American universities have been among the most respected institutions in the country and the world by educating future industry leaders and engaged citizens, and conducting ground-breaking independent research. But North America’s universities are struggling with budget cuts. In this article we’ll address three significant challenges facing universities today and how a single, powerful solution can help alleviate many of these concerns and help colleges and universities return to doing what they do best— research, education, and community outreach.
Funding Shortfalls
In just one year, state funding of higher education was slashed by nearly $10 billion in 2012. Each year, public universities must confront the constant threat of increased budget cuts while trying to serve students advanced education and supporting important research. Post-secondary institutions are struggling to find ways to do more while receiving less, and that’s where a simple and often-overlooked solution can come into play.
Enter the document management system, a powerful cloud-based solution that allows universities to move vast swaths of their paper documents into a digital database that’s highly organized, intensely secure, and 100% safe from accidental data loss. Without the profound costs of countless paper documents, universities who move even a small percentage of their documentation to the digital sphere see an increase in the amount of capital available to do what matters most at their university.
This level of cost-efficiency is critical to universities saddled with the task of constantly pushing their effectiveness to new heights while receiving less funding each year. Rather than being forced to choose among effective programs to cut, a document management system allows a form of cost saving that actually improves effectiveness and efficiency within the university. That’s an almost dream-like solution.
Barriers to Collaboration
Some of the most profound breakthroughs in science, technology, and health have been the direct result of collaborations between publicly-funded universities and private companies who share resources and expertise for the common good.
However, as an increasing percentage of research and collaboration takes place in the online world, researchers are finding a disturbing lack of technology that fosters collaborative research securely.
This is where a robust DMS can offer a simple solution to a significant issue. Powerful DMS providers like eFileCabinet offer streamlined file sharing that’s not only intuitive but also highly secure, ensuring that data gathered for important research meets the security standards necessary for ethics-board approvals and is never stolen and used for unlawful profit or sabotage. Additionally, eFileCabinet’s SecureDrawer software uses multiple backups in both physical and online locations, virtually eliminating the risk of accidental data loss.
Challenges to Access
Increased budget cuts have forced many institutions to raise tuition in order to acquire the necessary funds to function effectively. These raised costs can block out promising minds from being financially able to access college, which is counter to everything that universities stand for. No university should have to choose between losing programs or losing students.
As we’ve outlined above, a document management system can lead to a surprising decrease in costs associated with paper usage, work hours associated with physical document filing and organization, and costs associated with printing, storage, and couriering. While these costs may seem to be minimal, consider that the average office worker prints 10,000 pages per year, and each wasted page costs approximately $0.06. That’s $600 per year for one person.
As your university moves forward into the future, save money on the things that you’re better off without rather than being forced to lose the things that define who you are as an institution. To find out more about how eFileCabinet can save you money and transform your university for the better, fill out the form on this page to receive a free 15-minute demo.