If you're currently exploring strategies to grow your business and have exhausted the tried and tested route of pushing for increased sales,  greater product profitability and market diversification, there may be another way to support your business growth - and it can be implemented almost immediately.

In addition to driving your business development efforts, arguably a more immediate option for increased profitability could be managing what you already have in order to free up valuable time, increase efficiency and provide further value for your customers. This kind of efficiency  will reduce cost and increase the opportunity for clients to 'self-serve', and ultimately drives profitability.

We're talking about online document management and permission-based open access to company assets in the form of secure document storage.

Consider the recent survey that found employees reported spending an average of 5 hours every week waiting to get in touch with people that have the unique knowledge they need. While it's almost certain that those employees weren't sitting on their hands for 5 hours, it does show the importance of providing your people with immediate access to your information.

As we're in 'statistic mode', let's consider more... did you know that 'document challenges' account for over 21 percent of productivity loss. Or how about this; almost 8 per cent of all business paper documents get lost.

These inefficiencies quite obviously result in reduced profitability and are ultimately, affecting your bottom line.

Now that we've established that there is indeed a business case for increasing profitability by implementing a system that enhances efficiencies, let's explore the way forward.

What is a document management system?

As contradictory as it may sound, a modern document management system isn't just about document management. With the aforementioned 'documents' being digital, we're able to store pretty much any digital file within the document management system. So while you can of course use it for your Word docs, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and presentations, it's also good for images, audio files, video files,  graphics, HTML files... anything digital.

More than that, a document management system such as the one incorporated into the Clinked client portal platform, is affordable, easy to set up, intuitive to use and almost guarantees that you'll never misplace a document again - plus it features a whole host of features that we'll explore next.

Document search and discovery

Whether there are thousands or even millions of files in your document management system, the Clinked document storage system allows you to quickly find exactly what you're looking for.

The full search functionality allows you to search by keyword, category tags, date, file type or client/project folder.

Never again will you need to hunt through a million emails or wait 5 hours for a member of your team to get back to you.

Integrate content into your processes

By implementing a combination of efficient document management and workflow structures you'll be able to ensure data and documents get to the right person at the right time, in the apps and devices people are already using.

Create custom workflows to simplify document review and approval, while preset rules trigger automated actions for repetitive tasks. This approach not only frees your people and minimises the chance of error, but also provides immediate responses and proactive workflow actions to your clients.

Secure business-critical data and files

Bank-grade security, 256 bit encryption, 2 factor authentication and custom complex password control ensures that your files are protected at every stage of their lives.

Granular user permissions allow you to control who can view, update, share and delete documents - and in the event a member of your team is compromised, you can be sure that the potential damage to your data integrity is minimal.

Furthermore, document versioning, incorporating rollback functionality simplifies file tracking and protects your data, should there be a breach.

Reduced costs in the cloud

By choosing a cloud-based document management system like Clinked, you're able to reduce the burden on IT for system infrastructure, maintenance, scalability, redundancy and security. Additionally, as the platform is an end-to-end, fully managed SaaS application, updates are automatic and provided at no additional cost.

As you can see, there is a lot of value to be gained from the adoption of a cloud-based document management system like the one provided by Clinked. From increasing efficiency, automating repetitive tasks, formulating workflows, providing an enhanced customer customer experience and helping reduce IT infrastructure costs, the business case is clear.

If you'd like to find out more about Clinked and how it can support your business, contact our team.