Document Management: Finding it in the Cloud
By Steven J. Best May 2012 Document Management is more than just the management of documents. Today, the definition of document management is managing the storage of digital media on a computer server, whether in your office or in the proverbial cloud. And, documents may be anything from a traditional word processing document, to a scanned PDF, a graphic image, a sound file, a movie and/or even an email. Document Management has morphed into an umbrella term that embraces document imaging, workflow, text retrieval, and multimedia. Why do you need it? This author fondly remembers the old sitcom "The Lucy Show" in which Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball's scatterbrained secretary character to curmudgeon and boss, Mr. Mooney), once described her non sense way of filing Mr. Mooney's documents that befuddled (and amused) the audience. And, it is that "befuddlement" that leads to the point of this article – managing the systematic storage and retrieval content in a logical sense at your firm. You need to save and retrieve content quickly whether you saved it or others in your firm have. Crazy for Document Management Software You may sit back and think that document management software (DMS) is too expensive. Or, DMS is all well and good, but your staff complies with your protocol to save documents with a certain naming/folder convention. But, storage protocols are worthless if even one staff member strays and/or you can’t easily and quickly find what you are looking for. Or, you've invested in desktop searching software like Copernic® to help quickly find documents. But, in reality, you still, for the most part, depend on the Lucy Carmichael's of the world to put things in the right, logical place. Or, someone dragged one windows folder onto another and many important documents now have a new folder home. With document management, for example, you can (and realistically in the 2012 world of "Google" should be able to) search through hundreds of thousands of documents that contain the words “motion to compel” created or modified in the last twelve months in mere seconds. And, seconds later, the document opens ready to review, edit, email, etc. When you think about the loss of productivity that you and your staff experience every single day as you all look and search for documents, e‐mails, PDF's, scanned images and the like, the cost, could honestly be in the TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars, if not more.Key questions to ask to quickly realize that document management should be a key consideration of your annual technology budget. Do you and your staff find documents and records quickly and easily; Is your staff frequently frustrated by having to search for and/or wait for information in order to properly perform their job function; Do you and your staff spend too much time searching for information; Does your staff have quick access to each other's emails and email attachments; Do your clients wait for answers to important questions because you can't find the information for which you are looking when clients inquire; Have you ever almost missed crucial deadlines because of information simply couldn't be located and found; Do you frequently "recreate" the proverbial wheel because you didn't know that a particular document, email or PDF with critical data even existed on your system? Do you and your staff present an image of efficiency and professionalism when clients communicate with you about information contained in company documents; The Document Butler That brings us to what I've been referring to as "TRUE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT." True document management software forces compliance of everyone within your organization. Momentarily, this author will discuss traditional document management solutions v. "cloud based" document management systems. But, at this point, the crux of consideration is why you, at your firm, absolutely NEED to embrace document management software. Document management software, in a nutshell, requires/mandates: That users take a moment and profile each document (which is absolutely faster than browsing your mandatory, but not really mandatory, document saving folder structure); The proper storage of documents pursuant to protocols that you design; All words of all documents are kept in an indexed database for fast (really fast) and accurate searching; The indexing of every single word of word processing docs, spreadsheets, PDFs, emails, email attachments, etc.; No one gets to bypass the system. DMS software locks down how documents are stored and retrieved. This forced user compliance that can’t be bypassed makes the investment worth every penny; Check in‐ Check Out – know who has your document and when it was last removed;
Complete AUDIT TRAILS of document history including modification dates, times and by whom; Remote (web based) access to your knowledge (document) system; Version Control – will it track different versions of a document; Security – keeping unwanted eyes out of the system; Document Retention – automatically archive old documents; Scanning/Imaging – most DMS systems work hand in hand with your scanners or central scanner copy stations including OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities; and Centralized E‐Mail management. Most systems integrate with Microsoft Outlook (and some with Google Mail) to ensure that e‐mails are a part of the knowledge foundation of every single file/matter that you handle in the office. Many are simple click and drag systems similar to subfolders that many users create currently off of their own Inbox. Traditional or Cloud Based Document Management? Now that you KNOW you really should invest in true DMS, should you host it on your internal system or do it in the "cloud"? Due to space constraints we will not discuss traditional document management software in detail. But, these systems are rather mature; many have been on the market for decades. And, most of the traditional systems on the market today are exceptional (including, but not limited to, Autonomy, OpenText and Worldox). Traditional document management software may require that you maintain a separate server, some