The Role of Blockchain Technology in Document Management

Blockchain is considered a relatively new technology first popularized through providing ease in cryptocurrency transactions is now being adopted by several organizations in traditional industries for the purpose of document management. Blockchain has served as a digital document management solution for multiple organizations to track and safeguard important information.

The fact is that Blockchain was first invented to provide a safe means to exchange currency without security services provided by a bank by validating bitcoin transactions, for example. 

Blockchain, As a form of a distributed digital ledger, uses multiple servers that further provide verified, time-stamped records of transactions to all accounts directly involved in the process. 

The Importance of Document Management Systems

In today’s age of digitization, digital document management plays an integral part in any business’s digital transformation efforts. This is because maintaining an efficient record-keeping system can be challenging when physical documents are used.

Businesses often need off-site storage facilities to manage and store their documents and as far as smaller businesses are concerned, paper records can become difficult to manage. Hence, switching from paper to a digital document management system, makes the entire process more streamlined and efficient.

Some of the benefits of a document management system are mentioned below

It saves space. As we all know paper documents take up a lot of space. In contrast, businesses can easily store thousands of pages per gigabyte of storage space.

It’s easily accessible. When Businesses store their document electronically, they can easily be accessed from anywhere by anyone from one central data hub.

It saves money. Not only does it helps to reduce the costs occasioned by storage, but further, it also reduces the cost when it comes to scanning, mailing, copying,  and career services.

It’s secure. In order to protect paper files, it’s necessary to some extent to store them off-site and have a backup of each and every file available. This just doubles the amount of storage space needed and isn’t even considered practical for most businesses. Whereas, digital files can easily be kept in secure storage like physical hard drives or cloud storage providers.

It saves time. Businesses that save digital copies of their documents, it becomes far easier to find the documents when needed. On the other hand, paper copies are a mess, as it requires extensive searches through hundreds of files just to find a single piece of information.

How blockchain can be used in Document management?

Now, the question arises in what ways blockchain can improve document management. Some examples where it can be used by a business to improve its document management system are mentioned below:

Storage

A blockchain document management system enables businesses to store and protect their valuable data and documents in an immutable way. This assures that documents can’t be tampered with. Plus, every action taken on a document, from its origin to accessing the document and making the amendments to the document, is traceable.

Tracking

This is considered a vital part of an effective document management system. When using blockchain technology, actions performed by users within the system, like the alteration, creation, delivery, signature, and receipt of documents can be tracked and certified.

E-signature

Blockchain technology enables businesses to integrate advanced encrypted document signature features into their valuable documents. This makes the acceptance of offers, contracts, or invoices simple, reliable, and legally verifiable. This reduces the risk of disputes and eliminates security problems.

Conclusion

It’s important for businesses to have a document management system in order to manage the business information smoothly and conveniently. It surely helps to save time and money, and it makes them even more efficient because all their documents and information are available securely and instantly.