As we’re jetting off to the next meeting, we count on our airline to provide a smooth flight ”“ avoiding turbulence and lavishing us with peanuts as we fly; and the plane is contoured to reduce wind resistance. That your fellow passengers won’t cause friction is not guaranteed. A document management system (DMS) operates similarly, helping you smooth chaotic business processes into streamlined and controlled tasks. Unnecessary steps are removed, and waste is reduced, enabling your business to function more consistently with fewer internal disruptions. Here are several areas where a document management system improves workflow efficiency.
Table of Contents
Toggle1. Document Storage
A primary purpose of a document management system is to improve how your company stores and shares critical and confidential documents. Virtual data rooms allow you to upload protected documents, assign permissions for document access, collaborate with internal and external users to move documents through revisions and approvals, and monitor how documents are managed.
It takes less than 10 minutes to set up a CapLinked Workspace and a few clicks to establish security, permissions and notification settings. Unlimited uploads can be made directly from your browser without plugins or through SafeLink, CapLinked’s desktop uploader.
2. Asset Sales and Purchases
The complexity of buying and selling assets becomes more straightforward with a document management system. A DMS provides a central repository of documentation about tangible assets such as buildings, land, equipment, receivables and inventory as well as appraisal information for intangibles like goodwill, customer lists, trademarks and patents. The paperwork associated with the deal can be shared, downloaded and reviewed by all parties, with an audit trail throughout the process.
3. Project Management
A document management system also helps teams responsible for overseeing the planning and execution of projects. Requests for proposals can easily be created and shared along with relevant attachments such as blueprints, permits and licenses. Once a project is underway, activity tracking allows your teams to verify document status. A DMS facilitates communication with team members to ensure everyone is on the same page throughout each stage of the project.
CapLinked’s proprietary DealTracker system contains an intuitive dashboard so you can quickly move across pages instead of creating and sharing spreadsheets. New projects can be added quickly and easily, then organized by stage. Custom stages and notification updates make the system work for you.
4. Legal Compliance
Making sure your organization is aware of and obey all the laws and regulations about managing the business, the teams, and interactions with customers require a high level of organization and clarity. A document management system provides a secure platform for posting, sharing and communicating guidelines and specifications.
The unique requirements around patents and intellectual property are more easily followed using a DMS. Partners, law firms and investors can share and view sensitive information, sign NDAs, track user activity and even revoke access to downloaded documents if necessary. This is a huge difference between a tool like this and Dropbox.
5. Audits
Being scrutinized for errors, inconsistencies or unethical conduct is nerve-wracking, with mistakes representing lost dollars and, in some cases, lost jobs. A DMS helps your team with the audit workflow by ensuring proper access, authentication and retention protocols are in place. In addition, the system facilitates locating and retrieving documents and offers security features preventing document modification or unintentional deletion.
6. Financing
Raising capital for your business seems to be more challenging in the current economic environment, and the due diligence workflow can be labor intensive. A document management system centrally stores contacts, logically organizes files, and can be structured to notify investors when documents are updated. Collaboration with internal and external teams can be monitored, and financing documents made more secure with watermarks, download prevention and print-blocking.
7. Mergers & Acquisitions
With at least 20 essential due diligence areas in an M&A transaction and each having multiple elements, document management in the M&S process includes contracts, financial statements, property lists, customer and supplier information, insurance policies, and organizational charts. Workflow tools in a document management software can help your team organize, share, and revise critical files while maintaining the necessary accessibility and security to get the deal done right.
CapLinked’s quick and easy DMS set-up saves time, allowing you to focus on the deal. Sharing documents across organizations becomes safer with CapLinked’s industry-leading security and customizable permissions.
Enterprise file sharing for your project or deal becomes streamlined with CapLinked’s secure document management system. We’ve structured our solution to be user-friendly ”“ no plug-ins or extraneous downloads required. Security credentials and customizable permissions remove the worry of document mismanagement. With CapLinked, your paths to success are clearer and easier to follow.