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Document management system (DMS) is known to help organisations with managing their documents and assist in proper preservation and storage mechanisms. It also helps reduce document deterioration by digitising all the documents. DMS has become a key business priority for most organisations as they seek new ways of managing the barrage of information they create and share on a daily basis.

According to a Research & Markets report, the global market for DMS is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.63% over a period of 2013-2018, and verticals across businesses are likely to adopt this solution. Some of the key verticals that are driving the DMS market include – BFSI, telecom, retail, manufacturing, FMCG, healthcare, life sciences and utilities.

Markets are always driven by the need of the businesses to become efficient and more productive. DMS helps employees to go through various documents using a single software solution. It brings an organisation closer to a paperless environment and enables a company to take a large step towards improving employee efficiency and reducing environmental impact.

Newgen estimates that the market growth will be around 10% CAGR and expects the trend to continue for the next few years. “The digital transformation wave is fast catching up with global enterprises, as they strive to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Initially, driven by compliance requirements, digitisation and process automation, DMS has now become essential for productivity and efficiency. The nexus of forces – SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) is further fuelling this global phenomenon where almost all paper based information is getting converted into digital,” says Virender Jeet, Sr. VP Technology – Newgen Software.

Yet this technology is often neglected in many organisations. It is neglected despite the crucial role it plays in enabling operations and improving productivity and efficiency. “The reasons are evident – the ownership is split across functions, costs are not visible and impact on organisational efficiency and productivity are not measurable,” explains Vishal Awal, Executive Director, Services, Xerox South Asia.

“In order to ensure that the entire lifecycle of the documents is managed well, we advice organisations to take control of the end-to-end processes for each document, apply Six Sigma methodologies as well as processes and use only market-leading solutions in adherence to appropriate standards,” adds Awal.

Most enterprises do not realise that the cost of keeping a fragmented, decentralised document strategy are just too much. A business that is using obsolete technology may loose its competitive edge.

Driving the momentum

According to Gartner, 15% of all ECM (Enterprise Content Management) being undertaken is Document Management, with BFSI, IT/ITeS, retail and healthcare being the greatest adopters. The research and consultancy firm further adds that in future, the industry will witness more and more enterprises outsourcing their document management needs to leading global players like Microsoft, Canon, Xerox etc., for whom it is a core business.

Therefore, the major growth driver for the printing and document industry is the increasing need for effective document management and outsourcing services that will manage end-to-end document workflows in an organisation. “Many enterprises are moving well beyond the basic uses of DMS (such as secure file storage in organised libraries) to tackle deeper business requirements that need strong process efficiency as well. This has led organisations to regard DMS as an environment for solutions that fit their business needs,” says Awal of Xerox.

A key factor that is driving the adoption of DMS is that it is easy to use and supports effortless information sharing and retrieval. Going paperless has now become imperative for today’s organisations as they look to create leaner and more efficient operations as well as cross functional resource optimisation. In light of this emerging trend the future augurs well for the DMS market.