On-premise or license-based document management systems require up-front capital expenditures on the software licenses and the hardware required to run the software. Purchasing servers require waiting for the hardware to arrive, and who knows, this could take weeks!
When your hardware arrives, your IT department is responsible for keeping it running at all times, installing the upgrades, and keeping the hardware up-to-dates with upgrades every five years. What happens when the vendor stops supporting that version in three years? You are forced to pay to implement their latest product.
Now, you are faced with the desperate hopes that you will get an ROI. But when you calculated that ROI, did you remember to factor into the cost the labor involved in server hardware maintenance, repair and replacement, software updates and hardware upgrades, patches, security needs, data backups and disaster recovery?
With an online document management software application that is subscription-based, you choose your subscription term. You can choose from monthly, quarterly, yearly or even multiple years. This way, you can more easily compare cost vs. savings, you already have the numbers. And because electronic document management allows for a paperless office, you eliminate many other overhead expenses that are involved in paper processing such as document storage space, printing and copying costs. Also, the software-as-a-service provider should guarantee up-time, on-going enhancement and upgrades, and 24/7 support so your IT team has nothing to worry about.
Go ahead, and map out the numbers! SaaS document management will help you save money in many back office areas. With these savings, why not go paperless?
Coming up next week, reason #3. In-house security is NOT always reliable or secure.