Financial services organizations need to keep confidential and secure corporate and client information that can be accessed quickly and readily available to a variety of stakeholders, including advisors and third parties. So, it is imperative to have an efficient way to manage this information.
Efficient lease documentation and management platform can integrate disparate documents for better control, access, and process efficiency. In addition to providing ease of access, it facilitates information retrieval, security, and governance, and reduces operational costs. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly important to maintain proper records management for auditing, legal, and compliance purposes.
There are multiple options for asset finance companies when it comes to digitizing and better management of documents. It doesn’t matter whether you choose specialized external software or an integrated, end-to-end asset leasing management software that is integrated with all your lease documentation needs like digitalization, document management, and contract management. Let’s take a closer look at what organizations and lessors need to think about when choosing an information and document management solution to advance their practices.
What Is Enterprise Document Management
Document Management Systems (DMS) are systems that organize, secure, digitize, and manage documents electronically. They emerged from the necessity of shifting away from paper-based offices with manila folders and filing cabinets. Document management now plays a more vital role in the enterprise tech stack, facilitating workflows and bridging disparate repositories into a centralized hub. Most document management systems use the cloud to store data, but they are much more than just a place where enterprise documents are uploaded.
Companies today need to have a clear strategy and tools for their document management processes. Electronic data management (EDM) strategies enable organizations to organize, process, review, store, retrieve, and dispose of documents electronically as well as determine when each step should be completed. By implementing EDM, businesses can increase efficiency by adjusting their processes.
In addition to providing a single view of an enterprise’s documents, document management systems provide workflow tools to monitor and control modifications. Better document management not only helps with better documentation but also integrates with various other enterprise applications like Microsoft Office, Salesforce, and other collaborative platforms. This creates a more efficient sharing of information across workstreams. EDM systems should be able to integrate with other applications easily since users generally work with multiple tools in their workflow.
An organized workflow can decrease bottlenecks and maintain efficiency within a company with better document management. Document version control and security make it easy for users to track who has access to certain documents and what changes have been made by other users, ensuring an organized workflow.
Savings On Cost, Effort, And Time: The right document management reduces the paperwork and the associated time-loss, storage costs, and efforts that come along with it. Lesser paperwork-intensive processes mean that everything is handled digitally so it takes less time to find filing, re-filing, and deliver documents. This means you can do more now with an existing or lesser number of resources and time.
Better Access And Visibility: By digitizing and centralizing the documents which makes the lease documentation and files easily accessible to authorized users. This ensures the homogeneity of information, improves collaboration between different departments and teams and that documents are always up to date.
Faster, Seamless Processes: By moving papers out of the way, tasks can be processed more quickly using automation, which surely improves the organization’s efficiency. With document management solutions, employees can focus on their work instead of searching for documents they need because the automation processes that come with them enhance the quality of work.
Enhanced Security: A modern-day lease management software along with a document management system allows users to set up permission settings for each document and determine whether employees from other departments can see, edit, or create them. It also provides password protection and defines user rights and security in terms of employee mapping. Each owner of a document knows with whom their files are shared so access can be allowed or revoked as needed.
Ensuring Uniformity: Advanced lease management software like Odessa provides industry-approved templates and helps you with lease/loan document generation and versioning, which ultimately helps you to build uniformity.
Intelligent Workflow: To effectively manage your documents, you must be able to easily locate important data and documents. The primary benefit of having a document management platform is its ability to create an efficient workflow for employees, customers, and third-party partners.
What To Look For In A Document Management System
Choosing the right system requires reviewing and assessing your specific needs and then selecting the platforms that provide you with the value you need to achieve short- and long-term goals. Equally important is having a core lease management software that either integrates seamlessly with your third-party DMS or provides you with enough features so that you don’t need an external system to manage docs. Things to consider include factors like:
- Having a complete understanding of the different kinds of documents you handle and their volume
- How does the system integrate with your core lease management software and other third-party systems like collaboration tools?
- Document templates and versioning
- What is the level of security needed for various docs and access control?
In addition to these considerations listed above, the system your organization decides to move forward with should provide you with the benefits mentioned in the above section to allow your organization to run your business more efficiently and make your life easier.
About Odessa
Headquartered in Philadelphia, USA, Odessa is a software company exclusively focused in the leasing industry. The Odessa Platform powers a diverse customer base globally, providing end-to-end, extensible solutions for lease and loan origination and portfolio management. Odessa facilitates business agility through rich feature sets including low-code development, test automation, reporting and business intelligence to ensure organizations can more effectively align business and IT objectives. Learn more at www.odessainc.com