4 qualities of a good Document Management partner

It’s concerning that 82 percent of employees believe that productivity suffers because of poor document management. In fact, eight in 10 workers have to recreate documents that already exist because they can’t find them on their network.

For Apogee, statistics like these are why we get up in the morning. We help organisations of all shapes and sizes streamline their records management, by empowering teams to access the information they need from anywhere, and at any time.

Having the right tools for this is important. Especially considering only one in four people report the use of a Document Management system at their business. But implementing effective document management is about more than setting up a platform.

It’s about active communication and strong collaboration. It also calls for a touch of heart and soul to ensure we meet and exceed the needs of our customers.

So, here are four qualities of a good document management partner:

1. Generating and maintaining long-term trust

When it comes to Document Management partnerships, trust means more than ‘getting the job done’. Instead, it means working with customers to understand their unique pain points. And it means finding the right solution that guarantees a successful outcome.

Take our work with the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust. Before we stepped in, they were struggling with their study leave application process as it consisted of passing paper documents between managers for approval. To combat this, we created an eForm solution that any employee could access via the Trust's intranet.

For this project however, the Trust needed a long-term reliable solution. We created long-lasting success and trust by integrating our work into the NHS Electronic Staff Record system, so that new employees would have a new case file created for them automatically in Therefore as they moved from applicant to employee.

From this, our dynamic e-forms populated themselves with the employee metadata and routed to the right managers for authorisation.

When it comes to your business’s strategic partnerships, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. A good Document Management partner understands this. They tailor projects to your needs, building trust every step of the journey.

2. Investing in active collaboration

According to McKinsey, “Companies with advanced supplier-collaboration capabilities tend to outperform their peers.”

This was the case for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust when we overhauled their HR system. Our first test was to introduce eForms for their pregnancy risk assessments. To get the new system running like clockwork, we needed to collaborate with 42 different departments during the scanning process.

With everyone on-board, we created traceable and compliant pregnancy risk assessments. Sure, this resulted in a reliable Document Management process. But it also improved the efficiency of their operations, making the Trust more agile and more competitive than ever before.

3. Leading with empathy

For the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Trust project, collaboration wasn’t the only factor that led to success. Empathy was vital, particularly while the Trust were facing difficult times.

In 2020, the Trust badly needed real estate to increase treatment capacity and allow for distanced working. Datatron listened intently to their problems, understanding the importance for both for the Trust’s staff and their patients. With military precision, the Datatron team moved and digitised over a million records from an offsite warehouse, freeing up space and maintaining accessibility of healthcare data.

Datatron offered flexible and, more importantly, reactive support to work alongside the Trust’s unique needs and provide solutions to their problems. If they needed access to particular documents mid-project, we made sure they had it as soon as possible.

4. Communication, communication, communication

Effective communication is the cornerstone of a successful Document Management project. And when it comes to the right partner, clear expectation setting is critical from the get-go.

This was the case for Reyrolle & Company. The British engineering firm found themselves in a unique situation. They needed to digitise their huge archive of more than 300,000 microfiches, but on a shoestring budget.

We listened to this need and set out to find a solution within the bounds of their budget. Instead of digitising every file, we implemented a Digital at Point of Access process for their 120-year-old microfilm archive.

Now, their engineers can access digital copies of their huge archive of more than 300,000 microfiches, anywhere, any time. What’s more, Reyrolle & Company avoided the upfront costs that typically come with digitisation projects of this size.

Intelligent communication was the catalyst of success here. Clear expectation setting on both sides made the project work for everyone.

Iterative innovation, exceptional digitisation

At Apogee, we understand that a solution implemented today might not be the best solution tomorrow. Instead of working on ‘one and done’ projects, we partner with our customers for the long haul. This lets us bring about a culture of iterative innovation and exceptional digitisation.

To learn more about digitising your documents, contact us today by using the form below.