Let us start by defining document management (DM) to mean any software system that maintains a centralised repository of documents such that it assists in finding and organising documents, while facilitating office processes.
So a DM may be anything from a simple shared folder structure through to a sophisticated management system supporting full versioning, custom metadata, views, filtering, sorting, user access controls and document workflow.
Most professional businesses deal with vast numbers of documents and hence secure, robust storage for the document repository is a key IT concern and cost centre.
The question arises as to whether it is appropriate or worthwhile to also consider moving DM to the cloud, given that document creation, editing, storage and printing is all done locally within the office?
The on-premise rationale
Firms committed to in-house deployment for DM typically offer the following reasons:
• Considerable investment has been made in their own IT infrastructure with both staff and facilities and it therefore behoves them to leverage this investment.
• Physical security of servers is entirely under their own control and responsibility. Typically, only escorted access is permitted to on premise servers, and only their own hardware is permitted to be connected to their internal network.
• Electronic security is managed by virtue of firewall isolation from the Internet enabling controlled protocol level access to what is essentially an isolated private internal network.
• Application usage is controlled and centrally managed by IT to ensure that staff has a controlled and managed desktop working environment.
These measures are designed to protect the organisation from external threats such as hacker attack and virus penetration, and to ensure known levels of system performance, redundancy and backup.
The general belief is that internal installation of DM is necessary to maintain the level of security and robustness required by the organisation.
But is this really true and at what cost?
On premise deployments usually carry considerable IT costs, which bear scrutiny. Typically, there are 3 main cost centres:
• Cost to buy.
• Cost to maintain.
• Cost to backup.
How secure is it really?
No matter how much is spent on the on-premise or virtualised server environment albeit locked behind firewalls, it seems repositories are still vulnerable to attack by malware such as crypto-locker, which infiltrates via email or web access.
Introducing cloud document management
CDM is a cost-effective solution for document-minded businesses, and provides the following benefits:
• Unlimited file storage – no more running out of disk space, no more expensive server upgrades.
• Permanent archive – no more tapes, just an unlimited permanent online archive, never lose a thing.
• Collaboration – no uploads, no downloads, no copies, just single source shared documents.
• Security – securely encrypted file store replicated across world class data centres.
• Accessibility – view and edit your files online, anywhere, anytime and on any device.
So true cloud application technology allows all traditional costs of owning or leasing equipment, maintaining it and backing it up, to be eliminated. It allows you to eliminate expensive IT support services for host servers. It is the way of the future.