3 Reasons You Need Paperless Document Management Software for Your Business
Manual workflows, repetitive tasks, and keeping up with hardcopy paperwork just doesn’t make sense anymore. Our culture has gone digital, and companies that have yet to make the switch to paperless document management — whether they’re a mom-and-pop business, a Fortune 500 company, or somewhere in between — are going to get left behind.
Software can help make the transition to paperless seamless. Here are three ways a paperless document management system can benefit your business.
1 – Paperless Document Management Software Improves Workflow
How many times have you found yourself requesting or sending the same document to your clients over and over again? It’s frustrating — not only for you and your staff but also for your clients.
A powerful paperless document management system can enable you to send clients — whether it’s one, twenty, or a thousand — an email requesting exactly what you need. Clients can then securely upload the requested documents entirely online. The process is further streamlined with an integrated document management system and client portal that sends you notifications when clients complete requests. This means no more printing and scanning documents or wasting time playing phone tag or chasing down emails. This all leads to a better experience for yourself, staff, and clients.
And it helps your practice grow. Commonwealth Business Services in Fredericksburg, Virginia, prepared about 400 tax returns in 2019. After implementing paperless document management, the firm prepared over 670 returns in 2022. John Coleman, CPA, Owner, credits this growth to efficiency it gained through implementing technology.
“[Implementing a paperless document management software] really has allowed us to keep adding tax clients without having negative impacts on our ability to serve them efficiently,” he said.
2 – Going Paperless Makes It Easier for Staff and Clients to Work Together
“I never received that document. Can you just resend it?” — How many times have you received a client request like that, even though you know you sent the document via email a few days ago? Perhaps it’s in their spam or maybe they just overlooked it.
This was a reality for Christa Skoupy, CPA and her staff. They used to manually email encrypted PDFs to their clients. “Sometimes we had to email a client numerous times because they would lose the email or forget to download a document. It really became time-consuming,” she recalled.
Imagine how much easier and faster you could work if clients could access everything they need on-demand without asking for your assistance. You will also find this leads to happier clients and increased success. “We see great gains in efficiency internally,” Christa said, “but I’m most pleased with the time savings in client communications.”
And it’s not just about clients. As a business, you also must keep your staff productive and happy. “There’s nothing more annoying than when you’re doing your job and you keep getting roadblocks,” Sarah Jones from MoneyPad said on a SmartVault webinar.
By using paperless document management software, staff can take better ownership of tasks because they’ll know exactly where documents are located and if there are any outstanding requests or action items.
3 – Paperless Document Management Keeps Data More Secure
Your clients trust you with their most personal information, and you’re obligated to protect it. With cyberattacks happening more frequently than ever before, protecting your business and client data is a large obligation to meet — but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
“We need to ensure that we are handling all of our client data in a way that meets all regulations while giving ourselves and our clients peace of mind,” Robin Johnson, owner of TaxAssist Accountants Norwich North, said about moving to a digital workflow on the cloud.
With paperless document management software that’s in the cloud, your data is encrypted — which means it’s scrambled and unreadable — during transit and while at rest. You can also control who accesses each piece of data. Approved users must verify their identity via two-factor authentication to access it. When you use a secure online document management system, you can also see exactly what’s happening, like who created, accessed, downloaded, and deleted documents. And automatic data backup means you won’t lose anything to natural disasters, power failures, or human errors.
“From a business continuity, collaboration, and security standpoint, there really is no other way to work in the times we are living in,” Robin claimed.
Ready to Go Paperless?
When you choose a reliable paperless document management software and a trusted vendor, transitioning to a paperless process is a breeze. “The implementation of SmartVault was actually pretty simple,” said John. “Even right before tax season, there were no issues. In fact, I haven’t had a single complaint from my team.”
Interested in going paperless, too? Schedule a 15-minute demo with SmartVault to learn how. Built with bank-level security, SmartVault is the most secure way to store and share your documents.
