This article was co-authored by Norman Weiner, VP Technology Services, Kaizen InfoSource. I hope you enjoy the read as well as take away the information offered.
You work in a law firm and have approval and funding to implement a document management system. To help vet your selection you post the following question on a professional social media website. “Is it better for a law firm to have a cloud based or local network based document management system?”
You receive many replies. Most are emphatic and absolute. There are statements that cloud is always best. There are statements that internal systems are always best. It’s not surprising that these “absolute” responses are often from those who sell the products and services for the option they recommend.
Without seeing the replies, which do you think is the better strategy? Do you “go cloud” and insulate your decision within the cover of choosing the hot technology of the moment? Do you select a major “name brand” and “go local” because “nobody can go wrong” with the “big” vendor? Do you feel the quality of a product or service increases as its cost increases?
This decision is very easy. If you are objective and the best interest of your company is a fundamental construct, you choose to not choose. Selecting a document management system is not a strategic decision. A DMS is one of many technology tools which can support a defined strategy to manage information more effectively. The strategy must be clearly stated, documented, approved and endorsed by senior management. It will include guidelines for managing the full information lifecycle, including: governance, policies, records retention policy and taxonomy, records management, legal suspense, eDiscovery, regular destruction of appropriate data, and use of an off-site storage vendor.
Document Management can be a significant component of an information management strategy. The modality must fit the business processes and functional requirements of the company. The over-arching priority has to be the assured availability, security, and governance of the information being managed.
The correct response to the question is, “We can’t respond because we don’t know your business processes and resulting technical requirements. We don’t know what you need so we can’t recommend the appropriate DMS tool at this point.”
Can you spell RFP and ROI? Do you like being forced to change your business processes to accommodate how a new system works? Do you care about protecting and projecting the value of your company’s investment? Do you care about identifying and understanding the costs associated with supporting the system after it goes into production?
As illogical as it sounds, some companies have a vendor tell them what they need rather than perform an assessment of need independent of vendor bias. If this is you, please send an application for your preferred vendor list. This opportunity to retire early is inviting. Cluck… Cluck… Cluck…
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