In our previous post we discussed why you should evaluate document management software. Here, we will look at the ‘how’ of it.
Once you have satisfied yourself with the fact that the options before you deserve a closer look and possible evaluation, you need to choose one of them and begin the evaluation process. There are basically 3 sides to evaluating electronic document management software: operational, technical and financial. Let’s look at each of them in brief:
- Operational: This is the reason why most firms – irrespective of size – choose to manage documents electronically. Managing documents in digital format increases their mobility, makes them permanent as well as saves space, time and other resources. This is because in electronic document management, you can organize and work with documents in a far more structured way than in a paper based system. With advanced systems, you can also design your standard operating procedures (SOPs) to align with your document and folder arrangement or the other way around. The software should be evaluated to see if it meets these operational requirements of your firm. Allow for a reasonable time period – say 15-30 days – to evaluate the software in terms of operational effectiveness.
- Technical: Does the document management software support the configuration that your office systems have? How many documents or how much data can the software handle? To what extent can your firm depend on the software to manage its documents? Does the software provider offer quality technical support? All these and more questions need to be raised by your IT Manager so that you know if technically, the software you are evaluating or planning to evaluate is the right one for your small business.
- Financial: The software being evaluated may be just right to meet your firm’s document management needs and also qualify on all technical counts; but if it does not fit your budget, you may have to look for another option. That’s because you need to consider not only the cost of buying it now, but also your future needs based on your growth plan and projections as well as the cost of maintenance subscriptions. The ideal solution will be a system that offers free initial technical support and upgrades and is also scalable in a cost-effective way. Sohodox is a small business document management system that offers just that.
A good way to go about evaluating document management software is to appoint a team comprising representatives from each of these areas; say, your Operations Manager, IT Manager and Accounts or Finance Head. If the software being evaluated qualifies on all parameters, you should not delay investing in electronic document management.
Among our customers who have invested in Sohodox are: the U.S. House of Representatives, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, Arizona Cancer Charities, Law Offices of the General Counsel PA and many others. Read testimonials from some of our customers.
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