The Hidden Cost of Poor Document Management

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Organizations often don’t recognize the true costs of ineffective processes. These hidden costs can accumulate and drive up expenses that don’t add value to the company. One of these costly processes is poor document management of marketing materials. In going without a central repository that is manageable and accessible, your organization could be paying hefty costs without even realizing it. 

The impact of this ineffective process can reverberate through your organization. To clarify the hidden costs of poor document management and the impact it can have on sales enablement, we put together some helpful tips and strategies. 

Document management matters to sales enablement.

Document management is a critical pillar of sales enablement because it ensures alignment between sales and marketing regarding content and materials. If there is document mismanagement, it can cause conflict between the departments and increase operational costs. 

When you have a streamlined way to manage documents, you create easy access to high-quality, accurate content. This will enable your sales team to build customer relationships and win business. Without document management, there are lags in productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, which can cost your business in many ways.

What are the hidden costs of poor document management?

Some costs of poor document management are more evident than others, but the hidden costs are just that—hidden. Now, we will reveal them, so you can work toward developing practices that reduce expenses. 

Productivity Loss Costs

If sales professionals spend extra time hunting for the content they need, that is time they aren’t spending on revenue-generating activities. A McKinsey report found that employees spend 20 percent of their time searching for information. That is equivalent to one in five employees not working. No sales leader wants to displace so much valuable time. 

IT Costs

Many organizations have multiple file-sharing platforms or applications. This practice can create confusion and overspending, and often occurs because companies grow and keep adding more technology tools instead of consolidating. 

Managing multiple resources can have an impact on IT capacity, further adding to your hidden costs. Companies that develop a strategy around document management can go from many to one, reduce technology costs, and deliver a single source of truth. 

Lost Business or Brand Damage

The risk of your sales team using inaccurate or outdated content increases with poor document management. For example, sending a prospective customer outdated pricing could negatively affect your margins and cost you business if the customer realizes it is not reliable. That is damage to your brand and lost revenue. Unfortunately, this happens a lot when there are no controls over content. 

Accessibility Expenses

Document access can also drive up costs if users need specific devices or an internet connection to find what they need. Some platforms only work on a browser or have other limitations. By using a flexible system, your team can access documents from any device, and you can decrease spending on additional hardware. 

Other Labor Costs

Inefficient management of documents can also rack up other labor costs. You may have employees that spend too much time focusing on manual document management, so the salary you pay them isn’t going toward more high-level work. Having the right document management tools allows you to focus your labor, create an effective team, and avoid hiring a specific role for these operational and administrative tasks.

On their own, these fees and expenses chip into revenue, and when you combine them, they are an even bigger concern.

Maximize the value of document management in sales enablement.

There is great value in document management. It can save you money and offer efficiencies and engagement for your organization. With this tool, sales professionals have what they need to be effective, and marketing can ensure that what they use is accurate, on-brand, and relevant. Good document management can actually help you win more business and enable sales to close more deals. 

If this is the path you want your company to be on, you’ll need to eliminate these hidden costs. How can you do that? The answer is effective document management as part of a sales enablement platform. 

What does effective document management look like?

To achieve document management that benefits your business, you’ll need a robust sales enablement platform. There are many options for this kind of software, but you’ll want to seek out one that can meet your document management needs. 

The top features you should look for include:

  • Centralization: It should have one repository that is the source of truth for all content. 
  • Accessibility: The solution that will work best for you and be most cost-effective is accessible from any device, with or without Wi-Fi.
  • Trackability: A platform that captures content and device analytics usage data from the field can be very insightful. 
  • Diverse storage: It should have the ability to house multiple document formats, including rich media, video, and HTML5. 
  • Compliance control: A system that provides file access permissions from one central hub can prevent sales from sending out-of-date materials. 
  • Robust features: Features such as notifications and search are a great way to keep everyone on the same page. When new content is ready to deploy, sales teams get notifications, and search is critical to reduce the time needed to find the right piece.

Experience next-level document management.

Poor document management is a side effect of a digital world. However, it is something that you can regain control of to eliminate unnecessary costs and empower your sales and marketing teams. 

Organizing and managing documents should be a priority for organizations investing in sales enablement because it can reduce costs and boost revenue. You can experience next-level document management with vablet.

Are you ready to take document management to the next level? Contact us today to request a demo

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