The insurance industry uses a massive amount of paper every year, which costs a lot of money, hurts the environment, and is difficult to keep organized. In this modern age, there are a lot of ways to avoid this problem. Digital document management systems are perfect because they allow you to store, update, and transfer all of your insurance documents at any time from any computer with an internet connection. Insurance companies all over the world are starting to move their files to a digital format, and there’s no reason that your company can’t do the same. There are many benefits associated with doing so as outlined further below.
The Problem with Paper
Outside of the publishing industry, most of the world’s paper is used by insurance companies. Contracts, policies, and invoices are created daily and are usually many pages long, which causes 3 major problems. The first is the environmental impact—trees have to be cut down, and energy has to be used in the production of paper. Reducing your dependence on paper will also greatly reduce that impact.
Secondly, all the paper that’s used by insurance companies costs a lot of money to purchase. While an individual sheet of paper is incredibly inexpensive, adding up all the paper that you use every day will quickly show you how much of your budget goes toward something that’s not even necessary now that you can use the internet.
Lastly, simply organizing all your paper is a difficult task when you work in the insurance industry. You have to be ready to reproduce documents at any given moment, which means that you have to keep everything stored neatly so that you can easily find the document you’re looking for.
Using an Electronic Document Management System
You may not be able to go 100% paperless at your business, but using a digital file manager can:
- Make a positive impact on the environment
- Save you and your business a lot of money
- Make document organization a breeze
Digital document management systems allow you to create and maintain a virtual filing cabinet that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Good document management systems will give you plenty of options that allow you to manage your data your way. Certain features even allow you to do things like get eSignatures, which is a great feature to have when you work in insurance.
Choosing the Right System
Not all electronic document management systems will offer you the same benefits, so it’s important that you choose one that will work well for your business. To do this, there are few things you need to look for:
- Document storage: The most basic feature of a document management system is storage and retrieval of documents at any time.
- Document sharing: It should also be quick and easy to send documents to anyone in your company at the press of a button, especially through a client portal. Some document management systems will allow multiple users to edit a document, often at the same time.
- Simple user interface: The document management system should be easy to use and simple to learn. This will save time and increase efficiency, especially when training new employees.
- Good security features: This is arguably the most important feature, and will be discussed in further detail below.
The Importance of Security
The best document management systems will offer a variety of security features that will keep your company safe and your information confidential. There have been an increasing number of hacks and electronic theft taking place all over the world, and if your business falls victim, then it could be detrimental to your company as a whole. There are a few key security features that you should be looking for.
The first is encryption. Your data should be locked up tight when being stored or transferred to prevent any third party from accessing it. Second is role-based security—this lets you give certain employees access to certain documents at certain times. Finally, your document management system should be kept physically safe, meaning the servers that your information is stored on should be kept protected from outside influence at all times.
Working with eFileCabinet
When it comes to document management, over 150,000 people worldwide use and trust eFileCabinet to handle all of their needs. We are committed to staying on the cutting-edge of technology by implementing state-of-the-art features and providing unrivaled security for each of the individual documents that are stored on our servers. Some of these features include 256-bit encryption, role-based securities, built-in compliance with HIPAA for health insurance providers, SecureDrawer client portal, and third-party software integration. When it comes to insurance and accounting, our partnership with Sage gives our clients a whole host of unique features specific to the industry that they cannot find anywhere else.