Document management solutions for your business

There is no doubt that most organizations have struggled to achieve the vision of a paperless office. The single document management solution, one that manages all types of content, across the whole enterprise has been but a dream for most.  However, "a single source of information for all" can be achieved through many different strategies.. For many organizations, it involved utilizing numerous pieces of software, training and re-training employees. This would be an expensive proposition in most cases but one way to achieve an environmentally friendly paperless environment.  

Recently products like Sharepoint and Filocity have come out with products at the cutting edge.  We know Sharepoint is expensive to deploy and maintain and may only be suitable for companies with in-house IT departments, but the new version of Filocity.com’s cloud portal seems to solve the problems that most other products could not.  Seamless integration of server based client/server and desktop software with the security and scaleability of the cloud.  This integration comes with the utilization of apps specifically designed to integrate your desktop, MS Office apps and emails all through one online portal. 

Outside of environmental concerns,  with the current economic climate,  the primary business driver for document management investment is cost reduction and time efficiencies.

The cost of filing and more importantly finding what is needed when it is needed continues to increase throughout organizations worldwide.  The time and money spent on filing, re-filing and finding document and records actually increases every year. This doesn’t include the cost of not finding what you need to acquire the documents or emails for an audit or for legal reasons.

SHAREPOINT - FILOCITY
In the context of ECM, (Enterprise Content Management) SharePoint is one of many single-vendor document management suites available, Filocity another. As a product, they both redefine the concept of user-contributed intranets, bringing the team-site concept to the fore, then adding document management and workflow. The adoption rate has been rapid  In the largest organizations, 70% utilize some type of sharing programs - although not necessarily for content management according to DM magazine There is strong evidence that users are integrating them alongside existing or new document managemement systems rather than displacing them.

Filocity, however takes another route looking to manage all of your electronic and paper documents along with your emails with one piece of software.  As close to the paperless office as you can get and still allowing you to use the software you use everyday and integrate with your file cabinet without leaving your chair.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on years in consulting and case studies we are making the following recommendations

·  Build your document management needs based on cost savings and  improved process efficiency. Compliance is a factor but most compliance issues are met by being able to produce the required documents when needed.

·  Consider the content types in use in your organization and their current degree of management - or indeed, document chaos. Relate this to both the wasted time searching for content and the risk element of legal discovery

·  Pay particular attention to emails and instant messages. If staffs are struggling to accurately file emails, consider implementing an auto-classification mechanism or an email to cloud integration program like the one that Filocity uses.

·  Create a dialogue around your go-forward strategy for ECM and records management. Consider the existing systems you have, and carefully define the role that a cloud based system will play.

·  Decide which of your requirements are genuinely industry-specific, but seek to solve them with as generic a product as you can. Customization and long term support can cost more than choosing a more capable product initially. It may also limit your ability to deploy a document management solution more widely

·  If you are basing your document strategy on a customizable product ensure that you have sufficient knowledge to create a set of information management policies, and look to the market for solid expertise. Be careful customizing products like Sharepoint can cost a pretty penny.

·  Software as a service SaaS  and Cloud based computing are new trends whose time has come.  With bank level security, HIPAA compliance and multiple site encrypted co-located services, there are numerous advantages today to jump into cloud computing.  Some of these are initial costs of entry are extremely low, implementation is immediate, economy of scale and catastrophe protection are inherent without additional costs. Scale up or down as needed and only spend money on what you use as you are using it.  This is the best long term solution for most companies today.

Thank you for reading,

Doug Thaler

Doug Thaler is an expert in cloud computing and project management.  Filocity is being built to handle what will become the future of cloud computing and making it available today.  Filocity offers all of the tools that  you have on your desktop and much more.  Check out  Filocity at  at www.filocity.com or call for a custom solution 800-790-8095.

Filocity.com

Safe, Effortless Organization, Instant Retrieval!  The future of computing -Document management and software in the cloud