How will your Law firm benefit from Document Management Software.

Written by – Priya Amaresh

Crystal Infosystems ad Services

If your law firm is piled up with client documents, firm documents in several unorganized folders and files then you should seriously consider implementing a Document Management System in your firm as soon as possible. Document management software is designed to help you organize all the documents in a logical, secured and easy to retrieve manner.

 

The three main reasons why a Law firm should implement Document management software :-

 

  1. File Types: In a typical law firm, there are a number of different types of documents that need to be managed which include client documents and firm documents. Some documents are in paper while some are in an electronic format. Hence, you will have to store all these documents in one place in a digital format to avoid chaos. With the help of DMS it is easy to manage abundant files and storage of files and documents is effortless.

 

  1. Organization: Your law firm will deal with different types of documents like email, physical files, documents in hard drive, or the network where the files are kept on a day to day basis. One can imagine the commotion in searching the respective documents and the time wasted in doing the same. With DMS all the documents are in one place and segregated client wise. This helps you in searching, retrieving, and sharing the documents within no time and saves incredible amount of your precious time.

 

  1. Retrieval of Documents: There have been times when you tend to forget the name of a particular document, but you know the details of the document like the client’s name, the date the document was created or some key words within the document. Document management software proves to be bliss in such a scenario because retrieval of documents are on your finger tips within seconds.

 

 

Documents that need to be organized in a typical law firm are as follows :-

  • Contracts
  • Letters
  • Scanned documents
  • Pleadings
  • Claims
  • Emails
  • Standard forms
  • Telephone messages

 

Features to Look for in a Document Management System

When you start your research on document management systems, you will find that there are hundreds of features offered by various software companies.  Hence, It is best to start your search by deciding which features you need the most and then look at features that you would like to have.  When you are looking at features, think about the current problems encountered in the organization on a daily basis. This will guide you to choose the right DMS for your organization.

A few features you should keep in mind before finalizing on your Document management software : –

  • Ability to work remotely through web access
  • Full-text search
  • Integration with other software such as Microsoft
  • Ability to create electronic forms
  • Calendar feature
  • Version control
  • Scanning and imaging
  • Document tagging with meta data
  • Customizable view configuration of files
  • Ability to work offline
  • Document linking
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
  • User security settings
  • Ability to track users of each document
  • Email
  • Document naming standards

 

A Document Management system comprising of all the above features will leave your attorney and staff members in peace of mind. The time spent by them each year simply looking for documents is reduced which leads to increased productivity and efficiency.

 

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