

RELATED: Benefits of E-Archiving Your Documents

5.      Eliminates Human Error

When it comes to human beings dealing and handling a large volume of documents, mistakes are bound to happen. Having too much paper at the same time on a table or in a particular location can cause cluster and clusters increase the chances of documents being lost or misplaced. With document management software in place, you are sure to have a reduction in error because they are usually electronically imputed. 

Call Julius on 989920619478 or visit www.tecres.com.ng to get a free document management quotation for your small business.

5 Ways To Use Document Management To Increase Your Small Business Efficiency

If you run a business in Nigeria or knows someone that has a personal business, you’d agree with me that running a business is not child’s play. If your business is at the beginning stage, you’d be conversant with the fact that you are your own accountant, auditor, customer service representative and even the Chief Operating Officer of that business. Handling all of these responsibilities can be overwhelming especially if you have limited resources.  With resources constraints, you are often left with a choice between saving costs in the short term and investing in long-term growth through sound management practices.

With document management software meant for small business, you can effectively run your small office like a standard one and still save money. Here are 5 ways in which document management software can help you to improve the efficiency of your small business;

1.       Get a paper Free Office with Built-in Scanning Capabilities

As you settle in into the world of an entrepreneur, your papers begin to grow because you are paying for bills, signing contracts, sending and receiving emails. As the piles of papers begin to heap, you’d begin to feel the need to digitize your business process. The first step is to scan and save all your archived paper documents in a digital format.

A good document management software program has inbuilt scanning features that you can use to scan documents individually as well as in batches. These scanned documents can then be saved in pre-specified folders. This will make sure that you can access those files on your screen anytime you want them.

2.       Multi-user access enables you to get work done faster

As a growing business or a start-up, you might have people working for you as freelancers and these freelancers may need the same documents that you have but you may not necessarily have the same job description. To make it easy for everyone to access such document at the same time without any trouble is to get document management software that would store the documents in a centralised database. So with this, the software would be installed on individual computers but the documents are not created in multiple copies.  This would help save precious space and would also give you the opportunity to work on a document that is not on your own computer.

3.       Email, Fax and Printer Features for Improved Internal and External Communication

There are some document management software that allows you to store emails from your multiple accounts. This means that you don’t need t sin I to your various email accounts to view your emails. (That sounds Interesting, right?) To refer to those emails containing an information that you need, all you need to do is to fall back on your document management software. If you need to fax a document, you can do that too from within the application. The interesting thing about this software is that you can also print documents even though they are not stored on your computer.

4.       Folder Structure Retention During Import Saves Time and Effort

Certain document management software would allow you to import your existing folder structure at once and retain it. This means that you have saved several days of time and efforts that would be used in creating folders and sub-folders and checking of the documents are in the right folders.

5.       User-Friendly Interface Helps you Get Productive in Hours

If you have ever used the Microsoft Outlook email communication platform; you’d agree with me that it is one of the best interfaces for office communication. This is because everything is neatly arranged where you can easily find them. The menu folder fits nicely in the left sidebar while the main menu appears at the top of your screen. There is actually document management software that is designed like the Microsoft Outlook. This simply means that, once you install into your system, you can start working with it right away.

                When you have software that has these features and more that can help you manage the tasks efficiently and with ease, you can be assured that all your business goals are achievable.

                When it comes to documenting management for small businesses Tecres Technologies is one that can help you with it. If you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you can get started with document management now by calling  Julius or Fidelis on 08020619478/08062539412 to get a free consultation.

The Cost of Paper Documents in Any Organisations

The cost of archiving can easily be overlooked in most organisations. However with the recent downturn in Nigeria, other African and oil producing Nations, the recurrent expenditure can be channeled to other significant business needs.

There is no gain saying that organisations cannot survive without keeping history of back office operations in document archives, but these costs can be a daunting responsibility where organisations are attaining more edge with slimmer budgets.

Consider the following tangible and intangible re-occurring budget cost in handling your paper document archive:

• Cost of rent of space
• Cost of file racks and/or cabinets
• Cost of missing document
• Cost of misfiled documents
• Cost of flood and/or disaster
• Cost of printing
• Cost of duplication
• Cost of access
• Cost of retrieval
• Cost of wear and tear
• Cost of handling
• Etcetera.

Also consider the cost of digitisation, which is the cost of buying high-end fast document scanners, cost of buying computers, cost of buying electronic and/or cloud storage device and cost of technical know-how in converting paper archive to digital format.

To some, the cost of the latter may be huge compared to the cost of the former as a result of the number of years in business and the volume of document in archive. But, the fact remains that those seemingly intangible cost of paper archive builds over time while the cost of digitisation drastically reduces over time. The benefits of going digital far outweighs its cost.

Julius Macaulay is a seasoned Enterprise Content Management consultant with over 12 years of providing #ECM #EDMS #BPM solutions and services to diverse business sector.

The Importance of HTML Meta Data to Organizations Social Branding

The history of search engine can't be completed without the mention of meta data. They are used to provide search engines with information about their websites using relevant meta elements placed inside the section of HTML page.The meta elements are title, description, keywords, author, etc. In another word, meta data are data about the data on a webpage. They are not visible on webpage when viewed on a browser, but it makes website machine parsable that is convenient readable format. Internet browsers use meta data to control how contents of a website are displayed or loaded. It encourages web content to make the best first impression possible.

Before now, search engines spiders used basically meta data information to determine website presence and rank it accordingly. As a result, website developers ensured that the meta tags were heavily stuffed with bloated keywords related or not. Search engines are now more sophisticated using algorithms based on the entire webpage content and not just the meta data.The relevance of meta data today is primarily to validate the relativity to content and site position.

Search engines crawls through billions of website on the internet and builds an index listing on it web servers. When a search is performed, the search engine crawls through the index and returns relevant answers to the query. The alternative method for search engine to find website is the quality of the page content. A high-quality content, what other user are saying about the website and how popular the website is (trend) are all alternative for search engines to find website. The reliability of an author can also be used to find website.

Nevertheless, the rest of the meta data may not be very important to search engine spiders as it were some years back, but the Title, Description and Keywords tags still shows up when a website is found. According to SurveyMonkey, it was discovered that 43.2% of people click on a given result due to well-articulated meta description. The description which can be termed website summary increases click through rate of a visitor to any website.

The clickable link information of a website is taken from the title tag. It also determines if a user will click a page or not even after it is discovered by the search engine algorithm.

In my conclusion, HTML meta data may not be important to search engines in finding a website, it is still relevant to visitors click through rate from the search result pool.