5 Benefits to Online Policy Management

ComplianceBridge has come up with its 5 main benefits to an Online Policy Management Software.

1. Automate Document Workflow.
Centralizing and automating the document workflow is considered by many to be the most beneficial aspect to Policy and Procedure Management. The entire document workflow- form creation and import, to edit, review, publish, revise, and archive- can be automated. In a paper base environment, each of these steps creates opportunities for paper documents to be delayed, or worse, lost altogether. Once organizations discover they no longer need to manually gather and collaborate on multiple edits, reviews, etc, they will never go back.

2. Centralize Repository of Documents.
Are your policies, procedures, and other business critical documents easy for all your employees to locate? Are certain documents stuck in certain files- perhaps on a desktop or filing cabinet- that could cost your employees time or access to the document altogether? Having a personalized, easy to access, online repository of your documents- that can easily be searched- allows your employees to have the information they need when they need it.

3. Eliminate Paper Chase.
Lets face it, paper document management is a thing of the past. Numerous studies show that the cost of storing paper files, and implied labor cost of retrieving those files can be thousands of dollars per employee per year. Thousands. The implementation of an online policy management software might cost less than one or two employees worth of cost savings- just on the paper chase.

4. Detailed Audit Trails.
As businesses are hit with more and more regulations, the implied risk of litigation goes up. Having a detailed audit log of the activity happening within your organization can protect against the risk of lawsuits, penalties, and fines. While protecting against a “what if” scenario is never something that will get people jumping for joy, you bet having an audit trail is of utmost importance if lawsuits, audits, or disputes were to unfortunately arise.

5. Up to Date Global View of Compliance.
An online policy management software will allow you to know who has read, signed off on, and understood (via testing) your policies, procedures, and other business critical documents. Not only can this information protect against litigation (see #4 above), but it can elucidate the entire organizations policy and procedure compliance. Knowing who has read, tested, and signed off on policies and procedures- and who has not- allows organizations to make critical judgments and corrections.