Anyone who has been in information technology for more than 15 years or so will know that there have been several major transitions on how a computing infrastructure is architected. In a post World War II Navy research study on computers and computing the conclusion stipulated that no more than 12 computers would ever be sold world wide.  So much for penetrating insight.  Clearly IBM did not believe that and brought mainframe computing to many more than 12.  

For most of the sixties and seventies, mainframes or "hosts" were the way to go for those who could afford them.  Mid-range computers (smaller versions of big mainframes) made computing more affordable, but it was really the birth of the PC that was an even bigger game changer.  I can remember from my days as a PC analyst at the Yankee Group, the vicious fights and arguments about how PC's were toys and what a real computer was in bitter debates.  Downright hostile words came flying out of the mouths of industry leaders standing at the podium at one or more of our events.  I can remember one instance where Ken Olson co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), a huge IBM rival,  stood at the podium and bristled at the notion that PC's were eating into the VAX (mid-range "affordable" computer) sales, he famously said "Listen, if I take a VAX up in an airplane to 30,000 feet and push it out the door, it will be sold before it hits the ground". In other words sales are just fine, and we don't see or want to talk about any impact that PC's have.  Digital Equipment Corp was taken over some years later by Compaq, the inventor of the portable PC. They in turn were taken over by HP.

No one saw it coming.  Mainframe jocks did not see the impact smaller mid-range systems would have on sales, and neither one saw that networked PC's and a client server system architecture (which is by far the most pervasive architecture today), would undeniably eat their lunch. Significant arguments can be made that not many are seeing the impact of a web architecture (Cloud computing) happening today will have on on those hundreds of millions of networked PC's. If history serves as our guide, based on what I just shared with you, you know what will happen.

Cloud Computing 101

In layman's terms cloud computing is a reference to the internet, which is computing "euphemistically" in the sky, and therefore we don't see it. It is in the clouds so to speak.  No one really knows where the computers behind the internet are, and it really doesn't matter.  When we fire up our browser or connect to a server, we really don't need to see it, touch, smell it or have any kind of empirical evidence that it exists at all.  In fact many people don't even realize that a computer sends them the web pages they see on their laptop. The web architecture makes it un-necessary to know what kind of computer is delivering the information, or where it is.  This of course begs the question of whether you really need a server room.  If you are a large company you begin to question whether you need all those servers in all those buildings across the country or indeed the world.

Managing them all is time and resource expensive.  The pervasiveness of high speed connectivity in major parts of the world, not to mention the cost competitiveness of installing connectivity versus a server farm in remote locations further questions the need for or viability of client server computing even further.  Maybe we should just put all the servers in a single location and use the web to connect client PC's to that single location. Maybe we can do away with the whole concept of local PC's running applications and having servers do the heavy lifting and file serving as well.  Maybe our cloud infrastructure just sends applications to people's browsers and they work from there?

Cloud computing means consolidating servers in a single or multiple locations and having them work in the same way as if they were in the same building or on the same campus as you are with your desktop.  Fewer, faster and more powerful servers, living in an undisclosed location but omnipresent as far as individual desktop users are concerned. 

Software as a Service

Software as a Service (Saas) is not the same thing as cloud computing, but it is built upon a cloud infrastructure. What that means is that the omnipresent computing infrastructure of the cloud exists in the undisclosed invisible location, but its job is to deliver only one or a suite of specific applications directly to you in your browser.  So if you are using Salesforce.com for your customer relationship management application (CRM), Salesforce operates its own cloud, but the cloud only performs one job, and that is to serve you your CRM application in your browser.  Some people might be wondering why wouldn't XYZ Corp install the Salesforce software in their own cloud and serve it out to their users in that way. Some might do that, but realistically what's the point?  It really all looks the same to the user, and why should XYZ Corp gunk up their own mission critical application cloud with that Salesforce software, and then also have to maintain it.  The Salesforce.com cloud, like all seriously professional clouds is running on servers located in facilities built to exacting standards that are certified (SAS 70 Type II Certification) and therefore security and reliability is in many ways guaranteed, so why bother?  Users just point their browsers to Salesforce.com and the magic simply happens. Nothing to install, nothing to update, nothing to maintain it just works. Virtually every Bank, Government, Insurance company etc. does this very thing each and every day. When you check your bank balance on-line you are using a Saas application.

Software as a service is a highly economical, immediately available, highly secure on-demand set of software that provides you with much the same capability as if you installed it in your office and on your desktop computer, just without the hassle.  No updates, no maintenance, not hardware problems, no disaster recovery issues and much much cheaper.  If your office building is under 10 feet of water, your data is safe if you were using a Saas application.  If you installed on premise, everything is gone in that flood, and you get to start over.

Software as a Service for Document Management, Records Management and Collaboration

The software as a service model works very well for document management, precisely because of the simplicity of deployment, omnipresence of the software, security of the model, intrinsic economy of the model, and customizability available in the products on the market (see list of recommended vendors below). 

With a Saas solution your cost to get started is your first months bill, and depending on the number of users and quantities of documents you could be up and running anywhere from immediately to a couple of days. You can add features and capabilities on the fly, adding only what is essential.  You never have to worry about disaster recovery, backups, power failures, disk crashes, malfunctioning hardware, problems with your version of the OS.  If the browser works, the application works.  The model applies equally from small deployments to enterprise.  Its all the same, just more browsers hitting the document management website.  Amazon.com has millions of people buying products all day long, and it is always up and always available for you to buy yours.  There is nothing about document management that is intrinsically more complicated or much more difficult than that.

Most Saas document management software companies have quite capable networks of resellers and integrators that can custom fit applications for virtually every need.

Recommended Saas Document Management Solutions

Our analysts have been briefed on the features and capabilities of at least four different solutions. You can learn more about all of them here on techinfocenter.com, and we recommend that you start your investigation there. These companies work with enterprises both large and small including school districts, federal and state government, large household names like Wells Fargo Bank, Mutual of Omaha, and Bank of America.  The scalability and cost effectiveness these Saas solutions for businesses both large and small is simply too attractive to ignore.

Capsys - a highly modern and innovative solution that makes scanning of documents an on-demand activity that is simple, fast and powerful. The Capsys scanning application can work with any scanning device including multifunction printers, and is accessible from any worldwide location without requiring any kind of installation.

Document Advantage - Is a modern solution built with the latest technologies offering a comprehensive suite of document management, records management and workflow software, all available on demand

Digitech Systems - A leader and one of the first software as a service document management solutions who also offers a comprehensive suite of document management, records management, workflow, and scanning software.  Hundreds of millions of documents are stored in the Digitech ImageSilo.

FileBound - Also a leader offering a comprehensive solution of document management, records management, document capture and workflow, with an equally large repository with hundreds of millions of documents. FileBound also has a particular expertise in managing financial business processes.

Raimund Wasner, Managing Director, Kollabria