3 Traits: Hosted Document Management
The reception and generation of paper is something that all
businesses must simply live with. We do our best to organize growing
mounds of paper into filing cabinets, but the sprawl continues, making
it harder and harder to find the paper we need and in the end real
estate costs gradually expand as well.
Document management solutions are not just useful for storing
digital versions of paper documents but can also assist with work flow.
Instead of relying solely on paper, a document management can also
assist with ensuring that your entire team is seamlessly communicating.
For example, WritePoint, Ltd. provides technical writing,
documentation and software implementation services to Israeli
technology companies. WritePoint installed KnowledgeTree
(a hosted document management solution) for one of its clients, Atom
Ltd., a developer of content management software. "Before
KnowledgeTree, our writers spent up to 30% of their time searching for
and verifying the latest version of a document,” said Thomas Bakanidze,
CEO at Atom. “Re-creating content took up to 50% of their time. Now, we
no longer have these problems." Atom distributes its software in two
editions, and each edition can be customized, resulting in the need to
maintain a large amount of user documentation, such as user manuals,
installation manuals and release notes.
Another benefit of a knowledge management solution is enabling
remote employees and branch offices to connect and better communicate
with each other. Often times, these employees and offices communicate
through email. Which is "ok" but can create huge annoyances and
deficiencies in productivity and time lost.
A Knowledge Tree spokesperson answered some questions.
What are advantages of a hosted solution vs an on premise solution?
The advantages of a hosted solution include lower cost of entry (no
hardware capital costs) and reduced operating costs. This makes for a
far lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and therefore a faster return
on investment (ROI). Implementations can be accomplished more quickly
and the hardware is run in a higher performing and more secure
environment than an organization would be able to provide on-premise.
SaaS products also bring an expectation of continuous innovation, where
new features are being constantly added to the environment as part of
the subscription fee.
The disadvantages of a hosted solution may be perceived security
risk, and the mind shift the organization has to make to relinquish
control over its data. These are far outweighed by the advantages
outlined above in addition to the fact that the data is accessible 24/7
to authorized users regardless of their location.
Finally, some may argue that hosted applications do not provide the
rich user experience that desktop software can offer. KnowledgeTree,
through its cross platform Explorer, offers a rich experience on
Windows, Linux or Mac while connecting to the hosted repository. With
the Microsoft Office Add-in, users can access their online content from
within their desktop applications.
There are many hosted document management solutions, how can one
choose the best solution for them. What are some traits to look for?
Functionality
One has to determine what the organization’s actual need is. Is
collaboration your primary use case or are document control, auditing
and versioning your main concerns? Where will your users use the
software? Is your workforce mobile? Do they work remotely or are they
located in several geographies? Choose a solution with features that
meet the main requirements of the user base.
Architecture
Does your organization appreciate a single tenant architecture where
you can be sure your data is not sharing an application layer with
other customers, or is price the primary concern in which case a vendor
offering multi-tenant solutions might be acceptable.
You may also want to ensure that your data is portable between the
hosted offering and an on-premise version should you ever decide to
bring the document management system in-house at a later date.
Service Uptime
Be sure to ask these questions of your vendor:
What SLAs (service level agreements) does are in place?
What uptime guarantees are provided?
What are the storage limits on your package?
