Managing and Sharing Important Documents - in Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

Transcription

1 Maagig ad Sharig Importat Documets - i Small to Mid-Sized Busiesses Sposored by:

2 Table of Cotets Itroductio: Itroductio... 3 Key fidigs...3 What is Documet Maagemet?: What is Documet Maagemet?... 3 Why would I wat my documets i the Cloud?: Why would I wat my documets i the cloud?... 3 Ca I trust Cloud security?: Ca I trust Cloud security?... 4 What would I use it for?: What would I use it for?... 4 How will it save me moey?: How will it save me moey?... 5 What should I look out for?: What should I look out for?... 5 How much will it cost?: How much will it cost?... 6 Coclusio ad Recommedatios: Coclusio ad Recommedatios... 6 Recommedatios... 6 Refereces... 6 Uderwritte i part by: HP... 7 About the : About the... 7 Process used ad survey demographics... 7 About AIIM... 7 About the author... 7 Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses 2

3 Itroductio Cotet sharig ad documet maagemet systems deployed i the cloud ca offer uique beefits for small ad mid-sized busiesses. But you may well ask, If we do t use o-premise documet maagemet ow, why o earth would we use it i the cloud? Why ideed? Ad yet may of the most useful aspects of documet maagemet become eve more useful whe you use a cloud solutio: Sharig ad collaboratig o documets iside ad outside of the busiess Accessig ad uploadig them from aywhere ad o ay device Restrictig access to specific idividuals or team members Searchig busiess reports ad iformatio wherever ad wheever you eed to - work, home or o the move Gettig project team-sites up ad ruig quickly without big implemetatio costs Beig certai that importat documets are backed-up ad safe from viruses ad malware Supports a disaster recovery pla for your data Lowers your ifrastructure ad maiteace costs What is Documet Maagemet? A documet maagemet system is just like a catalog or library of documets. For each documet the system will detail what it s about, who wrote it, who ca see it, who ca chage it, who has chaged it ad where ad how it ca be foud. If documets are to be shared iterally, or eve more importatly, exterally, the these thigs eed to be maaged ad audited. I this way, a documet maagemet system helps busiess with regulatory compliace ad aual audit requiremets. If a documet arrives o paper, the easiest way to share ad maage it is to sca it ito a digital file. This ot oly reduces photocopies ad physical storage space, it also mobilizes the documet immediately, makig it available to staff workig remotely or at home. May orgaizatios also process some of their busiess forms, claim forms ad ivoices by scaig them i ad electroically routig them through the process. Most busiess sectors ca beefit from a documet maagemet system we re all subject to health ad safety regulatio, employee legislatio, cotracts, ivoices, approvals ad sig-offs. I may areas like fiacial service professioals, legal practices, educatio, real-estate ad i costructio, the combiatio of regulatio, paper forms ad documet to-ig ad fro-ig create a strog driver for all-electroic documet maagemet. I additio, ay busiess that presets its customers with siged agreemets, complaits procedures, cotract terms, or statutory statemets would beefit from a greater degree of electroic documet exchage to save costs ad improve service. This might iclude healthcare practices, car sales or retal, property agets, isurace ad loa brokers, mobile phoe suppliers, gas ad power utilities, ad a host of other paper-itesive busiesses ad services. Why would I wat my documets i the Cloud? Just like a library, it s much easier to share thigs if you put them somewhere that other participats ca access easily. Puttig documets i a cloud system, settig who ca access it, ad sedig them a lik is much easier tha tryig to give them access ito your etwork ad your servers, or sedig back-ad-forth copies by . It may also be that the cloud libraria is more experieced ad more accoutable tha your ow IT staff, ad that the electroic library buildig (or cloud data-ceter) is actually a safer ad more secure place to store importat documets tha your ow premises. It is certaily the case that the very act of placig documets i this cloud library will focus the mid o how it should be classified or tagged i order to fid it agai, ad who should have access rights. It is also the case that most libraries will take care to store oly oe copy of each book, as the shelf space for multiple-copies is bulky ad expesive. The same is true of electroic documets - ad you will oly have oe versio of the truth. Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses It s also much quicker to get a cotet store up ad ruig i the cloud, with o eed to worry about servers, operatig systems ad back-up. If you have remote, field-based or travellig staff, it s also much easier to coect to a cloud system from a smartphoe or tablet. Ulike a library, where writig commets i a book, or eve addig ew chapters is somewhat frowed upo, a cloud cotet store ca be much more iteractive if you so choose allowig multiple participats to collaborate o documet creatio ad refiemet. Havig multiple commeters work o a sigle copy is much easier tha exchagig multiple marked-up copies by , ad you will always have a record of each versio created. 3

