Compliance management software: 4 reasons you should buy vs. build

Four reasons to choose a ready-to-purchase compliance management solution, like PowerDMS, over a system that would have to be built, such as SharePoint.

December 23, 2020

Article highlights

  • Why you should choose a ready-to-use software
  • Put your resources where they will do the most work

Modernize your policy processes

Paper filing systems are a thing of the past.

Outdated document management systems add costs and reduce efficiency in your company. As everything from policies to paperwork moves into the digital realm, more organizations are moving documents and records online.

Centralized, cloud-based policy and compliance management tools are becoming increasingly common.

When you begin researching a system for managing your content, you will face many considerations.

Your first decision will be to buy vs. build.

Depending on your company’s size and requirements, enterprise software like Sharepoint may be something you are investigating. However, when it comes to more critical policy and accreditation management, you may benefit most from a simpler, more efficient tool.

How can you best optimize your content development and management process?

You will likely accomplish your goals by buying a straightforward product specifically designed to store, route, and sign your high-liability content.

With an out-of-the-box solution, you will save valuable time, money, and resources as you develop and manage your content internally, without extensive IT expertise.

Here are four reasons you should choose a ready-to-purchase solution, like PowerDMS, over a system like Sharepoint, which you would have to build with the help of an external IT team.

1. Ease of development

When it comes to adopting a software to house and develop your most crucial documents, you will likely want to get going right away.

After all, policies and procedures are the heartbeat of your working environment. You want them to be accessible, and quickly, for everyone in your organization.

Availability is one of the most important aspects of creating a compliant culture, according to our article What Are Policies And Procedures?

“Employees should be able to easily refer to policies and procedures at any time. Flipping through a physical policy manual is usually not practical during a critical situation,” the article reads.

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If you are taking unnecessary time to build a complicated system for your documents, your employees will use your old system in the interim. This mean you are losing valuable time you could be using to strengthen your organization and team.

It takes time to build

Though they have many benefits, tools like Sharepoint require your team to build out your internal site for document and compliance management. Building and optimizing your software to your company’s specific needs can take up to a year.

The process also usually involves extensive, external IT assistance, which can increase costs for your organization.

A more straightforward tool like PowerDMS is just as effective as Sharepoint, but it takes only around 90 days to implement.

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Think of it this way. A faster, easier development process buys you nine months’ time to create and manage the documents that will define your company.

You will be able to get right to work streamlining your documents, making your organization more successful and efficient as soon as possible.

Managing policies and keeping your organization in compliance involves many complex moving parts and the expertise of those throughout your organization.

Keep things simple on the front end, and you will make it easier for you and your team to focus your time, finances, and energy on what matters most to you.

“From a compliance and risk standpoint, PowerDMS has been a game changer,” said Mark Weber, Corporate Director of Orlando Health. “It’s extremely easy to use and provides us with everything we need to efficiently manage our policies and procedures. It saves us a tremendous amount of time and has greatly increased accountability.”

2. Features and functionality

A simplified building process isn’t the only benefit you will reap.

Out-of-the-box software like PowerDMS is easy to use and navigate throughout the entire policy development cycle. You won’t need to call on IT experts to help you build on existing features or add new ones.

Everything you need to maximize your organization’s success will be there from the very beginning.

Dynamic tools like PowerDMS include frequent updates that automatically improve the software without requiring technical assistance. Its intuitive user interface means your employees will catch on quickly.

You won’t be sacrificing functionality for simplicity. You can share and update all your documents quickly and easily with PowerDMS’ robust features.

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Audit trail

The audit trail capability within PowerDMS allows you to quickly see and understand the complete history of your documents. This means you will have a bird’s eye view on your content, from creation to publication and everything in between.

You will always know who approved, reviewed, revised, and signed your documents – and when.

Version control

If you are looking into a software solution to manage your most important documents, you probably want as much control of your content as possible.

This is for good reason – when you minimize errors and confusion, you can ensure your employees are reviewing and complying to the most recent versions of every document.

As you know, compliance is a dynamic concept. You will probably have to revise your documents frequently according to local, state and national regulations.

Changes in company culture can also affect your content. With a version control feature, you can ensure your team only sees and signs the most up-to-date version of every document you create.

Start a draft and then collaborate to gather feedback. When you are ready to publish, the software will automatically archive older versions to reduce the margin for error.

Document control

Moving to a digital solution is all about reducing clutter and increasing efficiency. If you can automate it, why not?

Guarantee your documents are always relevant with PowerDMS’ document control tool. Security settings allow you to control who can access and view, run reports on, or make a change to each document.

You can also set automated review cycles to make sure all your content is up-to-date.

Workflows and collaboration

Do you want to streamline your in-office workflows, even out of the office?

Capitalize on the cloud’s assets and use our workflow features to gather feedback and approvals.

By using a workflow tool that’s already ready to go, you can focus on doing the work you want to be doing.

With our dynamic collaboration function, you can also feel confident knowing everyone is working from the same document and tracking all changes in one, central location.

Training tools

In addition to optimizing your workflow and documents, you can quickly develop and run online training courses with PowerDMS.

When everything is online, you won’t need to rent classrooms or pay instructors for courses. Your employees can also take their training courses independently and at their own pace.

This makes things easier for everyone, and could also potentially reduce overtime pay. If you want to test your employees’ knowledge at the completion of a course, you can develop a customizable test as a follow-up.

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3. Money savings

With all the features included in a solution such as PowerDMS, you will not only save your organization time.

You can also save money.

A build-your-own software like Sharepoint may seem more cost effective in the beginning. However, costs to make your solution as effective as possible will inevitably add up.

Think of all the extra costs of hiring IT professionals to help build, implement, and maintain a document and compliance management system.

You won’t need to hire IT experts to implement or manage PowerDMS. Compliance professionals can manage this software themselves. This alone can save your organization up to $100,000 in tech labor costs.

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You will also save money with the features built into a ready-to-use, easily managed software like PowerDMS.

With training, testing, and surveying capabilities already embedded into the software, you can accomplish everything you need to without added costs to weigh you down.

4. Simpler accreditation

Finally, a ready-to-use software like PowerDMS makes your process of accreditation much easier, a highly valuable and unique capability.

PowerDMS partners with accrediting bodies from many different industries to provide electronic copies of standards.

This allows your organization to crosswalk your policies and other compliance documentation to the accreditation standards.

Simplify the management of your compliance process, surveys, audits, and assessments with a tool that already saves you money and time.

A better solution

The definition of success is not universal across organizations or industries. Every organization is different and has specific needs and goals.

When it comes to deciding on the best compliance management system for you, consider your company’s values. If building and maintaining a compliant culture is a core value, creating a software solution from the ground up may not be best for you.

Don’t spend unnecessary time and money developing a solution that does not meet all your needs. Put your resources where they will do the most work, and enhance compliance in your work environment along the way.

A pre-built content management software may sound limited in capability or functionality. However, PowerDMS’ robust features in combination with its reduced costs and ease of use make it a worthwhile solution. Learn more about PowerDMS vs. Sharepoint Online in this helpful article. Or view our Buyer's guide to the top policy management tools on the market.

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