Document Management in the Cloud
Traditional On-Premise vs. the SaaS Model
Companies considering a cloud-based document management solution should conduct a thorough self-assessment of requirements before beginning their evaluation process. Consider not only the volume of documents and number of users, but also specific organizational needs, including the structure of content, permission controls, audit requirements, compliance/regulatory mandates, retention policy and daily workflow. With a clear goal of what you want a solution to achieve, you can find an offering that best matches your business.
Pharmaceutical Startup Spans the Globe with M-Files Cloud Vault
With manufacturing, preclinical and clinical development activities spread across the US, Asia and Australasia, Lypanosys is the type of international venture that cloud computing was invented for. And so far, the company has been able to make the cloud work: all of the company's documents reside on a hosted server and can be easily shared among the project participants.
"We needed a solution that would allow us to get all of our files in a cloud-based document management system to access wherever we are," says Lypanosys project manager, Blaine Ah Yuk-Winters. He explains the company piloted two cloud-based systems. One was problematic and was abandoned after two weeks due to issues with speed and an inefficient user interface. The second, M-Files Cloud Vault, was a success.
Clearing the Speed Hurdle
There are two big differences between Web-based file sharing tools and more robust cloud platforms, according to Ah Yuk-Winters. One difference is simply speed. Many cloud software offerings, like the first one Lypanosys tried, are frustratingly slow.
"With the other system we tried, it was not so much the time it took uploading and downloading documents, it was the time it took maneuvering inside the interface. It was quite sluggish. When you clicked a folder, it would often take 15 seconds to open."
M-Files Cloud Vault, on the other hand, delivered the needed speed at both ends of the file transaction-the desktop interface as well as its remote servers.
M-Files Cloud Vault integrates its file handling controls in Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office as well as other applications, so saving and retrieving actions are familiar to most PC users. And because the M-Files search capability is based on SQL-queried metadata—rather than traditional folder structures—users can sort through content and find the files they need in seconds.
On the server side, M-Files Cloud Vault is the first document management software to run on the high-powered cloud platform, Windows Azure, which operates on Microsoft data centers around the globe. With Windows Azure as its foundation, M-Files Cloud Vault delivers even more flexibility and reliability to users, whether they're in Auckland or Ankara.
"For downloading, M-Files Cloud Vault is really quite fast," says Ah Yuk-Winters. "We're finding it quite satisfactory in that respect."
Keeping Order in the Cloud
The other big difference in cloud systems lies in their suitability and scalability to keep a business running smoothly in the long run. Raw storage without other file management functionality can quickly turn into a disorderly mess of folders, just as it does on ground-based servers.
M-Files brings order to document disarray by giving every item in the cloud repository a unique file identity, programmable permission controls and a complete version history.
"M-Files saved us a lot of time over what we had going on with just a folder structure. Back when we had to submit a filing to the FDA, it was difficult finding the relevant documentation we needed. There were duplicates everywhere. Trying to find a document and not knowing which version was the latest was pretty much a nightmare. Automatic file versioning is essential when you have five people in different locations revising the same work."
Flexible permission controls on certain classes of documents also enables third-party consultants and advisors to login into the company's system and access a select set of material and save their own revisions of documents, without the risk of upsetting the organizational scheme.
"The ability to share files with consultants overseas has proved very handy. They can pull files whenever they want at any time they want.
What's the advice for other start-ups wanting to get off the ground and into the cloud? Find a system that provides an efficient and intuitive user interface, along with the flexible file organization and robust search capabilities which can be tailored to your specific needs. After all, you're going to use it every day.
M-Files Inc. develops M-Files easy-to-use, professional document management software and the cloud-based document management service M-Files Cloud Vault. M-Files Cloud Vault enables companies to organize and manage company documents and information on secure servers hosted on the Windows Azure platform, for less than $20 per month per user. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of M-Files requires no set-up and provides advanced document management features such as fast search, secure user access permissions, check-in/check-out, version management, support for scanned paper documents, email and email attachments and offline use. For more information, visit www.m-files.com/cloudvault.