Top tips for choosing the right EDM system

Paper documents are strewn across your desk, yet another supplier invoice has gone missing and the cost of posting documents is escalating. It’s time to invest in electronic document management (EDM). However, how do you go about choosing the most suitable solution?

From the outset, it is important to thoroughly assess your document management requirements. Ask yourself – which areas of the business will use EDM? Will it be used in just one department or rolled-out across the whole organisation? Which and how many documents will need managing electronically? By clearly knowing your company’s needs, you can quickly start to whittle down EDM suppliers.

Next, decide what level of functionality you require. Do you primarily need a document archiving solution or do you need to be able to electronically manage the entire document lifecycle from creation and delivery through to processing and storage? This will impact how functionality-rich your chosen EDM solution needs to be.

Does the solution need to integrate with any existing software, such as your finance and HR systems? The more sophisticated EDM solutions will be able to closely integrate with these systems, providing a more streamlined experience.

It is now time to ask the following questions of the suppliers:

• Do you author your own solutions or have a strong relationship with the author? This makes any bespoke enhancements easier to carry out.
• Do you have any accreditations or awards?
• Are you UK-based? You may find that a local provider is able to respond more quickly to your needs and better understand the UK legislative landscape.
• Can you supply customer references?
• What are your support and after sales services like?
• Do you have a clear technology roadmap for EDM? You don’t want to be purchasing a solution that is approaching end of life.
• How financially stable are you? You need evidence that the supplier will be around for a good number of years.

By considering all of these elements, you will be well on your way to choosing the perfect EDM solution for your business. Why don’t you start your search today?