The Benefits of Migrating to IRIS Document Management

By Adam Walters | 09/17/2024 | 4 min read

Document migration is a key consideration when choosing the right document management software (DMS), but it’s often overlooked or under-explained. Here’s your chance to learn more about it and discover the role it plays in implementing the right DMS for your firm.

What Is the Purpose of Document Migration?

The document migration process takes your existing files, documents, and folders and adds them to a new bespoke database for your firm. This process includes renaming all files to a standardized set, tracking and labelling different versions of the same document, and identifying and eliminating duplicate files.

Not only does this help create a structural foundation for future files to follow, but it ensures your entire system is organized under the same universal standard. Because every file is updated and included during the migration process, all of your processes are improved. It doesn’t matter if you are working with an established client, or a new client, all documents follow the same naming conventions and storage structure making it possible to find the documents you need in seconds.

If I’ve Chosen to Partner with IRIS, Is Migration Necessary?

Some firms want to keep their existing document structure and only work forward with IRIS Document Management for new clients and documents. They don’t want to ruin the structure that they’ve spent time on and know and love, but they also want to benefit from the strength and flexibility of IRIS Document Management. However, trying to balance and maintain two systems simultaneously is never worth the effort and typically ends up as a mess.

One of the largest benefits of choosing IRIS Document Management is that it helps create a central source of truth for your firm, allowing you to quickly find the documents you need no matter which project you are working on. By trying to keep your existing system as well as trying to build a new system, you’re counteracting the entire purpose of IRIS Document Management. We are here to help simplify your document management, not to make it twice as complex.

When you choose IRIS Document Management, complete document migration is a necessary step to experience the benefits we can provide your firm.

How Does Document Migration Help My Firm?

Think of your firm as a messy workshop. Tools are scattered around on the countertops, in random drawers of a rusty toolbox, and some have even slipped onto the floor and are covered in a fine layer of dust, sawdust, and oil. The migration process is like hiring a professional organizer to come in, deep clean the entire workshop, and then organize everything with custom labels and storage bins so that every tool has a clean, dedicated spot. When you need a screwdriver, rather than rummaging around in a tool bag only to find out ten minutes later that it was sitting on the countertop under a pile of rags, with an organized workspace you know exactly where that screwdriver is.

In the same way, migrating to IRIS’s document management solution helps your firm become more organized. Immediately, you’ll be able to see the results of being able to find the files and documents you need for every project you work on in seconds, rather than minutes. This helps you spend more time on profitable and meaningful projects, rather than wasting hours of your day searching for an up-to-date file.

Another benefit of the clean, organized structure that migration provides, is that you can immediately identify duplicates. In the same example of a dirty workshop, when you start cleaning it up, you may start to notice that you have multiple copies of the same tool. Because there’s a dedicated spot for your ⅛” Allen Wrench, it’s easy to see when you have more than one. In the same way, migration helps you identify and remove duplicate files. Each file has a set name and location within your database, so the migration process helps identify duplicates.

The final benefit provided by document migration is security. In a messy workshop, if a lesser-known tool goes missing, it can be difficult to know if it’s been misplaced or stolen. However, when your workshop is clean and well-organized, it’s easy to know what is and isn’t missing. In the same way, when your firm is well organized, you are helping protect and secure documents from data breaches and hacks.

Get Started Today

IRIS Document Management Solutions streamline the migration process making it easy to enjoy the benefits of having an organized custom database for your firm. Discover the difference IRIS can make to your firm, today and learn more about how IRIS can help you revolutionize your firm.