According to Berkeley University, mankind produced 12 exabytes of data in all history up to 1999, another 12 exabytes from 1999 to 2002, and another 12 exabytes in 2003. (An exabyte equals one million million million bytes, or a billion gigabytes)

In other words, the amount of information in the world has tripled over the past four years. It's easy to see why, when we consider the growing issue of regulation.

With companies being asked for more in-depth information every year, the question is not only 'how do I find and track it?' but 'how do I report it in an efficient manner?'

The public sector is also facing immense challenges as it works intensely towards e-service delivery and implementing the relevant parts of the Freedom of Information Act. Without careful consideration, organisations could soon be swamped under an information deluge.

Enter document management, the bedrock upon which knowledge management sits. Along with records and content management, it combines to create a knowledge environment in which a piece of information can be easily located, tracked, accessed and sent instantly to the people who need it.

A document can be a fax, an email, a text message or even an image, reflecting the fact that as the traditional role of the document has changed, so has its format.

Document management systems are now expected to integrate and provide all the information necessary to make business decisions quickly, regardless of the data's source and form, from a variety of qualitative and quantitative sources.

Everyone understands that document management is not just about choosing the fastest printer or scanner. The full benefits of a document management system can only be realised if the processes of the end users are able to take advantage of the technology on offer.

All document management solutions offer version and security controls, check-in and check-out options, along with different levels of workflow and management support, allowing documents to be stored, retrieved and updated throughout their lifecycle by many different users.

Organisations using a document management system can integrate data stored in that system with data from other areas or organisations to allow more informed and timely decisions.

One of the major challenges facing the document management industry is to communicate and demonstrate just how this offering has changed and what is now available.

Customers will also face challenges. Their business processes may have to change to allow document management to deliver the positive impact it can have on their organisation.

Over the past 12 months Intellect, and its industry members, have been working to address these issues through the development of a User Guide to Document Management.

This guide has been designed to raise the awareness of what best practice document management can achieve. It does this by profiling the path of a document as it flows through an organisation, the key processes it undergoes, and the important considerations that customers need to examine.

Its aim is to help end users to recognise where they fit into the document management cycle, both in terms of the functions they carry out, and its impact on all other areas of their activities.

Its goal is to facilitate long-term and informed purchasing decisions. Ultimately, it is designed to help customers stop buying 'in isolation' and move towards an end-to-end solution.

The potential created by document management systems is clear, but so too are the pitfalls: buying in isolation, not examining business processes and not recognising the possibilities. Avoid these pitfalls and the benefits will keep on coming.

John Higgins is director general of Intellect.

The User Guide to Document Management can be accessed here.