Ponder this – Imagine a world where the burden of managing physical files is lifted off your shoulders and you no longer have to spend endless hours searching through rows of cabinets. Instead, picture yourself effortlessly locating, editing, copying, approving, and signing documents through a user-friendly electronic interface that enables seamless collaboration with other individuals in your network.
It is of general knowledge that document management has come a long way from the first wooden filing cabinets to modern cloud-based platforms. From the moment personal computers were connected to local networks; automation of key document workflows became one of the major drivers behind the evolution of the entire computer software industry. All of that with the added benefit of never-before-seen speed and efficiency.
Today, document automation plays a crucial role in nearly every industry where documents are created en masse on a regular basis and are, in fact, work deliverables or integral parts therein. Examples of such companies are law firms, real estate agencies, healthcare institutions, scientific centers, logistics businesses, and a multitude of others.
key benefits of document automation and the efficiencies they bring to the table
Faster document generation: When you use modern document automation software (for example, for contract management), it effectively takes care of time-consuming data entry tasks by pre-filling standard fields from various data sources, pulling from your company’s CRM.
For example Legal addresses of the parties names and titles of signers, contract number, contract date, up-to-date rate sheets, and standard provisions for a particular document type.A well-configured document automation workflow makes it easy to create clean, purpose-specific document drafts in just a matter of clicks, saving a lot of time and effort.
Configurable custom workflows: Different types of documents go through different approval scenarios involving specific groups of reviewers, approvers, and stakeholders. Modern workflow automation software provides the flexibility you need to build workflows of any complexity with end-to-end audit trails, easy tracking, and conditional routing. Moving your document exchange practices to the cloud lets you digitize your key documents, do away with sluggish and error-prone manual processes, and dramatically accelerate typical document signing cycles, which is a very important prerequisite for achieving higher revenue and profitability.
Information security and compliance: No matter the business, your documents are one of the most important part of your workflow, especially crucial for companies providing financial services or working with legal documents. All major document automation systems offer the benefit of storing your documents in a secure cloud with strict permission-based access. The signing process is fully electronic, does not require paper copies or file copies on users’ systems, and ensures that all documents remain in highly protected, well-organized storage.
On the compliance side, using standardized templates for digital documents that are updated on a regular basis and stored in a centralized way may help address the issue of staying consistently aligned with standards and rules that are often updated and amended by regulatory institutions and service providers.
Reduced risk of human error: When working on a new document by assembling it from fragments of older versions or similar documents, there is a risk of introducing inaccuracies, missing crucial provisions, and creating errors related to dates, numbers, and wordings. This approach can lead to mistakes that occur when dealing with lengthy and complex documents, However, a proficient document management system can effectively address these issues by managing formatting, maintaining version control, and overseeing other critical elements that document users may overlook, especially when under pressure to send the document.
Format Unification: Many of us can relate to situations where we had to draft a new document and found ourselves staring at dozens of previous ones, each with its own set of modifications and coming in different formats. Finding the right “starting point” and modifying it to meet the current requirements may be tedious, but it really doesn’t have to be.
With modern document management software, you always have a set of templates to use, which ensures format consistency across the board and makes all of your documents look the same, with all the right fields in the right places, all the important sections intact, and the original wording preserved to the letter. In addition, since you will no longer be dealing with paper documents, but with their digital copies, you’ll be able to update a single master template and have those changes automatically added to all the derivative documents!
Improved Collaboration: Modern document automation platforms go far beyond quick document assembly, convenient exchange of electronic documents, and e-signing. One of the most important pieces of their functionality is a set of collaboration tools that let your team work on documents from any location simultaneously and get things done much faster.
The less time you spend producing your contract or specification, the better the customer experience and the higher your chance of closing the deal. Don’t forget that faster document creation and document processing translate into more significant cost savings, as your cost per deal goes down.
Smooth Employee Onboarding Process
Document automation saves tons of time when it comes to onboarding new employees or clients. With a document automation solution, you can effectively streamline every stage of the automation process by submitting the right document at the right time, building email sequences, capturing users’ feedback, and updating your information systems.
Using Flowmono for better automation across the board
The benefits of automated document management we covered above are just the tip of the iceberg. Switching to Flowmono and taking full advantage of our powerful tools and the vast collection of document templates will most definitely help you optimize your business processes and start spending just a fraction of the time on tasks that used to take hours or even days.
Sign up today to better understand our range of document automation solutions for different teams and application areas!
