How to Transform Real Estate Document Management with dox2U?
Contents
Paper-based documentation comes with challenges.
But these challenges are often overlooked since companies remain under the veil of denial until someone throws at them figures that give them reality checks.
If you like to deny the facts too, then these numbers are for you:
While finding essential documents that have been misfiled or mistagged, approximately 93% of employees fail. The challenge of retrieving the required information instantly remains constant for 46% of employees, even when the documents are stored systematically.
Version control and information siloes are core document management challenges that take a toll on approximately 82% of employees’ productivity.
And on top of all that, an average employee spends 1.8 hours a day searching for documents. Implying that in every 5 employees, one is always looking to retrieve the stored information.
All this sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
To put all that in perspective, here’s what real-estate firms are dealing with every day:
- Information siloes.
- Version controls
- Authentication and validation delays
- Muti-stage processes that require automation for efficiency.
- Off-site access to corporate information
And this is how it impacts these firms:
- Blocking of expensive real estate in file storage
- Poor customer satisfaction with high response time on queries
- The threat of damage to paper records & loss of information
Real-estate firms have a lot of paper to deal with. Documents like deeds, disclosures, and crucial transactional and commercial property data must be stored securely and indefinitely.
This is so because of the regulatory compliances these firms must keep up with. Failing could lead them to legal and financial troubles as well. Therefore, creating an archive of real-estate enterprise data becomes unavoidable for those in business.
Elucidating on the pain points of the real estate industry regarding paper-based documentation:
The never-ending struggle of retrieving stored information within time: faced by 49% of employees, as per a study by Nintex.
The pain that your employees go through retrieving documents is one thing. But the increasing competition and the fight for a more significant market share is another.
Each industry today is over-saturated and what sets us apart from the rest is what brings us more clientele that believes in us and chooses to stick to us.
If you let your competitor take a step ahead, you are already far behind the game. When it comes to opting for a document management system that will ease up your process of retrieving documents, you are at leverage because:
- Human errors involved in the process can be avoided easily like this.
- A more streamlined work process equals better customer service and, thus, retention of clientele.
- It lets you cater to a broader audience without geographical restrictions.
Cross-checking the retrieved documents for the latest versions becomes a task since there are, on average, 10 versions of one document in every organization.
The estimate could be larger for organizations with a larger workforce; therefore, tracking version history becomes impossible.
Imagine having to create ten copies of a single document to circulate the same to the people working on a similar project as you. Now, these 10 people might have suggestions and additions to make, which will resultantly create even more copies of a similar document.
Can you track which change was suggested by whom and which copy is the final version of the same document?
This could also be true for contracts and agreements and NDAs where several revisions are done by both parties to come to terms with the conditions of the transaction. The to-and-fro movement of these documents could confuse you as to which is the final draft.
Which will further impact your organization’s overall efficiency and productivity as well.
Approximately 47% of businesses switch to the cloud for cost optimization.
Stacks of paper that can not be disposed of must mostly be stored in facilities or self-owned infrastructure. The space they take up is mostly an added cost for businesses and is a pain for business owners since it reduces their profit margins.
Especially today, when real estate firms are swamped with paper and storage space is getting expensive every day, the need for a more cost-efficient solution is undoubtedly increasing.
For businesses that have been facing such issues, switching to an advanced DMS that allows you to store your documents securely is essential.
Reviewing, collaborating, and validating important documents like agreements and contracts becomes a challenge for 2 out of 3 employees. Thus, sharing information securely and collaborating on projects becomes a challenge.
When it comes to normal business processes of real-estate firms, one must notice the to and fro movement of documents involved.
Real-estate employees indulge almost daily in the process of active validation, modification, and verification of documents. This is done at each step of a transaction to ensure both parties are on the same page.
Performing the same seamlessly when your organization follows a paper-based process involves creating multiple copies of documents every time you have to send it across to the client or maybe your colleague.
This obviously becomes a challenge since it creates huge chaos, and nothing can be seen or understood clearly like that.
Switching to an advanced document management system like dox2U can help you create a seamless workflow within your organization where you will have to keep tabs on every single version of a document.
You are also provided with the capabilities to securely share document access with guests and collaborate on the same without struggling to do the same manually.
A smart DMS allows you to collaborate easily with people from within or outside your organization. And hence eliminates the challenges that come with creating multiple paper-based document versions.
In an attempt to access corporate resources whenever needed, approximately 69% of employees store information out of emails, and 62% find it challenging to access the same on cell phones.
One of the most praiseworthy advantages of an advanced DMS is having a single repository of documents that your employees can access from anywhere. When information is scattered in different places, retrieving the same becomes difficult, primarily when you work away from the office.
Who will you contact to ask for a document stored somewhere in a cabinet or maybe lost in the massive stack of paper at your office?
The lack of a centralized system keeps companies from performing their regular operations and adds unrequired friction to the entire process.
Having a cloud-based shared repository of corporate information will allow you to:
- Break down information siloes
- Achieve the highest possible efficiency in regular operations as a result of automation
- Access information whenever required without any delays in the process.
- Serve your clientele better even when away from your workplace.
With the help of functionalities like Granular Access Control, a centralized system will allow workspace users to track document activities, make modifications, and leverage the same on the go.
Accessing files remotely is what 77% of business owners desire.
Accessing files whenever required becomes a task, especially when companies rely on paper-based documentation. This is because most companies have huge archives of these documents, mostly off-site.
It keeps employees from accessing these documents on demand. Moreover, storing paper in storage facilities and off-site office premises is also a risky game since it becomes highly prone to theft, water damage, fire and other causes.
A document management system helps you eliminate the chances of such losses and lends a hand when you need to access your document remotely.
What are some must-have functionalities for Real-Estate Document Management Software:
- Ability to store and organize documents with the help of category-specific tags and labels to create a systematic archive of information.
- Deep Search and Filter-Based Search functionality for quick and easy retrieval of documents whenever required.
- A shared workspace where teams can collaborate and set up workflows easily. The users should be able to automate the document validation, modification, and verification process to avoid chaos.
- Since real-estate firms engage in extremely high-profile transactions, the confidentiality of the document management system they choose must also be high. Thus, the DMS must have encryption settings and the ability to define user rights and levels of access.
Above everything else, the document management system you choose must be easy-to-use and cheap in your pocket.
Conclusion
An efficient document management system is crucial for a real-estate business today. It helps them achieve the best of their potential and compete in the market with an edge over others. For the reasons mentioned above, you must recognize the need to digitize paper-based documents. And that is precisely why we would like to introduce you to dox2U.
Ours is a cloud based DMS with all the essential features mentioned above. And when it comes to being pocket-friendly, it leaves other alternatives behind since you get a free Trail, of course, subject to a few conditions.
Let’s check out the product. It’s going to be worth it!