require the purchase of Microsoft SQL licenses, you must employ and keep servers with rather large hard drives so that your document repository can continue to grow, and roll out updates internally as systems continue to mature, grow and comply with updates to both Windows operating systems and related software (such as Word, Excel, Outlook, Acrobat, Word Perfect, etc.). With traditional document management, the implementation cost is usually on the high side, but ongoing costs are typically reasonable and manageable. Let's now compare traditional to cloud based document management. First and foremost, you MUST have high speed internet to use any cloud based system; no exceptions to that rule. As with most cloud based systems, the upfront cost (which is usually minimal and MUCH lower than traditional DMS) is one of the key motivating factors to drive some to the proverbial cloud. Most reputable vendors include an option to back up your data to a server that is in your care, custody or control, and most, if not all, will ensure that your data is properly backed up in the event of disaster. The downside is the lack of custody and control of the physical server upon which your data resides and the ongoing and never ending monthly fee to continue to use the service. The upside is that your firm will not bear the cost of updates, upgrades, installations gone awry, server failures, systems incompatibility and the reactive dollars that you will ultimately spend related to same. And, quite frankly, there is little to fear about cloud based document management, the reputable vendors are keeping your work product and confidential data safe, secure, available to you anytime and anywhere you have internet access, and, of
The Quest for Less Paper Worthy of consideration in this discussion is the storage of paper. When most staff in law firms or legal departments are asked about their biggest frustrations as it relates to productivity and job efficiency, managing volumes of paper is often their number one item. People often spend hours of unproductive time filing away and then, later, looking for paper. Moreover, paper files can only be in one place at a time; there is no sharing or collaborating on a paper file. One cannot search a paper file, you can only flip paper, one page at a time. Further, filing paper is also one of the most dreaded tasks in a law firm – and it often gets put off. Where is that critical document…who knows, Mrs. Carmichael? Well, who knows where she put it?! Document Management software helps significantly in your quest for less paper. Because DMS systems require that you profile every document, PDF, spreadsheet and email, you will have a systematic way of filing and retrieving electronic copies of your paper documents. DMS systems also index every word of every document stored, so locating a document, even if improperly profiled, is easy and fast. Most DMS integrates with scanners as well. Imagine the productivity and imagine significantly reducing the paper footprint on your facility while easily finding any file. Should Cost be Your Only Consideration? Based on several of this author's calculations, in a given 5 year cost comparison, the cost of cloud based DMS is, on its face, greater than traditional. However, this estimation presumes that your network will not have any challenges over the course and scope of this 5 year period. Thus, the cost of traditional document management software has many more variables and unknowns about cost than cloud based. Cloud based document management is typically just a monthly user fee. A fee your firm can easily budget every year. Further, because the cloud system doesn’t require any server installation in your office, implementation costs are typically lower as well. And, we've not even discussed the cost of backing up your documents. Cloud based systems typically include it; traditional usually do not. And, unlike traditional software, cloud based systems provide operating system flexibility including Windows, Mac, Tablet, iPad/iPhone, Android, and the like. Some traditional systems have options to allow tablet capabilities, but few work on an Apple computer. Among the cloud based document management providers are NetDocuments® … probably the number one cloud based DMS provider (www.netdocuments.com). Also worthy of consideration are ImageSite (www.equorum.com), KnowledgeTree (www.knowledgetree.com), SpringCM (www.springcm.com), and Xythos (www.xythosondemand.com), among others.
Final Thoughts So, it's quite clear that this author wholeheartedly embraces the idea that no matter how small or how large your law firm or legal department may be, you really MUST budget for a document management system. The myriad of reasons why you SHOULD are set forth herein above. Having implemented document management systems at many firms over the last 13 years, I can affirmatively tell you that NO ONE has ever said to me, "worst decision I ever made". To the contrary, after 90 days, most new users of document management, a wonder how in the world they functioned without it in the past. And, many people who start new law firms, having come from a firm that used document management, will first and foremost, inquire about document management software. And, lastly, whether you are a traditional software firm or whether you are ready to embrace the "cloud," you will truly realize a more productive, efficient and less paper work life by adopting, maintaining and embracing document management software. Mr. Mooney couldn't find ANYTHING that his secretary filed away. Her logic was not his logic (or anyone's logic) and his efficiency and productivity suffered greatly. Embrace document management; you'll be relieved that you did. If only Mr. Mooney could have done so! Steven J. Best is an attorney and partner of the Affinity Consulting Group based in Atlanta, GA. Steve’s technology specialties include case management, time/billing/accounting, document assembly, document management solutions and cloud based software offerings for law firms and legal departments. Steve also consults with firms that already own document management software, but wish to move to a paperless office environment. Steve can be reached by email at [email protected].
