Getting to Grips with Document Automation

Different companies and industries have different forms of data with varying degrees of importance. A broad classification of information could include customer, competitive, legal, and financial information, personally identifiable information (PII), data from daily operations, company structure and culture, and the network infrastructure.

A company’s documentation records are critical and traditionally, creating and maintaining these assets was a difficult task, prone to errors, which required a lot of manual resources and time to organize and generate. Fortunately, technology is a major enabler to digitize and automate manual tasks that gave rise to document automation.

Document automation is about automating the process of requesting, producing, signing, verifying, distributing, and storing all types of records. This modernized process has evolved into an important tool for today’s company operations. Automated documentation, with proper implementation, can aid in the development of accurate, high-value, important documents to a high, consistent standard. The process of swiftly extracting useful data from your IT environment and turning it into knowledge that can be reused is a benchmark for productivity and efficiency that contributes to a company’s success.

How to Implement Document Automation?

The technology needed to automate the documentation process is provided through documentation automation software. An intelligently designed document system will bypass redundant manual processes that are tedious and painful, especially given the changing needs of enterprises in today’s IT environment, and automatically route documents triggered by a request.

Automated documentation software was created primarily to address repetitive admin tasks while speeding up the document generation process across different teams or departments by using multiple document templates. This not only ensures excellent correctness, but it also saves time by completing difficult documentation in a couple of minutes. Users that need to assemble sophisticated, data-driven papers on a regular basis would also benefit from automation. In addition to saving time, the user may simply need to verify the documents are always accurate, properly formatted, and, most importantly, compliant.

Document automation solutions exist to simplify and improve processes by allowing the swift collection and sharing of documents while remaining certain that they have the most up-to-date information. The most effective tools reduce time, maintain accuracy, and collect data that ties document consumption to most task cycles.

Knowing What To Look For

Not all systems are equal. While there are specific technical requirements that each organization needs to consider, at a high-level, the core functions of a document automation solution should include:

☐ Remote access is available. You do need to rely on face-to-face contact or direct network access to produce, exchange, sign, or verify a document with anyone. It decreases the reliance on physical presence to continue with documentation work tasks. Anyone, regardless of their location should be able to quickly create records and then access, display, edit, and share those documents from their device.

☐ Offers intelligent content management. This allows the update and use of templates, digital form input and electronic signing, the building of custom workflows with approver roles, and enforcement of rules to ensure accuracy, compliance, and company standards. This automates conventional admin cycles so that operational tasks flow seamlessly without obstacles.

☐ Audit trails to maintain a record of system, document, and user activity. When used with other tools and procedures, audit trails can track documents, assist in detecting security violations, and flaws across the different processes. This is essential for compliance.

☐ Third-party integrations. By connecting with existing applications, there is no wasted investments but rather connecting systems for a truly secure paperless office. The value of document automation comes from its capacity to function as a safe content repository that is monitored and maintained as the single source of your documentation assets.

Your Document Automation Solution

The case for automation has never been more compelling. Most people admit they can spend anything from 10 to 40 per cent of their time performing mundane tasks like searching, modifying, and dealing with documents. This equates to almost 3 hours a day on non-essential tasks. KRIS Document Management System (DMS) improves the document creation process and gives you the benefits of automating routing workflows in the browser.

Document automation will work in any size company that wants to improve organization and control. It reduces paperwork, bureaucracy, and local storage, and the time spent on managing documents. A robust document automation solution will increase the effectiveness of your knowledge management process and decrease vulnerabilities and inaccuracies.