Online document management is the method that makes the most sense for real estate professionals.
Imagine having effortless access to a centralized database that features all projects, represented properties, ownership records, and other documentation essential for showing real estate, negotiating, and closing deals.
An online management system makes that possible while also eliminating the need to carry tons of papers around.
According to the Real Estate in a Digital Age report, more and more realtors are becoming reliant on their smartphones and mobile devices to complete an array of professional activities. These include communication with clients, access to important information about properties and collaboration. As mobile technologies are becoming more affordable and the scope of functionalities is increasing, online document management is making more sense than ever before.
To utilize online document management in the field of real estate to the fullest of its potential, however, you have to adhere to some best practices.
Proper Indexing Is the Heart and Soul of Online Document Management
Contemporary document management systems simplify the process of retrieving information of relevance upon necessity.
To do so, you have to index files accordingly when entering them in the online catalog.
Each business has its specific way of indexing that makes sense within the line of work.
Within a real estate firm, proper indexing is even more crucial. Agencies often represent hundreds of properties and they have extensive customer/prospects databases. If these are not indexed correctly, retrieving information on the go will become a challenging task.
Proper indexing involves assigning standardized attributes to each document. When you have a system in place, everyone will know how to add new information and how to search for files whenever the need arises.
Know When and How to Introduce Additional Protection
Online document storage is quite safe and most systems feature additional safeguards you can enable for certain document types.
Most real estate professionals work with lots of sensitive information.
Client information, contractual data, and specifics about each property should be protected carefully.
While systems tend to be quite impenetrable on their own, the human error increases the risk of data leaks. This is why online document management protocols play a role.
For a start, get in the habit of never storing client data on a flash drive or another external device. These can be corrupted easily, they can be lost or stolen. The best practice would be to enter client information within the online database as soon as it becomes available.
In addition, you may want to introduce password protection and encryption for certain kinds of files.
There will be documents within the database that should maintain their restricted status. It’s not a wise idea to give everyone within the agency access to the entire archive. People should be capable of viewing the documents they need to do their job and that’s it.
Make Sure Outdated Information Is Purged from the Archive
Keeping old data, especially if it contains sensitive details, within the archive is a risky practice.
Many online document management systems allow real estate professionals to set expiration dates or document retention timeframes. Once the period is over, the system will get rid of outdated files on its own.
Carrying out a manual inspection every once in a while, however, also makes sense.
Intelligent digital systems are getting smarter by the day but they’re still dependent on an algorithm. A specific document can fall between the cracks, hence human involvement is still essential. Purge your database from outdated info regularly to keep files meticulously organized and to reduce the risk of data leaks.
Spend Some Money on a High-Quality Document Management System
If you do some research, you’ll come across dozens of free cloud-based document storage solutions.
Document storage and document management, however, are not one and the same thing.
Free cloud-based drives allow you to store information without spending anything on the solution. Such public platforms, however, are linked to much higher security risks than the utilization of a dedicated cloud-based platform.
Only a few years ago, fears about such risks came to reality with a massive DropBox data breach. Through the hack, over 68 million user login credentials became compromised. Similar occurrence affected Google Drive and over five million passwords got leaked.
Public platforms are an attractive target for hackers because of their mass usage. A corporate solution isn’t as appealing, plus it offers an array of safeguards that aren’t available with a free-of-charge solution.
Cloud solutions are becoming increasingly affordable, so there really is no excuse. These solutions are also very flexible and they can be scaled up or down on the basis of your document management needs. If you invest a little bit of money into the right document management system now, you will see a high return on investment in the near future.
To sum it all up, you need to choose the right document management system and you need to make the most of it. Standardized protocols and safety practices will contribute to a lot of safety and usability that you wouldn’t be capable of enjoying by employing an old-school document management method.