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6 signals that it’s time to start processing documents electronically

Organizing and processing documents are issues that every company struggles with, whether it’s a company of a few people or a huge corporation with hundreds of employees.
 
If you feel that you are not fully in control of your company’s documents, it is worth considering why this is the case and what you should work on.
 
Wanting to make it easier, we have put together 6 signals that may indicate that perhaps it’s time to break with tradition and start processing documents electronically, which means more efficiently, faster and… cheaper!
Table of content:
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1. Many of the company’s employees began working remotely

We have been living in a pandemic reality for almost a year now. The reality of 2020 and concern for one’s own safety has prompted many employees to switch from office to remote work modes. At a time when most employees are performing their duties from their homes, traditional paper document processing is very difficult and generates more and more costs – not only financial, but also time. This state of affairs is compounded by increasing communication difficulties (it is much more difficult to communicate via instant messaging than to approach a colleague in the next room with a request for help), lengthening processes for collecting signatures on contracts (a courier or cab has to visit each person authorized to sign in a different location) and document clutter. An electronic document processing system solves these difficulties and is ideal for companies working primarily remotely.

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2. Lack of clear procedures

How do you know if a company lacks clear procedures? By how new employees are welcomed and how quickly they begin to function smoothly within the company’s structures. If new employees are lost in the processes for a long time, don’t know who they should turn to and who is responsible for what in the company, it’s a sign that it’s time to change something and streamline the company’s procedures to the point where they are clear even to the newly hired team members.

3. Sometimes documents get lost in the office

Has it ever happened that you were nervously looking for some contract and found it lying under a pile of papers on the desk of one of your employees?
 
This is a sign that you need to think about how to keep your documents in order. The best and most efficient way is to work on documents electronically and archive them in the same form. This way, no document will ever get lost again, and in case of need, it only takes a few clicks to find a contract – even one from several years ago.
 
Such an opportunity is provided by Hatiroo® – an electronic document workflow system integrated with Microsoft 365®.

4. Collecting signatures on contracts takes too much time

The traditional collection of manual signatures takes a lot of time.

If it bothers you that you waste long hours to deliver a paper document to all authorized persons, and the CEO complains about having to initial multi-page contracts, you should definitely think about implementing an electronic document workflow system integrated with an electronic signature platform.

With such a solution, you will be able to quickly and efficiently provide signatures on electronic versions of company documents.

Does implementing an electronic workflow pay off?

5. Clutter of working documents hinders the creation of a coherent version of the final

Chaos has traditionally often reigned in companies that create, process and sign documents. Anyone who has ever worked with several departments on the content of a single agreement knows how much mess and misunderstandings can arise. Sending successive updated versions of a document between each other almost always generates problems in arriving at which one is the final one. It is very common that at the end of the work we have several theoretically final versions, which one person must then put together a coherent whole. This is not easy! If you start processing documents electronically and choose a system integrated with a tool for collaborative work on documents, such as Microsoft 365, each person involved in the creation of the contract will be able to work on the same version of the document. You will forget about the problems of merging changes, and each edit will be automatically archived, so in case of any problems you will be able to quickly go back, for example, to the version from three days ago.

6. The company is looking for savings

Electronic document processing costs less than traditional ones! Is that hard to believe? And have you ever analyzed how much it costs:
  • the printing and printer service itself,
  • the time it takes to sign contracts
  • the time it takes to coordinate document processing, merge changes or work with email,
  • the services of couriers and cab drivers who drive documents between authorized signers.
Adding up these amounts adds up to a really hefty sum, at which the cost of a license for an electronic workflow system, such as Hatiroo, is small – especially if your company generates a minimum of 10 documents per month.
 
Using Hatiroo’s electronic document workflow system is a cost that starts at €269/month. That’s quite little, isn’t it? And the more contracts you sign, the reduction in cost relative to traditional paper document processing becomes more and more noticeable.
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Author:
Krzysztof Rosół, CEO Hatiroo®

Expert in workflow and electronic signatures. He has been designing business processes and advising his clients on workflow efficiency for more than 15 years. He is the architect of many workflow system solutions, including the Hatiroo® system.

49he7wau 1

Author:
Krzysztof Rosół, CEO Hatiroo®

Expert in workflow and electronic signatures. He has been designing business processes and advising his clients on workflow efficiency for more than 15 years. He is the architect of many workflow system solutions, including the Hatiroo® system.

 

Ekspert w dziedzinie obiegu dokumentów i podpisów elektronicznych. Od ponad 15 lat projektuje procesy biznesowe i doradza swoim klientom w zakresie efektywności pracy. Jest architektem wielu rozwiązań systemów do obiegów dokumentów, w tym systemu Hatiroo®.

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