How to use Therefore e-forms to automate paperwork and cut bureaucracy
Paperwork can be costly and inefficient. For example, the average office worker in the UK uses an astonishing 10,000 sheets of paper a year. Small businesses spend around 28 hours a week on routine admin tasks and one in ten paper documents are lost or misfiled.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Digitise documents
Part of the solution is to digitise your documents and move towards becoming paper-free. But that's only the first step. The ultimate destination is digital workflows, such as e-forms, to automate processes.
Document management software such as Therefore plays a vital role in both digitising documents and workflow automation. Therefore includes essential functionality to help companies make this change, such as:
- The ability to manage large quantities of scanned documents
- Search features to help find the right information
- An easy-to-use web portal to give people access to the files they need
- Security and access control to ensure privacy, business continuity and compliance
- Integration with the tools that people use every day, such as Outlook
- E-forms and the ability to set up workflows and model processes in the software
Manage paperwork online
Deploying Therefore can be transformational. For example, we helped the Northumbria NHS Trust use Therefore to digitise the HR records of 18,000 staff and build a fully-integrated HR Case-File system.
The system includes access controls to keep records confidential and only give access to the appropriate managers, even if staff move between departments and managers. It also includes retention controls to make sure that records are kept for as long as required but no longer, for example, disposing of expired disciplinary warnings automatically.
Automate routine processes
The next step is to automate core business processes. For example, when a member of staff announces their pregnancy, the NHS has to carry out regular risk assessments. On paper, this form-based process can be time-consuming and slow. But using Therefore digital workflows and e-forms, NHS Trusts can ensure that:
- All the mandatory questions get asked.
- Managers see and approve any changes in a timely way.
- Occupational Health can collaborate ensuring all the correct advice is in the same place.
- The employee in question receives the correct information and feedback.
- The next risk assessment is scheduled at the right time.
Everything happens online so that there is no physical paperwork to lose or get stuck in someone's inbox.
Therefore makes it easy to build sophisticated workflows with approvals, access control, audit trails, email reminders and scheduling.
It's not just for HR. Combined with Datatron's bureau scanning, Virtual Records Management and virtual mailroom service, Therefore can streamline processes for finance, recruiting, contract management, CRM, patient record-keeping and more.
Move to the cloud
Instead of storing files in on-premise servers, which are expensive to buy and manage, forward-looking companies are moving their records to the cloud. Datatron can help with this next step too, also using Therefore software. Although it works with traditional servers and databases, Therefore also lets you store your records securely in the cloud using Microsoft Azure.
This move to the cloud has many benefits including:
- Reducing the need for expensive, up-front capital expenses - no servers to buy.
- Switching to a pay-as-you-go model for the storage you actually need.
- Unlimited, elastic storage capacity.
- Secure access anywhere.
- Improved security, resilience and privacy.
Take the first step to e-form automation
To learn more about digitising your documents, automating your business processes and moving it all to the cloud, contact the document management experts at Datatron or request a free quotation online.