This guide is part of a series designed to help financial directors meet the challenges of running a successful and efficient business.

The Official FDs’ Code to Electronic Document Management focuses on the role of electronic document management; said to be one of the easiest and most effective ways of driving efficiency and reducing costs. Within most organisations, the battle for IT funding is extremely competitive and any spending must be shown to have a clear positive impact on the corporate bottom line.

In the finance department where the paper mountain is often at its worst, electronic document management can release a business from unreliable paper-based processes allowing instant document access resulting in effective cost control. Just consider how long it can take to find an original supplier invoice, a delivery note or a purchase order? The statistics are frightening: research points to 80% of employees wasting an average of half an hour per day retrieving information, and one survey suggests that the average document is copied 19 times.

Beginning an electronic document management initiative need not be expensive if
you choose a scalable solution that allows the addition of more tools as the business expands. It can make sense to start small; in the finance department for example, where the electronic management of data is widely used to help to reduce overdue payments.

We hope that this guide will answer some of your queries and will allow you to see why electronic document management tools are recognised for delivering high levels of ROI for a relatively low-cost of ownership. If you are looking for improved efficiency and reduced administrative costs for your business, read on.

Continue reading the Official FDs' Code to Electronic Document Management