How to Choose a Document Management System for Salesforce? 5 Factors CTOs Need to Consider
A well-versed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is knowledgeable in road mapping development and overseeing the current technology to align it with their business. No surprise, CTOs who leverage cloud platforms like Salesforce prioritize investing in an advanced document management system (DMS) for their sales or any other internal teams to enhance operational efficiencies, and save time and cost. Being a CTO, if you find manually handling documents is a nail-biting task for your team, it clearly indicates that your team lacks the support of a powerful document management system for Salesforce. Having a DMS helps you not only improve document organization, accessibility, and scalability but also enhance employee productivity, collaboration, and cost savings. However, the investment in a DMS is not a walk in the park. There are certain factors that you need to take into account when adopting a document management system for your operations. How to choose a Salesforce Document Management System? When conceiving the decision to embrace a document management system for Salesforce, it’s important to evaluate your requirements and align them with the solution you’re investing in. Here are some key factors to check off as you start your assessment of a document management system. #1. Centralized Document Storage A DMS must foster a centralized location to store, manage, and access documents for users. Centralized document storage refers to the practice of storing all documents, files, and digital assets in a single, unified, and easily accessible location. Regardless of how big or small your company is, nurturing an efficient method to organize your documents in a centralized repository is crucial to ensure strong document security, simplified access, faster operations, and improved collaboration. The more readily accessible documents are for employees, the smoother and more efficient the process becomes. #2. Real-time Collaboration & Versioning Whether your team shares office space or works remotely, they need to access the same document and co-author it simultaneously. This real-time document collaborative capability of a document management system helps your team to improve business efficiency and reduce the chance of misunderstandings and delays. In addition, a smart DMS prevents headaches by tracking, editing, and providing multiple versions of the document, which ensures that your team members can see all the modifications and always access the latest version. #3. Compliance and Risk Management Every industry puts forward different compliance requirements and obligations. But it’s not easy to adhere to them always. Industries like finance, healthcare, and legal services are bound to ensure the retention of the documents for a longer period of time. If your business falls under this category, it’s mandatory to ensure that the document management system you want to invest in for Salesforce meets those standards and helps you retain your documents. Keep in mind that non-compliance actions not only set you up for legal issues and hefty fines, it can also break the brand reputation and customer trust, which will ultimately take a toll on your bottom line. #4. Document Security A superior Salesforce document management system provides you with the option to move your documents from the CRM and store it in an external cloud as part of storage space clear up. You can set the permission to ensure individual teams/users can only access information and documents that they need. As an example, a member of your marketing team won’t be given access to Sales or HR information — he/she will only be able to view certain marketing documents. Here, authorized admins gain complete control over the documents, where he/she can control who can view and access them. This capability keeps your data and documents secure and compliant while providing a clear picture for the admins of what is happening within the system. #5. Cost and ROI When investing in a document management system, you need to drive significant cost-saving and ROI. As the DMS eliminates the requirement for paper usage, storage space, and manual efforts, you can save on operational expenditures. Moreover, the heightened efficiency and productivity achieved through the implementation of a DMS has the potential to catalyze increased revenues, which delivers a substantial return on investment. Bottom Line What are your thoughts, dear CTO? Do you think investing in a document management system would be a great feat for your business? If your answer is ‘yes,’ try XfilesPro, the popular document management application for Salesforce that checks off the above criteria. XfilesPro takes complete care of your Salesforce documents, from their generation stage within the CRM and stores them in external cloud storage (such as SharePoint, AWS S3, Google Drive, and OneDrive) to enable collaboration for users. If you wish to discover how XfilesPro can change the dynamics of your organization’s document management strategy, connect with us for a personalized demo! We empowered many CTOs like you to do better for their business! AMARLAL
Why Document Management in Salesforce is Important? 5 Reasons
