DO YOUR SUBSIDIARIES SHARE THE SAME INFORMATION?

DO YOUR SUBSIDIARIES SHARE THE SAME INFORMATION?

Shared documents, connected subsidiaries, simplified access, harmonized information: discover how M-Files aligns head office and subsidiaries.

Galaxy Conseils • Banking groups & multi-subsidiary networks

Société Alpha is expanding beyond Cameroon: Aïcha is opening a branch in a neighboring country. Naturally, she turns to her bank's local subsidiary, part of the same group. "This will be simple," she thinks, "they already know me."

In Douala, her advisor had given her the list of documents needed to open a business account. But at the subsidiary, she's given a different one: some documents added, others worded differently. The account agreement template isn't the same either, and a clause negotiated with head office is missing from it.

The reason is simple. Head office updated its onboarding policy and contract templates six months ago. The new version was sent to the subsidiaries by email. One applied it, another filed it away in a folder, a third never received it.

One group, several subsidiaries, several versions

Banking groups present in several countries, or companies with multiple subsidiaries, share common rules: internal policies, procedures, contract templates, charters. But when these documents circulate by email or get copied onto each subsidiary's servers, they end up diverging.

One common source for the whole group

The solution is to manage shared documents in a single place, with a single version in force, accessible to every authorized entity. Head office updates once; every subsidiary immediately sees the new version. Each subsidiary can, when needed, add its own local adaptations, clearly identified as such.

The same account opening, with M-Files

Let's replay Aïcha's story, this time at a banking group using M-Files.

1. Identify. Head office identifies the documents that should be common to the whole group: policies, contract templates, procedures.

2. Centralize. These documents are brought together in a "Shared Documents" space in M-Files, in their one version in force.

3. Authorize. Access is opened to Head Office, Subsidiary A, Subsidiary B, and Subsidiary C, each according to its rights: head office edits, subsidiaries view and apply.

4. Share. When head office updates the onboarding policy, every subsidiary immediately sees the new version, on computer as well as on mobile. The "Shared access" badge confirms it.

5. Harmonize. Local adaptations, required by a country's regulations, are added as clearly identified supplements, without altering the shared document.

At the subsidiary, Aïcha's advisor opens the same document list and the same agreement template as in Douala. He also sees the file already built in Cameroon, within the limits of what the group's rules and local regulations allow to be shared.

Why M-Files is different

M-Files makes it possible to manage, in the same environment, documents shared across the whole group and documents specific to each entity. Access rights define who can view, who can edit, and who must approve, for each subsidiary.

The document lifecycle applies at group level: when a policy is replaced, the old version stays available in the history, but only the new one is shown as currently in force. Workflows can even ask each subsidiary to confirm it has acknowledged an update.

Depending on how the group is organized, M-Files can be deployed in the cloud or across several linked sites, taking into account each country's rules on data location.

What about your group?

Ask yourself:

If you can't answer with certainty, your subsidiaries deserve a common source of information.