Collaborative tools to support the post-pandemic workforce

Editorial Type: Opinion Date: 2021-08-19 Views: 1,247 Tags: Document, Covid-19, Collaboration, Workflow, Security, Cloud, DocuWare PDF Version:
Eugene Young, Country Director, UK/Ireland, DocuWare, examines the need to embrace a new hybrid workforce, and what organisations need to succeed

The vast new remote workforce has completely reshaped global businesses. Within record time business leaders have had to create an environment within their organisation where employees can operate 'normally' from any device, any time, anywhere.

The challenges presented by the pandemic have been a call to action for businesses to undertake a digital transformation immediately. Aspects of work life, such as onboarding employees, invoice processing and managing team collaboration, were far easier to do in a single physical space. However, the pandemic has forced businesses to quickly adapt to a new work environment and be much more flexible to employee needs. Developing an internal structure that allows employees to collaborate seamlessly and securely from anywhere is now essential.

Because of this, tools that make it easier to work together when apart are proving to be worthwhile investments for businesses of all sizes and industries. Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a notable surge in cloud, cybersecurity, and digital investments to ensure business continuity and productivity of dispersed teams.

Working together in a distributed environment requires new skills and tools, and so cloud-based management solutions and automation technologies have been a significant contributor to ensuring business continuity. These solutions can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid environments. Intuitive tools and solutions such as these can free teams of administrative, manual tasks, such as managing long email chains, multiple versions of crucial documents, and constant status inquiries.

The DocuWare platform is especially well-suited to the needs of small and mid-sized businesses looking for enterprise-grade functionality in areas of automation, indexing, content capture, document management, and workflow intelligence. The latest offering from DocuWare, version 7.4, presents several enhancements that will be invaluable in the post-COVID workplace, providing improved collaboration, faster document and data searches, shareable workflows, and security that every company needs.

With business happening everywhere, let's take a look at how DocuWare could be the perfect fit for your organisation.

EASIER COLLABORATION
Remote teams can now collaborate in real-time on Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) located in DocuWare Cloud. This makes for a connected and highly effective remote workforce.

DocuWare Cloud customers can edit their Microsoft Office documents - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - in Microsoft Office for the web, even while working with colleagues. They can revise documents in real-time during a meeting, make changes from a mobile device, and update an internal list at the same time as multiple other employees.


"The challenges presented by the pandemic have been a call to action for businesses to undertake a digital transformation immediately. Aspects of work life, such as on-boarding employees, invoice processing and managing team collaboration, were far easier to do in a single physical space. However, the pandemic has forced businesses to quickly adapt to a new work environment and be much more flexible to employee needs."
IMPROVED WORKFLOWS
Improving workflows and eliminating manual intervention are crucial to fostering a seamless productive workforce, be that in an office, home, or a hybrid setting. With DocuWare, you can export a workflow and import it into another DocuWare file cabinet.

It's just a matter of taking a pre-existing workflow created for one department and copying and adapting it to fit the needs of another department. These digital workflows are the most effective way to ensure timely effective and secure collaboration.

COMBINED USAGE OF PRECONFIGURED SOLUTIONS
Even if business processes run differently in every organisation, they share key requirements and decision points. Cloud-based preconfigured solutions turn these common denominators into smooth digital workflows, enabling even faster ramp-up for new customers and easy expansion for existing ones.

Now, for the first time, you can combine the usage of several preconfigured cloud solutions, including DocuWare for Invoice Processing and Smart Document Control. These ready-to-use packages are built with the expertise gained from 30 years of experience and are one of the quickest and easiest ways for a business to become digitally transformed. DocuWare is proud to have many customers up and running with these solutions in as little as 2 to 3 days. DocuWare launched to market a preconfigured invoice processing solution for the UK following great success in the US. This ready-to-use solution removes huge amounts of work from your team by streamlining and automating core manual processes.

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES LET BUSINESS HAPPEN EVERYWHERE
In the modern office, electronic signatures are now a normal part of day-to-day business. Not only do they work excellently for the newly disbanded workforce, but also reduce paper usage and simplify secure document workflow.

DocuWare Signature Service automatically transfers documents in a signing workflow to a signature provider, Validated ID or DocuSign, allowing for advanced and qualified electronic signatures, as well as legally binding documents that meet current security requirements.

BOLSTERING SECURITY
Businesses need to be prepared with the right investments and approaches, implementing security solutions before a problem arises. New working models introduce additional security risks, as a business must allow employees to import, share, approve and collaborate documents freely, but most importantly safely. With data at the core of every company, providing access to digital documents with single-sign-on for secure login offers better authentication processes for on-premises and cloud-based solutions.

DocuWare version 7.4 includes a new identity service for DocuWare on-premises and a new identity provider for DocuWare Cloud. This allows users to enforce single sign-on for secure login providing more robust user authentication. It also works for mobile app and URL integrations.

ADDRESSING THE DIGITAL SKILLS GAP
Investing in new technologies and moving on-premises systems to the cloud have been part of a global digital transformation across all industries. Therefore, organisations have never been more reliant on new technologies for business continuity. This has exposed a digital skill gap in the workforce that business leaders cannot ignore.

When selecting a document management solution, you must consider a technology that does not require IT resources, as well as one that can also be easily and quickly learned by users. DocuWare's easy-to-use solutions address this head-on, bridging this gap and DocuWare can be implemented with little or no input from the company's IT team.

THE RIGHT TOOLS TO SUIT YOU
When introducing new systems into a business, it's important to choose the right tools for your employees. This may not mean the latest and greatest available, but consider which will ensure a happier, productive, and more collaborative workforce. Having the tools in place that automate processes, reduce costs, and ensure security, means information can flow effortlessly - from anywhere, on any device, at any time. Additionally, by freeing staff time employees can focus on higher-value tasks, such as improving products and services and creating new ways to engage with customers, all of which will greatly enhance the customer experience.

The new ways of working provide companies with boundless opportunities to transform outdated processes and make significant changes to shape the future of their business. Equipping teams with the right technologies to better manage workflows will be key for making positive changes to the way they work, be that at home, the physical office, or the hybrid alternative.

More info: www.docuware.com