Agricultural Growth with Document Management Software
The agriculture sector is a unique industry due to its strategic importance for both consumers and the economy. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the rise in agricultural productivity from the early 1980s to today has been the single most important source of economic growth in the U.S. farm sector. Yet, as a result of this expansion in production, agricultural organizations are experiencing growing pains internally, especially in establishing efficient document processing.By implementing a paperless process, agricultural companies can benefit from improved decision making, lower costs, and faster document access. Document management software has helped agricultural co-ops streamline day to day processes to improve efficiencies and enhance accountability by developing more productive operational procedures. By taking processes digital, document management software delivers an open and collaborative platform for the improved management of the data relevant for farming production.
Sounds great but, wondering where to start? Well, as with any technology investment, choosing a cost-effective document workflow software begins with assessing your business needs. To start, agricultural organizations can save money on office expenses, simply by eliminating off site storage, file cabinets, printer and paper costs. For organizations with multiple locations, accessibility may be an issue. Business-critical documents would have been faxed, scanned or mailed to the central office. This can lead to difficulties processing data with multiple copies of the same invoice, resulting in confusion and wasted time. But with advanced document management solutions, like data capture automation, instead of printing, emailing, or faxing documents, they are simply scanned and digitally managed, saving several hours a day.
In addition, by serving co-ops, farm members, and customers, the agricultural industry often faces difficulties locating document data across locations. When it comes to storage, retrieval and collaboration, they need better insight into employees to ensure document processes are completed accurately and efficiently. Document management supports growth in the agricultural industry by providing a solution that helps keep pace with the challenges of a growing business from incoming documents to data management. With a customizable folder structure and intelligent document capture functionalities, the software automatically keeps all files organized by department or process, without the need to go back and forth between applications.
Advanced data extraction tools also ensure that captured information is not only accessible, but accurate as well. With validity checks built in, document capture software provides Optical Character Recognition (OCR) confidence reporting. That way, when an employee goes into the system to search for a key piece of information, everything is valid and stored where it should be, for stress-free search and retrieval.
Another key feature data capture automation provides is custom integration with popular agriculture programs, such as the AgVantage accounting software. Users can instantly search and retrieve information from any accounting document, improving collaboration and increasing employee productivity. The document capture solution automatically extracts document information, validates the data, and then routes it to a folder, employee, or directly to AgVantage for further processing.
With extended search features, employees are also empowered to search content stored in the document database, directly from AgVantage. The document management system automatically displays all records relating to a search ran from the AgVantage program. So whether purchase orders, invoices, or other accounting documents, processes are kept organized and in sync across applications. Document management integration reduces the cost of creating and distributing data reports while providing secure, instant access for users in and out of the office. By integrating with the programs employees are already familiar with, the result is minimal training and fast adoption.
By understanding the true value of document management and the business challenges it solves, organizations in the agriculture industry can take advantage of the opportunities paperless processes offer to grow business and drive revenue. Get started today by partnering with a proven document management developer. Contact Square 9 to learn more!
