Selling or hosting document management software has long been a key service provided by digital imaging dealers. A lot has changed with document management solutions over the past few years, and it will affect how you sell and deliver them. First, it would be worthwhile to review the core functions of how basic document management stores, manages, and tracks digital documents according to the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM):
• Check-in/check-out and locking. This feature manages the document editing process so one person’s revisions do not overwrite another’s
• Version control, which identifies the current version and catalogs how it differs from previous versions
• Roll-back, which allows an earlier version to replace the latest
• Audit trail, which tracks who did what and at what time to a document
• Annotation and stamps
• Track storage location
• Security access and control
• The means to locate and retrieve a given document
In general, document management solutions have become more accessible and easier to use for a wider range of businesses. Many if not most of them now offer cloud-based options or a browser-based interface. This has brought cost and complexity down, so smaller businesses can more easily afford them.
Being more web-centric, however, has added complexity on the implementation and setup side. For example, it has set an expectation that document management solutions should incorporate documents and other content that reside outside a company’s internal network in other cloud services or even in social media channels.
Below are some of the features that a modern document management solution offers. Not all of them are new, but they are becoming more standard:
• Integration with cloud services such as Dropbox, Salesforce, Google Drive, and Quickbooks. This is great for the customer, as it allows one view and one management system for both internal and web-based content. It’s tougher for the reseller who sets up the integration, which rarely goes as easily as planned.
• Syncing across on-premise and cloud services. This ensures that documents stored both internal and on the cloud are always the same, and that the history is properly reconciled. This is important for businesses that share content via the cloud with remote workers or external partners.
• Analytics for discovery and surfacing documents. E-discovery has long been used in the legal profession to more quickly identify documents relevant to a case. It uses sophisticated text analysis to find content that is statistically most likely to be of value. This technology is now found in more general document management solutions.
• Mobile and remote-enabled. Document management solutions were originally intended for on-site use on a desktop. Now, businesses expect anytime, anywhere access to content. Cloud-based document management provides this, but it might require more thought into the user-interface as it will need to work for multiple screen types. Security is also a concern, since remote access increases risk of exposing sensitive data.
• Greater specialization. We are seeing document management solutions that target vertical markets such as engineering/CAD, healthcare, legal, and education. This is great for both customer and implementer because it means less customization.
• Incorporation of video, audio, and image files. Companies are producing and consuming more content such as training and marketing videos, podcasts, product photos, and recorded meetings. They want to manage and access them much as they do text documents, and many document management solutions accommodate these files. For the implementer, it means dealing with more file formats and a need to develop good metadata so non-text content can be easily located.
While some of these features add complexity for resellers who provide document management solutions, they also add a great deal of value to the customer and expand the market for document management solutions.