4 Ca I trust cloud security? Much like maagig your bak accout olie, you eed to take security threats to your cloud cotet seriously ad follow sesible steps o passwords, secure coectios, ecryptio, etc. I may ways, this is simpler tha cofigurig the firewalls ad ati-viruses that protect your o-premise etwork. Eablig access from mobile devices uses the same security mechaisms as from the office, so is simpler ad potetially more reliable tha puchig VPN holes through your firewall. Just as you would ot trust your moey to a olie bak with o history ad o reputatio, you eed to be sure you kow who you are dealig with whe it comes to etrustig your data to a olie storage provider. Do ot be put off by stories of hacked data ad system outages: may o-premise systems are just as vulerable, especially from iteral employees ad out-sourced IT support staff. Breaches of i-house systems are much more likely to go u-reported. Accordig to AIIM surveys 1, employees i most busiesses are already makig use of cosumer-style cloud file-stores ad file shares like Dropbox, Everote ad YouSedIt i a ucotrolled way, ad with very basic security, particularly at the free ed of their offerigs. Cosolidatig ad maagig cloud services proactively withi a approved busiess-stregth system will allow you to prohibit use of these umaaged squirrel stores. I some regios, or i certai sectors such as govermet or healthcare, compliace requiremets may come ito play for holdig sesitive iformatio i offshore data ceters. If this applies to you cosult the cloud service provider as most have mechaisms for reassurace i these cases. What would I use it for? Iteral etwork file-shares (the X-Drive or G-Drive ) work fie as log as: You have a well-disciplied filig pla ad people stick to it You do t eed to make some of it accessible, some of the time, to people who do t have a log-i o your etwork Nobody accidetly deletes or more likely moves a folder You do t ru out of space o the server You do t eed to search across the file hierarchy rather tha dow ito it Your back-up works every time You do t eed to make certai types of documet cofidetial to certai groups. You do t eed a audit trail of who has viewed, edited ad deleted files Why Cloud? Coects other sites or brach offices Accessible from home or o the move Safe documet sharig with stakeholders, parters ad cliets Quick ad simple to set up Ideal for joit projects Ecourages collaboratio ad feedback No extra load o IT Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses A documet maagemet system i the cloud will solve all of these problems. Set up a shared area for your cliets or customers to submit their materials, or create a hadover-folder at the ed of a project. Use a secure cloud-store for your highly cofidetial Board reports, set up a restricted area for a sesitive acquisitio, a re-structurig or a legal project, ad cut out all that photocopyig of résumés whe you are recruitig. You ca eve set up your scaer or MFP to sca direct to a cloud folder ad cut out tedious process steps. For smaller busiesses who rely o access to sigle sites ad servers, disaster recovery ca ivolve expesive stad-by systems ad off-site facilities. We all kow that we should do it, but it is so ofte overlooked util the ext big sowstorm or flood. However, the ability to access the most importat busiess documets from aywhere, ad the reduced reliace o paper files held i o-site office cabiets is a good startig poit for a disaster recovery pla. Of course, your cloud provider will be backig your data up i multiple data ceters. 4

