The Advantages of On-demand or Software as a Service (SaaS) for Document Imaging Systems

It’s been said that SaaS can be viewed as a paradigm shift, from Enterprise Business Solutions built on internal Functional Requirements, procurement and ownership model to solutions based on subscription Internet service delivery model.  A paradigm shift, because businesses are now leasing/subscribing software in lieu of buying it outright, which is considered a big departure from the norm.  For a business, imagine the real savings; no software to purchase, no hardware to purchase, no IT staff to support the application, no maintenance fees, no backup and no Disaster Recovery.

SaaS for Document Imaging

For many small to mid-size companies, Software as a Service (SaaS) is becoming more and more the attractive way to go for their Document Management Systems.  SaaS works just like an on-demand service such as cable TV, etc.  The Document Management provider licenses the Enterprise Document Management software to the clients for use as a service and use it as if they owned it.  Customers can send their documents to the provider or opt to do their own scanning locally and upload them, through the Cloud, into the provider’s system.  This generally benefits businesses since it is low-cost relative to purchasing software license, maintenance, and hardware and often offers seamless integration with existing tools and resources, such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Accounting System, etc.  Customers can have access to all the application features and be able to control access to documents and resources for tighter user collaboration and distribution.

Perceived Roadblock

As expected, it can be extremely hard for clients to relinquish control of the tangible aspect of managing documents over to someone else on a day-to-day basis.  One of the beauties of a true Cloud Computing is that it doesn’t matter where some of the infrastructure pieces live in the Cloud.

Case In Point:  What attracts clients, in the first place, to the SaaS Model is the ability to outsource an entire function to another party without worrying about buying software, IT and the maintenance of such undertake.  However, usually missing from that discussion is what pieces that get outsourced are entirely up to the client, which means that the client can dictate where certain functions live.  Clients, in doing their due diligence, need to find out more information about how they may be able to decoupled the Document Management System (DMS) modules.  Not all DMS products are equal; depending on the solution, clients can separate the front-end physical location from the back-end, etc.  For example, client may want to control the physical location of the database by installing it locally and still not be responsible for its maintenance and yet still enjoy the benefits of SaaS.  The possibilities are almost endless, it is just a matter of understanding their Functional Requirements and how they should be implemented relative to the SaaS Model.

Ready For Document Management SaaS?

Software as a Service approach has been around for quite sometime; companies have used this approach in an Intranet environment and sparingly with selected vendors.  With the recent evolution in broadband, more and more companies are using this approach to cut back on enterprise software budget.  Instead of installing and maintaining enterprise applications on company servers, companies are now adopting a different approach and embracing cloud computing by utilizing SaaS.  In addition to Document Management, SaaS also offer electronic invoices, receipts processing and other Workflow processing.  Workflow enables company to perform efficient and mission-critical business process automation and access approval of documents by individual working in different roles and in different departments.

Every company is looking for ways to profoundly cut their software budget.  Easy to use and low-cost Cloud Computing (SaaS) approach can reap tremendous benefits and growth.  Finally, this approach allows company to focus on their client and not spend time on other functions that are not their core competencies, such as tracking and building business intelligence around documents.