Every invention, breakthrough, and innovation is owed to research.
Diligence in study, collaboration, and a thirst for knowledge has helped individuals and groups change the world.
Now research institutions like educational facilities, R&D organizations, medical labs, business development centers, and other innovative groups are benefiting from document management.
Just like research and critical insights fuel progress, it’s document systems that are fueling these processes in the age of digital transformation. Here’s how the right approach to file and information management is helping institutions manage their research operations.
Collaborative Research: Facilitating Group Efforts
While some individuals are credited with pioneering research and groundbreaking discoveries, most all research is the product of collaboration.
Innovations are easier to obtain when great minds come together. It’s the synergy between specialists and the complementary minds of experts that truly supports and facilitates the process of progress. When it’s time for projects, companies, industries, and fields to go to the next level, they turn to research.
But what helps these researchers come together? Previous decades saw organizations struggling to keep their information organized in order to bring it together. But the document management systems of our digital age have changed this.
Companies, research labs, and groups of experts can easily create smooth workflows to enable information sharing. By establishing proper permissions and efficient file organization setups, people can now come together easily to research as a team.
Whether it’s connecting minds across organizations, time zones, or continents, the right document system proves our age of digital transformation is a new renaissance for collaborative research.
Intellectual Property: Protecting Research and Trade Secrets
We talk a lot about sharing information, because productivity is a team effort. This is true, but the collaborative nature of collective research is not without its risks.
When it comes to pursuing breakthroughs, drafting inventions, and other research projects that are highly influential, it’s only natural that the information would be highly guarded.
Consider that critical insights and important research could contain:
- Trade secrets
- Business plans
- Academic/scientific studies
- Sensitive company information
- Blueprints and prototypes
Research with any of the above in it must be guarded carefully. Previously, this would’ve been a mark against the digital approach to document management - however, the improvements in modern security standards have made the modern approach the safer one.
Unlike paper documents, digital files can be tracked with a traceable trail, an action history, and a detailed set of permissions for access control. This makes it easier to determine who can access a file, when it was accessed, and whether any security issues occurred.
Document systems aren’t just a way to streamline and improve the efficiency of the research process. They’re a proven tool for guarding critical insights, company information, trade secrets, and other private data points that researchers want to protect.
Compliance: Maintain the Standards of Industry and Academia
There’s a delicate process in play when it comes to creating and protecting information during the research process. This same sense of care and attention to protocol can also come in handy for another important responsibility - compliance.
Research and critical insights are often the foundation for inventions, procedures, and soon-to-be norms. What a research publication puts out as a breakthrough find today could be viewed as common knowledge within a decade - this is why it’s so important for compliance to be maintained.
Consider the following potential scenarios where compliance would be a factor in research:
- A university may require peer review and various sources for academic papers
- R&D facilities may require a certain degree of testing before an invention is released
- A business may need to draft their research in line with board standards
In these situations, document management systems can be a huge help. Systems can be set to maintain compliance standards through access control, document categorization, backups, and more, allowing for easy compliance throughout the research process.
Previously, compliance seemed to be a roadblock to fast research, and was positioned at odds with expediency, which is also a valuable quality in research labs. Document systems can help you enjoy both, balancing optimal compliance standards with speed in your workflows.
We Support Research and Progress with Document Management
Here at Doing Better Business, we live up to our name. Our goal is to help you do better work for your business, non-profit, academic institution, medical facility, or other research institution.
Every operation knows the value of study, research, and the pursuit of critical insights. But not all organizations know how valuable document systems are when it comes to their work. We’re here to show you that the right document management approach can transform your research process, empower your team, and position you as an innovator in your field.
Ready to learn more? Contact Doing Better Business today - we’re prepared to help you get a customized document management solution tailored to your field, your goals, and your information sharing needs. Nail efficiency, compliance, and security all at once when you manage your files with our industry-leading approach.