Do you think that most files stored physically are safer than they are online? Most utility businesses under electricity, gas, water, sewage services, and more are starting to think otherwise. These industries spend more time with the tedious task of scraping through physical user records, service details, etc. than tending to the critical task at hand — executing their contract or providing timely support. And manual processes leave room for more human errors like incorrect updates or misplacing highly critical information that eventually leads to monetary losses.
The global digital utility market is expected to record $299 billion by the end of 2025, thanks to the ongoing digital revolution. Utility businesses are slowly transitioning into the digital space for an ultimate storage solution and bidding farewell to the good old cabinets or the need for manual entries. And the perfect way to execute this option is through the use of a centralized document management system.
What is centralized documentation?
The word “centralized” is commonly used to indicate a streamlined process that is managed at a single source and accessible widely. Centralized documentation aims at providing up-to-date information to all authorized users digitally while eliminating the need to store any physical data.
Businesses, especially in the utility sector, maintain insane amounts of paperwork and can benefit tremendously from the implementation of a centralized document management system (DMS). It leads to better employee productivity and efficient execution of business operations as most of the paperwork is now stored online at a single repository. DMS allows seamless data updates, data extraction, tracking of design changes, and enhanced information security at the click of a button.
Here are some of the top advantages utility businesses start to notice instantly post implementing a centralized approach to document management.
What are the top business benefits of a centralized document management system for utilities?
Business data security
Since utility businesses like power and energy execute many large-scale projects, critical information is often stolen or compromised. Malicious attacks on data and business processes have seemingly risen with the onset of hacking capabilities.
Having a robust centralized DMS can help get rid of these potential attacks. A centralized system would have a two-factor authentication (2FA) mechanism that allows controlled access to its data. Also, enabling user roles or privileges while allotting employee access can help control the levels of access possessed by each user. And in case of any foul activities, the user responsible for the updates can be easily traced and held accountable.
Eliminates physical utility data storage and enables ease of access
To deliver services on time, utility providers require numerous documents at their disposal. They enable them to better collaborate, execute operations and track updates regularly. But this requirement ends up taking up a lot of storage space and is a bane to its employees as it is extremely time-consuming to manually record changes.
A centralized document management system can help fix their woes. With its online repository, information is stored systematically and only allows role-based access to authorized users. Employees in the utility business, even with no technical background, can quickly learn to adapt to the centralized solution due to its easy-to-use interface.
Trackable design changes – increased vendor transparency
Often in utility businesses, it’s an uphill task to move physical records of changes in the business processes or design from one place to another and monitor them constantly. And in most cases, failing to track data changes leads to project execution errors leading to grave losses of time and effort.
When a vendor DMS is implemented, utilities can skip the need to manually track any design or data modifications. Since the utility employees would have first-hand experience with the processes, any suggested design changes can be instantly approved and put into effect. DMS enables transparency as users can access previous versions of the captured changes at any period.
Better backup and disaster recovery
Business continuity in the face of any potential disruption indicates how agile the systems are. And especially for utility companies that serve the government and general public, grave situations like data loss, human errors, or cyberattacks should not affect their regular functions. Digital documents in centralized DMS are regularly backed up with a simplified solution to data recovery in the event of a catastrophe.
A cost-effective solution for utilities
The elimination of physical storage space and transport of documents reduces the utility’s operational expenses significantly. There are also no training costs, as employees can learn to adapt to the DMS effortlessly. To sum it up, improved employee productivity and collaboration lead to timely, systematic executions of projects and happier customers!
The bottom line
With the growing adoption of digital transformation solutions, utility businesses must explore new domains to stay ahead of their competition. The centralized document management system is one such approach that has helped transition utility companies by enabling efficient execution of operations and reducing unnecessary human effort.
Sagacity helps build intelligent solutions to document management with the best of technology. With a track record of transforming the entire document management process of notable utility companies, Sagacity can pave the way to transform your business too.
Revamp your document management solution with us. Get in touch today and share your thoughts.