Why Shareflex ECM Online for Microsoft 365?
With our DMS or ECM product suite Shareflex ECM Online integrated in Microsoft 365, we provide you with SaaS solutions for document-centric business applications.
2022-12-07 – Frank von Orlikowski
The market for traditional Enterprise Content Management (ECM) or document management systems (DMS) exists for more than 30 years and is dominated by few internationally positioned enterprises like OpenText, Hyland or Box. In addition, there are many medium-sized providers – primarily from the DACH region – such as ELO, DocuWare, d.velop, EASY or SER. Due to this long history, the many tens of thousands of customers of these providers have functionally very mature, but also extraordinarily complex systems in use – and this mostly on their own IT infrastructures with application servers, databases and storage systems.
Driven by the Corona crisis, the increasing pressure of digitalisation and the continuing shortage of IT specialists, it is becoming more and more difficult for these customers to keep such DMS or ECM infrastructures running. Not to speak of setting up and establishing new process solutions on top of them.
The solution is quickly found: We go to the cloud! But what does that mean?
The offer often looks like this: The DMS or ECM system is hosted and operated in a data center, alternatively in Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS), by a service provider or directly by the provider. Since almost all traditional DMS or ECM providers have to manage the balancing act between a large number of historically existing on-premises installations and the “new” cloud/SaaS hosting, the cloud architectures – if they exist at all – are usually not comparable with those of pure cloud/SaaS providers.
At best, the service provider takes care of the provision and configuration of the booked applications, necessary updates and regular adjustments to the infrastructure as a full-service provider. This also includes the provision of storage space for GoBD-compliant, audit-proof management and backup of customer documents and their metadata. As I said, at best. The problem here is, among other things, that the service provider in this constellation becomes a comprehensive data processor for the customer.
But what does that mean exactly? In concrete terms, it means that the service provider needs a lot of staff and effort to be able to look after the large number of customer systems. Updates – especially in cases where system components also have to be installed on the customer’s workstations – can often not be fully automated due to the customer-specific (i.e. individual) adaptations. This in turn means that new functions and releases are not available in a timely manner.
In addition, the customer is no longer “master” of his own data and documents, because he can only access them via the respective DMS or ECM system of the service provider. If the contract with the service provider is now terminated, the service provider must return the data and documents – often, unfortunately, at a cost to the customer. This type of DMS or ECM system deployment is very expensive and inefficient. But what is the alternative to this?
Many companies have also introduced Microsoft 365 in parallel to their classic DMS or ECM system and use, for example, Teams for video conferencing and collaboration, Microsoft Office for document creation, the Power Platform for data-driven process solutions and SharePoint as well as OneDrive for the storage of semi-structured or unstructured documents and their metadata. Various security policies are managed and applied via the many options in the Microsoft 365 Compliance & Security Center (Microsoft Purview). Nevertheless, integrations with the DMS or ECM system typically do not take place because the systems cannot interact with each other. Or only to a very limited extent.
With Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online, many companies already have a DMS or ECM infrastructure in place without even realizing it. Microsoft calls this the Microsoft 365 Content Services. These include document management functions such as optimal Office integration with joint editing of documents, version management or integrated metadata and full text management. Combined with the Power Platform and its myriad (AI) connectors, as well as the integration of all these applications into Teams, Microsoft 365 provides a truly powerful toolbox.
Nevertheless, in conversations we hear again and again: “That’s not possible at all!” Because some myths simply hold themselves very stubbornly in the DMS and/or ECM industry.
Myth #1: One hears regularly, from different corners of the traditional ECM market, that the GoBD conformal, audit-proof archiving offered and advertised there cannot be guaranteed in the same way by Microsoft. However, this statement is wrong, because with the help of the retention policy (Label) integrated in Microsoft 365, or additively with the data set management, this can be easily implemented and certified by a procedure instruction.
Myth #2: Also when it comes to the topic of “bulk data”, people keep arguing that it can’t work with SharePoint. SharePoint Online can, however, be scaled in terms of the number of documents, storage volume and individual permissions – if you know how to do it. Thus, it is also possible to manage mass data files, as they arise, for example, when connecting ERP and CRM systems with corresponding offers, orders, contracts and invoices.
Myth #3: SharePoint Online does not offer any ready-made DMS or ECM specialist applications, especially no file management solutions. That’s right. Microsoft is happy to leave this to its partners who specialize in this area – for example, Portal Systems AG with Shareflex.
If you have a traditional DMS or ECM system in use, but are also a Microsoft 365 customer, then you have at least two systems with similar functionalities in house. This means that you not only pay twice, but also have twice the effort for the support of the systems. An alternative to this is the Microsoft 365-based solution Shareflex. With it, you use the highly functional DMS or ECM infrastructure of Microsoft 365 and also receive customized, document-centric business applications.
With our product suite Shareflex ECM Online, we offer classic file management solutions (offer, order, customer and supplier files) with ERP and CRM integrations (e.g. Dynamics 365) as well as solutions for contract management, incoming invoice processing or document control in the context of quality management. All Shareflex applications provide a consistent user experience that is aligned with Microsoft 365. Additionally, the applications can be customized to meet each customer’s unique needs.
All data and documents managed by Shareflex are stored securely in your Microsoft 365 or SharePoint Online tenant and archived in an audit-proof manner if required. So they’re located where all your other data and documents from Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint Online are. Thus you remain “master” of your own data and documents at all times. In addition, all files, contracts, invoices, etc. are in one central location so they can interact with each other – whether in workflows, in business processes, in reports via Power BI or in integration with OneDrive or Teams.
Together with Shareflex ECM Online, Microsoft 365 becomes an efficient platform for document-centric business processes. And this at significantly lower overall costs compared to traditional DMS or ECM providers. So now there is finally a real alternative for all those who think forwards and not backwards and want to bring their company efficiently, flexibly and securely into the future. We are happy to help you with this, please contact us!
Hamburg, 07 December 2022
Author: Frank von Orlikowski
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