Remember the old days of typing a document up on Microsoft Word and saving it to a flash drive or emailing it to yourself if you ever wanted to access it anywhere but the very same computer you typed it up on? Talk about ancient history. Well, the dinosaur days of document software are officially over. Thank goodness. In this day and age, writing a document and taking it with you is easier and more convenient than ever before.
OK, what’s the big deal about cloud storage? What IS cloud storage? It is the single most convenient way to access any kind of document, from any computer, anywhere in the world. When a document is uploaded to a cloud it’s not saved to any local device, but rather a secure server on the internet, accessible only by whomever has the password. The benefits of this are tremendous! Not only can the document be accessed anywhere securely, it can be viewed or even edited by multiple people on different computers. All they would need is permission by the creator of the document.
This allows businesses to streamline their document creation, editing and storage efficiency, and in fact many businesses already have. Since its humble beginnings in the early 2010s, cloud storage has become the premier method of document creation and storage, and internet based document management systems are advancing at an astounding rate. At the corporate level, automation has reached the point of a DMS (document management service) being able to tell what kind of document is being uploaded, and instantly filing it according to user parameters.
These documents are then searchable, and easy to pull up and access, even if thousands of similar documents are already stored in the cloud. In an interview with insidecounsel.com, Julie Edgar, manager of the legal department at Boise Cascade LLC, said that DM technology “…really improves our ability to do our jobs. With the style of practice that we have, when our clients call, they’re often looking for an answer to a specific issue that doesn’t take days to research. (Our DMS) enables us to respond immediately.”
Since cloud-based DMS is faster, more efficient, more convenient, and more secure, it’s becoming increasingly apparent, whether you’re a business owner or just someone who needs storage for word documents, the future of document software management truly is in the clouds