Are You In or Are You Out?

Document Management Inside and Outside of the Cloud

Your organization produces lots of data—in many different forms—every day. Your employees (both onsite and remote) collaborate on multiple projects a day, sharing resources and information. In this environment, how can you best manage your documents in an efficient and effective way?

Until the advent of cloud-based resources, document management systems (DMS) were expensive for the small-to-mid-sized business; only organizations for which documents served as the work product (i.e., law firms) could afford to invest in onsite document management solutions. And then came the cloud, bringing with it many enterprise-level solutions at a lower price point, including document management.  But cheaper isn’t always better and there are still several items to consider before deciding on a cloud-based or onsite document management solution. There are several players in the industry; below we discuss the top onsite and cloud-based solutions—and their pros and cons—to inform your decision.

Onsite/Outside of the Cloud

Pros

• Security: With an onsite DMS, your data exists within your own network and you know exactly where all of your documents are being stored—and what security you have.  

• Passive Saving: Saving your documents is no longer an active process; you simply fill in a few fields and the documents are saved in the appropriate places for you.

• Ease of Search: Searching for any document is easy—and fast—translating to increased productivity.

• Our Recommendation and Why: Although there are many players in this field (OpenText, Worldox, Documentum, to name a few), we most often recommend iManage for clients who require an onsite document management solution. They are a trusted leader in the document management arena, and have the majority of the market share and a multi-million dollar research budget which means ongoing improvements to subsequent releases. In addition, iManage offers a software suite that integrates easily with their DMS; this makes integrating accounting software and other business-critical applications seamless. Plus, iManage interfaces very fluidly with Outlook (a big plus for law firms). You can quickly search within your email for documents and vice versa. 

Cons

• Cost:The biggest advantage to any onsite DMS is the cost.  Hardware costs (1-3 dedicated onsite servers) to support a system like iManage onsite are in the tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention software and support costs.

• Support:You need either an internal or external IT resource that is an iManage–Certified Engineer. These professionals aren’t cheap.

• Time To Implement:iManage and other onsite document management systems take longer to implement because they involve adding to your existing network infrastructure.  With cloud-based DMS, there is no infrastructure.

• Cost: With cloud technology, instead of buying, installing, managing, and paying for the upkeep of an individual onsite system, companies have the option of subscribing to a full-service system based in the cloud.  Organizations usually pay per user so that the service is easily scalable, too.  

• Administration: All upkeep and troubleshooting is performed by the service provider, freeing up time and labor costs for companies that either don't want, or can't afford, to deal with them.

• Built-in Disaster Recovery: Most cloud providers include a disaster recovery service because of the nature of the cloud.  Your data is stored in multiple locations and comprehensively backed up at regular intervals.  

• Our Recommendations and Why:Although many companies are struggling to differentiate themselves in this market space, we most often recommend NetDocuments for client organizations that do not require an onsite DMS.  One of the first Software As a Service (SaaS) providers, NetDocuments offers a feature rich product that is gaining traction among law firms.

Cons

• Security: With cloud-based document management systems, your data is in the hands of another company, in a server you have no control over outside of the ability to manage your own files. This dispersal of information over a wide network of devices, is perfect for document backup and recovery, but raises concerns regarding document privacy. With private cloud-based document management systems, like NetDocuments, this is less of a concern because they can afford to implement much greater security measures in their private clouds than you may be able to in your private network.

Last Word

In an increasingly digitized and collaborative world, document management systems look more attractive every year. Onsite systems, while secure, can be costly, and many businesses may not be document-intensive enough to justify the expense. For these smaller businesses, cloud-based systems offer customized subscriptions to the same software so that users pay for what they need, along with enhanced accessibility and decreased administration costs.  Before making a decision, consider your organization’s level of collaboration, the sensitivity of your data, your industry’s security and confidentiality requirements, the size of your files, your remote worker population, and your budget. As always, before investing in a new technology, evaluate your options to identify the solution that will best align your technology with organizational goals.

Optimal Networks has taken hundreds of clients through the decision-making process surrounding document management systems. We can help in these initial stages and also through implementing your system and training your users. 

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