When supplying lumber and building materials to individual and commercial clients, time is often of the essence. Even the slightest delay can extend a client’s budget and schedule. While you may not be able to control factors like supply chain issues, you can run your company more efficiently with enterprise content management (ECM) solutions.
ECM Solutions and Their Impact
Enterprise content management refers to a set of processes, strategies, and tools your company uses to organize and store information for internal use and external clients. A robust ECM program houses everything from invoices and inventory documentation to company handbooks and training materials.
Enterprise content management software gives your company a singular process for storing and managing various types of business content, making it more accessible to those who need it. It also benefits your expert team in other ways.
1. Document Management for Enhanced Organization
In a client-focused organization, document storage and organization are important for smooth operations. Your team needs to access client documents like orders and invoices, along with back-end documents like inventory management sheets, purchase orders, and invoices from your vendors.
ECM software solutions let you manage all these documents in one location, allowing you to function seamlessly across all departments. Your inventory management team knows where to find the latest data on purchase orders and available supplies, while your accounting team can easily locate outstanding invoices with customer notes.
Instead of having to sort through multiple filing cabinets or look through various locations on your cloud or server, your employees have a single repository for finding and storing documents.
2. Content Management for Improved Collaboration
Disorganized content management makes it more difficult for your team members to collaborate. If there are no protocols for content access and storage, your team members can’t be sure they are working on the most recent version of a document. If multiple members of your team are working with individual clients, they might end up duplicating efforts because one person on the team wasn’t working with the latest document.
Content management software makes it possible for multiple people to work on a document, which allows you to capture all changes. If each member of the team is taking notes on one document during a client meeting, it can lead to more satisfied clients because each of their comments will be addressed.
3. Workflow Automation for Increased Productivity
Enterprise content management systems allow you to automate tedious workflows that potentially lead to project delays. Content in motion can often get lost or processed incorrectly. You may be able to automatically route contracts to the right party for review and approval, allowing you to get projects underway more quickly.
ECM software can also match purchase orders, delivery tickets, and invoices, which simplifies the billing process.
Internally, ECM services can help you automate parts of your hiring and onboarding process. You can store your onboarding packets digitally and provide them to new hires as soon as they’ve accepted their offer. With these resources, your new hires can come to the office on their first day with questions about employee benefits, wealth management, and other documents in the packet.
You can also have them fill out forms electronically and store them in the ECM system.
4. Security and Compliance Enhancement
Stay in compliance with easy access to documentation. In the lumber and building materials industry, you need to stay on top of hazards and solutions as well as certain safety protocols. Depending on your client base, you may also have access to sensitive information.
ECM solutions give your employees immediate access to safety training materials. Enterprise content management software also offers high levels of security, allowing you to protect your company’s confidential data and your customers’ data.
How WorldView Can Help You Improve Your Organization's Efficiency
WorldView’s content management software can help you streamline your processes to better meet your customers’ expectations. We use our experience across industries to offer a solution that lets you categorize documents so your team can search for and retrieve them faster. Instead of spending time chasing paper to get contracts and orders approved, let our solution manage these documents for you.
