With so many companies working with remote teams and embracing the ‘mobile office’, access to business information and agile processes has become central to organisational growth and staying competitive. Ultimately, the effectiveness of remote work largely depends on accessing and sharing the documents you need anytime, anywhere – but for that, you need the right tools and methods.

Document management has long been a source of frustration for businesses, and that’s before we add hybrid or remote work into the equation.

Have you ever felt frustrated about spending too much time searching for an urgent document? Do you find that having various types of documents stored in different ways drains efficiency levels? Are you concerned that a lack of control over your data is leaving your business exposed to security breaches?

If your answer is yes to any of those questions, then this means that your business could profit greatly from implementing an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution. But what is it? And why should your organisation start considering it as an option right now?

ECM: One approach to solve multiple business pains

With the rapid growth of unstructured data and new types of content emerging, enterprises face increasing difficulties in taking control of their documents. Many organisations have their data and information scattered across different locations and formats – filing cabinets, Cloud storage, and portable storage to name but a few. This makes the task of information management needlessly tedious, causing employees to waste precious time searching for information.

And the facts speak for themselves. According to a McKinsey report, employees spend 1.8 hours every day on average searching for and gathering information which totals up to a whopping 9.3 hours per week. Viewed from a different angle, many workers spend one whole working day each week adding zero value to the organisation. Consequently, collaboration can also be negatively impacted as workers are unable to share important documents with colleagues or clients in a timely manner, adding extra stress and disrupting their workflow.

But poor document management does not only reduce work efficiency, but also makes businesses more vulnerable with regards to data protection and security. Unauthorised access to confidential information stored in unsecured areas can increase the risk of information leaks. If you don’t know where your data and documents are stored, then how are you going to protect them?

All these issues are just as irritating for office employees as they are for IT management to resolve. This is where Enterprise Content Management comes in to save the day, all while creating a robust information infrastructure.

ECM is a holistic approach to information management that integrates seamlessly with existing core business systems to manage, share and store content of different types. Each business is unique and there are several ECM tools available to fit with existing strategies, challenges and opportunities. Cutting-edge tools such as the Kyocera Smart Information Manager reduces the need for manual workflows and file searching by digitizing your business and allowing staff to centrally manage digital documents. It also facilitates collaboration by giving employees the power to easily share documents to different groups or users, regardless of where they are located.