Facilities Manager's Desk Reference, 3rd Edition

38Document Management Services

38.1 Corporate information

Information is everywhere – every word on every page, and in every file on every computer in every language on every desk, in every office, business, building, street, city, country and continent. Information lies at the heart of every organisation. Some have information that is very sensitive; for others, information is time sensitive and critical. Some retain too little information; some have so much that they can’t hope to use a fraction of it. Some don’t know what information they have, while others can’t access or share theirs. Most don’t manage information well; others don’t even realise it needs to be managed.

A rigorous corporate information strategy enables organisations to be more successful by:

• Improving profitability, because it helps to win new business and retain existing customers.
• Enhancing the customer experience, because information can be exchanged with customers.
• Reducing risk by protecting the integrity of the brand, and ensuring compliance with legalisation and governance regulations.

38.2 Document management

Document management is concerned with the distribution, storage and retrieval of documents. There will usually be many different types of document. Some may exist on paper only and others may be stored in an electronically readable format.

Definition

Document management can be defined as the ability to efficiently access documents. Document management is the management of information: ...