What is SaaS for ECM?
by Rai Wasner/Kollabria
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a technology mainstream phenomenon that is revolutionizing the Enterprise Content Management (document management, workflow etc.) software industry like it has revolutionized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and other mainstream software applications. SaaS is different from conventional software in four principle ways:
- There is nothing to install on your computer. The software resides on the world wide web and you access its functionality through your web browser.
- SaaS is, for lack of better words, a "pay as you go" solution. In other words it requires little to no capital investment in order to begin reaping the benefits of the product. You simply pay as you use it.
- SaaS solutions are ready to go immediately, requiring little to no set up, lengthy implementation cycles, or exhaustive customization, and require no-stop for upgrades, they are continually updated and improved.
- The software application is accessible over the world wide web by the authorized user from anywhere in the world, at any time. Thus work teams can collaborate across the planet.
SaaS ECM solutions are optimized for many common document management, forms processing and workflow intensive business processes. Depending on solution and vendor, many also come with pre-configured templates that make customization for particular applications such as accounting and finance, or vertical industry applications in Healthcare, Transportation or numerous other industries simple and straight forward.
