You're right that if you define "document management system" as file storage then you don't need one. Most DMS would provide many extra features over that and the day you need one of them is when this changes.
Examples that could change the picture:
- You need review and approval workflows to meet document control requirements in regulatory or quality standards - You need document security beyond read/write permissions to guarantee information security - You need entitlement-setting to make sure documents sent to a client portal can only be opened by that client - You need to be able to save directly to your repository from Microsoft Office applications
I'd also say the method sounds time-consuming to me. Scaling that up to say 50-100 staff and it would be a wasted savings opportunity not to automate the processes more. It's very much down to number of people - what works for 3 won't be so good for 13 and so on.
My answers
Depends on DMS definition
You're right that if you define "document management system" as file storage then you don't need one. Most DMS would provide many extra features over that and the day you need one of them is when this changes.
Examples that could change the picture:
- You need review and approval workflows to meet document control requirements in regulatory or quality standards
- You need document security beyond read/write permissions to guarantee information security
- You need entitlement-setting to make sure documents sent to a client portal can only be opened by that client
- You need to be able to save directly to your repository from Microsoft Office applications
I'd also say the method sounds time-consuming to me. Scaling that up to say 50-100 staff and it would be a wasted savings opportunity not to automate the processes more. It's very much down to number of people - what works for 3 won't be so good for 13 and so on.