5 How will it save me moey? May of the fiacial beefits of cloud cotet storage relate to makig staff more effective, improvig project coordiatio, reducig time spet searchig for or duplicatig iformatio, ad improvig the quality of decisio makig. However, there ca also be beefits from improvemets to the process flow - speedig up documet routig, shorteig cycle-times, prevetig delays, discotiuities ad errors, ad improvig customer satisfactio. This is particularly true where paper forms ad associated documets are part of the process flow. Dealig with ay claim, bid-process, approval or customer o-boardig through the postal system is time-cosumig ad frustratig. Most high-ed documet maagemet systems iclude workflow ad busiess process modules, which are geerally very effective, but ca also be complex ad iflexible. Although very useful i larger busiesses, these are ot the oly way to achieve process efficiecies ad cost savigs. The simplest of electroic documet i-folder to out-folder workflow ca still be hugely more efficiet ad less error-proe tha paper-based processes, ad it does t eed customized ad hard-to-maitai iterfaces to existig fiace, order-processig ad HR systems. For example, hadlig iboud ivoices (paper or PDF) ca work with a sca-to folder, a matched-ad-ready-for-approval folder, a approved folder ad a paid folder. Arrival of a ivoice i ay of these process queues will trigger a alert to the appropriate employee or employees. Equippig the ivoice-processig clerk with two screes, oe for the scaed ivoice ad oe for the fiace applicatio will allow simple cut-ad-paste to be the itegratio mechaism betwee the two systems. Accouts payable equiries will ivolve a simple search across the folders to show up the curret status. More importatly, maagers ca approve the ivoice wherever i the world they happe to be as log as they have access to the cloud. For better or worse, the excuse of the lost ivoice will be less likely to be geuie. As a extesio, trusted suppliers ca place their ow PDF ivoices ito the ready-for matchig folder, ad the auditor ca be give access to the paid folder. Ad with o photocopies to file, prit costs are saved ad office space is freed up. As a further extesio, goods iward ca sca delivery otes ito a sub-folder alog with ay istaller istructios or safety otes. Ispectio reports or retured goods correspodece ca be filed alogside, givig the purchasig clerk, ad ayoe else who eeds to kow, a full picture of the trasactio history i oe place. It s ot difficult to sketch out how a similar process would work for accouts receivable, for staff expeses, for the HR recruitmet process, for staff performace reviews, for proposal submissios, for egieerig chages, ad so o. What should I look out for? Cost Savigs For most of these applicatios to work for you, you eed to be certai that they are ot oly secure, but eve more secure tha your o-premise servers ad ifrastructure. So look for strog security, but also security that is straightforward to set up mistakes i setup geerally leave more gaps tha geeric failigs. If you are settig up a system yourself, without IT help, you ll eed to make sure that coectig to scaers ad priters is simple. Of course, you ll eed to trust your provider, ad you ll probably be lookig for some history of providig comprehesive o-premise documet ad records maagemet systems, ad for someoe who is goig to be aroud i the future. Versio cotrol is importat i some applicatios, particularly maufacturig ad costructio. A level of workflow would also be useful, but as we said before, do t be wooed by complicated ivoice capture or busiess process maagemet fuctios. Collaboratio ad social fuctios ca also be attractive, but stay focused o the core requiremet, which is a totally secure, trustworthy ad easy-to-use place to store ad share files ad documets. Just as you would ot chose your surgeo for a heart operatio o the basis of price, be just as wary of low cost or free models for the cloud-storage of your most importat documets. Ask yourself just how much trust you ca put i ay service-level agreemet that ivolves o paymets. You ll also be lookig for a system that ca grow with you i a pay-as-you-grow way as your eeds become more ambitious. Reduced pritig ad photocopyig Less postage ad statioery Frees up cabiet floor space Fid thigs faster Avoid temp costs for filig ad shreddig Faster ad cheaper audits Lower server ad back-up costs More efficiet processes Better decisio makig Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses 5