Data and documents are at the center of every business process in Salesforce. However, the profuseness of documents always creates challenges for users as an effective Salesforce Document Management System is not everyone’s forte. Having said that, your challenges in managing Salesforce documents shouldn’t impede the growth of your business. As a Nitro study reports, 50% of employees spend productive time creating and managing documents, which shows the minimal time they have left to focus on their high-value work. The only solution for this challenge is embracing a robust document management solution for Salesforce! Before learning how can such a solution help you, let’s take a look at document management in Salesforce. What is Salesforce Document Management System? Document management in Salesforce refers to how a company handles its day-to-day documents within the CRM platform. This includes creating, organizing, storing, accessing, and managing files such as PDFs, Word documents, JPGs, and PPTs. Documents come through many means, such as email attachments, manual uploads, or 3rd-party apps. Whether the business falls in the range of a small, medium, or large scale, users are required to manage a plethora of documents. Document Management Features in Salesforce Salesforce is now more than just a CRM, it’s a full-blown ecosystem that powers businesses with automation, AI, and analytics. Let’s explore Salesforce document management capabilities: XfilesPro The One-Stop Solution for Advanced Salesforce Document Management Download the Free Datasheet! Attachments Attachments provide a basic way to add files directly to Salesforce records. Users can upload supporting documents such as receipts, invoices, or contracts. Key Features: Quick and easy way to attach files to records Allows users to reference documents within customer or project records Limitations: There is no version control, making it difficult to track file updates Limited metadata support, reducing searchability Documents Tab The Documents Tab allows businesses to store and organize files within individual Salesforce records, such as accounts, opportunities, and cases. This feature is particularly useful for attaching contracts, proposals, or invoices to specific business transactions. Key Features: Simple document storage within Salesforce records Supports basic file uploads and downloads Useful for record-specific file management Limitations: Cannot be used for global file sharing across the organization Lacks advanced document lifecycle management tools Salesforce Knowledge For businesses managing articles, FAQs, and documentation in a structured format, Salesforce Knowledge could be the best solution. It serves as a self-service knowledge base where employees and customers can easily find solutions without repetitive inquiries. Articles can be linked to cases and records, making it highly beneficial for customer support teams. Key Features: A centralized knowledge base for quick access to information Supports article categorization and search functionality Can be linked to customer support cases for improved service efficiency Limitations: Primarily designed for knowledge management, not general file storage Limited customization for broader document workflows Files Home Files Home serves as a centralized hub where users can store, manage, and collaborate on documents within Salesforce. It provides a unified view of all files associated with records, making organization and retrieval seamless. Users can upload various file types, including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and images. Key Features: Centralized file storage with easy access to related records Supports multiple file formats Integration with Chatter and Communities for enhanced collaboration Limitations: Limited metadata support for files Lacks advanced document management capabilities Salesforce CRM Content Salesforce CRM Content is a dedicated content management system designed for organizing, sharing, and tracking documents across an organization. It includes version control, document categorization, and advanced search functionality, ensuring you can efficiently manage files. Additionally, it enables access permissions and workflow automation for document approvals. Key Features: Advanced file organization with version control Granular access permissions for document security Approval workflows for compliance and document governance Limitations: Requires a separate license and additional configuration Not cost efficient Not the best choice for teams needing lightweight file management Why You Need A Salesforce Document Management Solution It’s widely held that businesses managing millions of documents can benefit from document management solutions. This belief is true considering the advantages that the implementation of a document management system (DMS) in Salesforce can drive for your business. XfilesPro Choosing The Right Document Management Application For Salesforce Get the Free Datasheet! While Salesforce offers several capabilities for document management, many organizations seek the support of a 3rd party document management solution that covers their end-to-end requirements. Five reasons why a Salesforce document management system is important: Overcoming Salesforce Storage Limit Salesforce’s limited file storage makes it challenging to manage a high volume of documents within the CRM. However, a smart document management system can help by automatically offloading large volumes of documents from your Org, freeing up space. This not only optimizes storage but also enhances platform performance, and reduces load time enabling efficient document management in Salesforce. Huge Cost Saving Once you exceed the Salesforce file storage limit, you need to upgrade the storage space for a certain cost. What if that space also gets exhausted? You will upgrade it again. But how long can this strategy last as a sustainable approach, considering the money loss associated with it? With an efficient Salesforce document management solution, you can address this concern by eliminating the need for storage upgrades. Documents are moved out of Salesforce, and the file storage space is always freed up. Enhanced Business Efficiency Adopting a Salesforce document management system boosts your productivity by reducing the time and effort needed to build, manage, and store documents. For instance, bulk contract creation, approval, and storage on a different platform can be automated in Salesforce. The more you minimize document management time, the more time workers have to focus on strategic tasks, speeding up decision-making and boosting overall efficiency. Seamless Scaling As your business grows, so does the number of documents you need to manage. With a Salesforce document management system, whether you’re scaling in terms of geographic regions, departments, or product lines, the system grows with you. It gives you the capacity to manage an increasing amount of content
