Running a business means dealing with lots of paperwork. This can be especially true in the accounting department, where you have to keep track of bills, invoices, contracts, and other important documents. When these papers pile up, it can become difficult to find what you need when you need it. Luckily, there's a way to make this easier: by setting up a digital archive.
What's a Digital Archive?
A digital archive is like a digital filing cabinet. Instead of having stacks of paper in drawers, all your documents are scanned and stored on your computer or a server. You can easily find and save these files as PDFs, Excel, or in other formats.
A digital archive can be likened to a digital filing cabinet. Instead of dealing with piles of paper documents stored in physical cabinets or boxes, all your essential documents are scanned and saved on your computer, server, or cloud storage. You can save these files in various formats, such as PDFs, text files (TXT), or markup languages like SGML or XML.
This method of digital storage presents several key benefits:
- Space Efficiency: With digital files, the need for physical storage space is eliminated. This means you can store a vast number of documents without needing physical rooms or cabinets.
- Swift and Easy Searches: A digital archive allows for quick and easy document retrieval. Simply type in a keyword, and the system will pull up the relevant document.
- Reduced Risk of Losing Documents: Once your documents are digitally saved, the chances of losing them significantly decrease.
- No Requirement for Physical Storage: By storing all data digitally, you cut down on costs associated with physical storage spaces.
The Benefits of a Digital Archive for Accountants
Switching from a traditional paper-based system to a digital archive offers several advantages, especially for accountants:
- Work Flexibility: With a digital archive, accountants can access documents from any location, provided they have a device with an internet connection.
- Data Safety: Digital archives automatically create backup copies of all your documents, ensuring they remain secure even in the event of a system malfunction or accident.
- Durability of Documents: Unlike paper documents that can degrade or get lost, digital files can virtually last forever.
- Controlled Access: You can customize your digital archive to have varying access levels, ensuring only authorized personnel can access specific documents.
Creating a Digital Archive: A Simple Guide
Creating an digital archive involves scanning and digitizing company's accounting documentation. Once digitized, paper documents can be stored away from the office as they become less needed on a daily basis. The digital copies, on the other hand, are stored on servers, in the cloud, on a computer, or on removable media.
When choosing a software for your electronic archive, consider the following features:
- User-friendly Interface: The software should have a simple interface and clear system settings so that any employee can handle it easily.
- Accessibility: It should be accessible from any computer to allow employees from all departments and branches to use it, even from home.
- Reviews: Look at the experiences of existing users to get an idea of how well the service works before making a payment.
- Security: Choose software with strong security measures in place to protect your important company documents. Renowned software usually offers better security.
- Free Trial: A free trial period allows you to test the software and see if it meets your company's needs.
An example of such a solution is Entera, an automated data entry into Tally, Zoho and Quickibooks, that recognizes your accounting documents and sends them into Tally and archives all scanned documents by company, date, and parameters. All data on Entera is securely protected by encryption protocols and security certificates.
Creating an electronic archive in Entera (or a similar service) typically involves three steps:
- Uploading Documents: Upload a single document or a batch of documents in any order. The system will independently categorize them by type and purpose, optimize their size, and assign a unique name to each.
- Archiving: The service verifies the data, checks for duplicates, and then moves all the documents to an electronic archive. The archive does not require the installation of additional programs. In the archive, you can create folders to further organize your documents and assign access permissions to specific employees.
- Search and Retrieve: To find a document, simply enter any attribute into the search filter, such as the date, type, recipient's name, or total amount. The system will find all the data matching your criteria within seconds.
By investing some time and resources in setting up an electronic archive, businesses can significantly improve their document management, increase efficiency, and enhance the security of their important documents.
Want to get a free trial of automated data entry and digital archive with Entera or have questions?
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