6 How much will it cost? Ask more how much will I save?! The more you ca keep paper documets out of the busiess the more you save less paper, less priter ik, lower click-charges, fewer statioary supplies, lower mailroom costs ad o eed to give up precious office or warehouse space for filig cabiets. Ad whe it comes to electroic documets, AIIM survey 2 results suggest that half your server disk space could be saved if you oly store oe copy of each documet. A cloud-based cotet maagemet system will be charged just like your broadbad coectio a fixed rate per moth, per user (geerally), up to a give storage limit. The cost of that storage icludes backup, ati-virus, addig the latest security fixes, ad replacig wor-out discs ad servers. Obviously, you eed to be aware that compared to most o-premise software, these costs will appear as operatioal expeses rather tha capital expediture, but by avoidig the four-year cycle of server upgrades ad migratio costs, most busiesses would welcome this differece. Coclusio Cloud-based documet storage ad sharig has become very popular both i the cosumer area ad withi busiess (although it s ot always used officially withi busiesses AIIM research 1 shows that rogue usage of free olie file-sharig software is prevalet). However, sharig i a busiess cotext also eeds a degree of maagemet who ca share ad edit which documet types, o what topics, ad with whom. Over ad above that, the filig pla eeds to be appropriate ad ituitive if everyoe is to kow where to store thigs, ad idexig is eeded so that cotet ca be easily foud i the future. Puttig these documet maagemet cocepts i place greatly ehaces the efficiecy of ay busiess, but utilizig the cloud provides particular beefits. It ca be quickly deployed, ad will be readily accessible by project parters, busiess agecies, customers, or cliets, icludig those who are out-ad-about with a mobile device. I may cases, a maagemet, HR, or lie-of-busiess cotrolled cloud documet system will be safer ad more secure tha oe provided by local IT resources. It ca be difficult to acquire security skills ad keep them up-todate, ad perhaps your IT staff should ot be icluded i your sesitive documet distributios ideed, they may be a outsourced service. Recommedatios As a exercise, susped your curret perceptio of cloud security ad cosider a umber of what if scearios of usig a cloud-based documet maagemet facility. Whe you have see the potetial beefits, re-cosider the security risks, ad how you might reduce them by a appropriate choice of cloud service. Cosider where your most importat busiess documets are stored at the momet, ad how easy it is to access them, both for those who should t have access, ad those who eed access from wherever they are workig. If they are held as paper copies they are likely to be eve more difficult to access, as well as takig up useful floor space. Thik how useful it would be if you could quickly ad easily set up a shared documet area accessible oly by trusted iteral staff ad also by exteral parters, project members, customers, or professioal agecies. Cosider whether there are ew busiess models or customer services you could offer by providig electroic submissio to you of documets via a shared but secure area i the cloud, or how you might deliver documetatio sets to others via a shared space. Look at a umber of basic documet-cetric processes i your busiess ad see how elimiatig paper ad defiig a simple electroic workflow could improve productivity, speed up the ed-to-ed process, ad reduce prit costs ad paper-storage space. Look out for uofficial use of file-sharig ad cloud storage applicatios, explore why they are cosidered useful ad productive, the aim to provide a busiess-stregth system as a safer ad more cotrolled alterative. Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses Refereces 1. Cotet i the Cloud AIIM Idustry Watch, October 2012, 2. Capitalizig o Cotet AIIM, March 2011, 6

7 UNDERWRITTEN BY: Hewlett-Packard HP creates ew possibilities for techology to have a meaigful impact o people, busiesses, govermets ad society. The world s largest techology compay, HP brigs together a portfolio that spas pritig, persoal computig, software, services ad IT ifrastructure to solve customer problems. More iformatio about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at About the We are happy to exted free use of the materials i this report to ed-user compaies ad to idepedet cosultats, but ot to suppliers of ECM systems, products ad services, other tha HP ad its subsidiaries ad parters. Ay use of this material must carry the attributio Rather tha redistribute a copy of this report to your colleagues, please direct them to for a free dowload. Our ability to deliver idustry thought-leadership depeds o the fiacial support of our uderwritig sposor ad we hope you will joi us i thakig HP for this support. About AIIM AIIM has bee a advocate ad supporter of iformatio professioals for early 70 years. The associatio missio is to esure that iformatio professioals uderstad the curret ad future challeges of maagig iformatio assets i a era of social, mobile, cloud ad big data. Fouded i 1943, AIIM builds o a strog heritage of research ad member service. Today, AIIM is a global, o-profit orgaizatio that provides idepedet research, educatio ad certificatio programs to iformatio professioals. AIIM represets the etire iformatio maagemet commuity, with programs ad cotet for practitioers, techology suppliers, itegrators ad cosultats. About the author Doug Miles is Director of the AIIM Market Itelligece Divisio. A early pioeer of documet maagemet systems, Doug has bee ivolved i their evolutio from techical solutio to eterprise ifrastructure platform. Doug has produced a series of AIIM survey reports ad white papers o user issues ad drivers for Capture, ECM, Records Maagemet, SharePoit, Social Busiess, Big Data, Mobile ad Cloud. Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses 7

8 AIIM ( is the global commuity of iformatio professioals. We provide the educatio, research ad certificatio that iformatio professioals eed to maage ad share iformatio assets i a era of mobile, social, cloud ad big data. Fouded i 1943, AIIM builds o a strog heritage of research ad member service. Today, AIIM is a global, o-profit orgaizatio that provides idepedet research, educatio ad certificatio programs to iformatio professioals. AIIM represets the etire iformatio maagemet commuity, with programs ad cotet for practitioers, techology suppliers, itegrators ad cosultats. Maagig ad Sharig importat Documets - i Small to `Mid-Sized Busiesses 2012 AIIM AIIM Europe 1100 Waye Aveue, Suite 1100 The IT Cetre, Lowesmoor Wharf Silver Sprig, MD Worcester, WR1 2RR, UK (0)