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7 biggest document management challenges
A document management strategy helps organizations protect and retrieve files. Yet, content managers often struggle with governance and system integration.
Content teams often struggle to implement document management strategies because they require a fine balance between regulatory compliance and ease of use.
Document management helps organizations improve efficiency, security and compliance. Yet, IT professionals and content managers will likely encounter challenges as they implement a document management system (DMS).
Common document management challenges include the following:
- Governance.
- Compliance.
- Integration with other systems.
- Managing paper documents.
- Version control issues.
- Protecting sensitive information.
- Archiving and retrieval difficulties.
To implement an effective document management strategy, IT professionals and content managers can understand these challenges and learn how to overcome them.
1. Governance
IT teams must work with relevant DMS users, such as those in records management, legal and engineering, to create a document management governance team. These users have their own processes and procedures that IT teams must consider as they build or maintain a DMS. Therefore, feedback from these users on a governance team can guide DMS implementation, deployment and maintenance.
Governance teams help organizations create systems that users will like and adopt. A system that IT views as perfect but users don't like will result in a failed deployment.
2. Compliance
Organizations must comply with industry-specific document storage, access and retention regulations. These regulations can include GDPR, HIPAA and ISO standards, as well as industry-specific or corporate standards.
IT and content management teams can struggle with compliance because regulatory requirements often vary by industry and differ across jurisdictions. Additionally, organizations may need to comply with different sets of geographic regulations.
IT leaders must consider regulatory compliance as they implement a DMS to minimize the risk of legal penalties, reputational damage and revenue loss. Compliance details vary based on organizations' policies and regulatory requirements but often include automated audit trails, encryption, secure access controls and the ability to apply and maintain legal holds. Regular compliance training and audits can help organizations enforce policies and identify areas that require updates.
3. Integration with other systems
Many organizations use multiple software platforms, such as ERP, CRM and cloud storage systems. IT and content management teams can struggle to integrate these systems with DMSes due to a lack of API compatibility and data silos. These obstacles lead to inefficiency, increased operational costs and security and compliance risks.
IT and content management teams should look for a DMS that offers flexible integration capabilities and API support to ensure interoperability with other systems. As part of this process, IT leadership should consult with the governance team to identify essential integration tools and evaluate whether any legacy systems can migrate into newer systems, including the DMS.
4. Managing paper documents
Many organizations still rely on paper documents, which employees might struggle to track, store and retrieve. Paper documents can accumulate due to legacy workflows, regulatory requirements or employee resistance to digital transitions.
IT leaders can work with stakeholders, such as legal and records management teams, to assess whether they want to implement scanners and optical character recognition tools to digitize paper documents. This collaboration can help IT teams create clear policies for digitization, retention and document destruction to reduce reliance on paper-based records.
5. Version control issues
Document version control lets employees identify and access the most up-to-date information and refer to previous file versions. Organizations that lack version control often save multiple document versions across storage locations. This leads to duplication, confusion and inefficiency if employees mistakenly work on the wrong file versions.
IT and content management teams can implement a DMS with built-in version control to help users track changes, prevent duplication and maintain a clear edit history. The IT team should prioritize ease of use and work with the governance team to improve DMS adoption, encourage trackable collaboration within the DMS and avoid noncompliant use of local storage and email attachments.
6. Protecting sensitive information
Organizations must secure confidential data, such as financial records, employee data and customer information, against unauthorized access. Weak access controls, human error and cyberthreats make sensitive information vulnerable to breaches.
To mitigate these risks, the IT team can implement strict user permissions, encryption for data at rest and in motion, and multifactor authentication in the DMS. Regular security audits and employee training can further enhance document security.
7. Archiving and retrieval difficulties
Effective document archiving ensures long-term accessibility and prevents clutter in active storage. On the other hand, organizations that poorly manage their archives or have ineffective search functions might see employees struggle to retrieve older documents.
A DMS with advanced search capabilities can streamline document retrieval. To improve retrieval, IT teams should establish a structured archiving strategy, with metadata tagging and automated retention and legal hold capabilities. Additionally, a system that automatically deletes content lacking business value can improve search results.
Key takeaways
Document management challenges, such as managing paper documents and version control issues, can hinder productivity and compliance. A DMS can help organizations overcome these challenges, but the system must offer a positive UX to ensure user adoption. Users will likely avoid a DMS with poor usability and instead use insecure personal or consumer cloud tools.
IT professionals and content managers should integrate the DMS with other essential systems and create clear governance policies to make sure it's effective and easy to use. An effective DMS streamlines document workflows, improves efficiency, ensures regulatory compliance, protects sensitive information and offers a simple UX. IT and content management professionals must keep document challenges in mind from the beginning, as they won't be able to address them after implementation.
Jordan Jones is a writer versed in enterprise content management, component content management, web content management and video-on-demand technologies.
