Document Management Today

Posted on 19. Dec, 2010 by LaymanHarang in The Profit Motive

Where exactly is the document management industry? Most of us would agree that we are in a mature industry. Our products are, for the most part, stable and fully featured. Many of the companies that provide software have been around long enough. So why are more prospective clients not racing to migrate to Document Management Systems?

There are a many issues, but two of the main reasons are that 1 – Systems are being oversold and 2 – they are being under installed.

We will explore these topics in greater detail in a future post, but for now, let’s summarize each:

• The systems are being oversold – On the surface this sounds far too simple and probably overused, but in the case of DMS implementations it is probably more true than not. If you were to listen to a typical DMS sales pitch the system in question will solve all of your organizations problems with little or no effort. Especially as it relates to start up. In our collective guts we know that this is not true and additionally, it leaves us a little suspicious about the people doing the selling. A Document Management System is no simple change and we know it.
• Stories about failed installations, ones that have taken much longer than promised and the accounts of systems that have cost more, much more, than originally outlined are cliché. We have all heard the stories and they scare us.

The core of these complaints is ultimately the same and we believe fundamental to the issues surrounding the industry – that being that software alone solves nothing. Only when a system is properly sold, properly installed, properly supported to a properly trained client can we achieve success. In far too many installations one or more of these elements are found missing.

We will explore in greater detail in upcoming post.

We encourage your comments.

Thanks for visiting.