With increasingly stringent legal and audit standards requiring companies to keep more and more records and a corresponding explosion in incoming paperwork, it’s no wonder that small to medium businesses are suffering from information overload.

Faced with this dilemma, many companies are taking a fresh look at their data strategy, and the advantages of a database focused environment that manages the company’s core operations. Growing companies in particular, are looking for a future-proof solution that can grow over time while delivering the functionality the business needs now. What’s more, good document management gives SMEs a secure yet flexible foundation for moving into the corporate arena. With more detailed and accurate data on customers, for example, marketing, service and customer loyalty can all be improved.

For example, a manufacturing company, the hop producers John I Haas, discovered the benefits of a sound Document Management strategy. Managers could be given the latest financial and production data as soon as they logged on to the system, to ensure accuracy and, as documents could be approved remotely, production processes could be significantly speeded up. For sensitive documents that need special handling to comply with regulatory standards, documents could be automatically routed to the appropriate approvers, thus helping to support compliance.