The Power of Simplicity
Success in SaaS Content Management
What first comes to mind when you think of simplicity in technology? Apple IPod, Google Search, etc. In technology, simplicity equals success. Compare these simple but powerful technologies with how your company stores and manages documents and emails. Historically, documents have been stored (duplicated) in multiple workstations and servers—creating redundancy, duplicity and confusion. In this technical maze of content, document management came to the rescue by defining a master copy of a document, centrally stored and managed. However, in today’s document management there has been further complexity and confusion added as more and more documents are duplicated and stored in multiple, disparate repositories, such as DMS, records management, Exchange, KM, extranets and even hard-copy paper cabinets, each with its own security, search, taxonomy, metadata, user interface, etc. In addition, compliancy requirements are forcing digital and paper documents to be retained for multiple years, placing further pressure on storage augmentation. The more storage expands, the more complex it is to keep the data clean, uncluttered, non-duplicative and useful for internal and external users alike.
Technology today is all about simplicity—and content management should be no different. That’s why the inherent simplicity of software as a service (SaaS) content management defines the business benefits it delivers—faster time-to-value, lower cost of ownership, better customer service and removal of on-premise hidden costs, such as upgrade projects, patches to apply, and databases to back up and restore. The list of SaaS value goes on and on.
And let’s not overlook the benefits to end-users, which include instant access to new features and functionalities, 24x7 global access and, most notably, a single, consolidated repository for documents, records, emails and paper that is easy to access, use and manage—automatically backed up and protected from disaster with a common enterprise-level search engine, security model and browser interface.
SaaS DM Helps a Major Law Firm
The 130-employee law firm Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter, in Columbus, Ohio, recently deployed the SaaS-based NetDocuments, resulting in a range of simplicity benefits that Kegler Brown didn’t have with its previous "on-premise" DM system. Mark Manoukian, IT director of the firm, stated that NetDocuments has saved the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars, reduced implementation time by months and offered a much
better service to the attorneys and clients.
According to Manoukian, "the ROI for this implementation is outstanding. The deployment costs were easily tens of thousands of dollars less than the projected costs of rolling out a comparable in-house solution and it also shaved three to six months off the timeline in comparison. The capital costs of the requisite SANs alone started at $75K. The projected bottom line of implementing an in-house equivalent to NetDocuments came in at $300K-$400K more expensive. These are potential costs that were avoided."
Business continuity built-in. Manoukian stated, "We adopted NetDocuments as a document management solution—the disaster recovery solution was an added bonus. This is an automatic benefit since our documents are now stored in redundant, highly secure data centers, and become impervious to disaster and saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Improved productivity. Attorneys can access documents from home, a client site or anywhere there is an Internet connection. "I’m more productive because I can access the documents I need wherever I am," said Paul Hess, partner at Kegler Brown. "I can work on documents at home in the evening or while traveling, allowing me to respond to the needs of my clients so much faster than if I had to wait to return to the office." Documents can easily be shared with clients as well. "Our clients have instant access to their documents, without having to make requests of us. That means we deliver better client service and, because most other firms don’t offer this, it’s a competitive advantage as well. I can see this capability getting us in the door with some of the larger prospective clients we have in mind."
Going green. The irony is that over the past two decades, large enterprises have gotten so used to managing the costs and complexities of on-premise software that it can often be a challenge to communicate how much simpler it can be with SaaS. Considering all the things SaaS customers no longer need to worry about, it truly is greener (and simpler) on the other side of the fence, i.e., the SaaS side of the fence.
NetDocuments offers organizations of all sizes a Web-centric, software as a service (SaaS) document, email and records management service, including extranet services. Documents can be easily and securely shared with clients and others, and documents are protected and backed up in redundant, world-class data centers to ensure built-in business continuity. To learn more, go to
www.netdocuments.com.