Self-hosted or Software as a Service? Making the Right Choice for Cloud Document Management

If you’re an organization considering the move to cloud document management, you might be wondering about the differences between self-hosted and SaaS solutions. Some organizations want complete control over their software and hardware. Others prefer lower maintenance costs, pre-configured security features and automatic software updates.

Read on to see how SaaS and self-hosted solutions differ, so you can make a more informed decision on how to deploy a document management system for your organization.

Software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS offers customers access to software over the internet on a subscription basis, with the software hosted by the vendor or another third-party.

There’s no installation required, and resources such as servers or storage capacity can typically be scaled up automatically, or via a quick conversation with the SaaS vendor. On top of that, using SaaS generally means you don’t need to worry about the costs of maintenance, server space or hardware that you’d need if you were maintaining your own solution in-house.

Built-in security is also a particularly attractive benefit of SaaS products. The right vendor will have security controls already in place that are continually assessed, updated and improved to respond to the latest threats. Some vendors can also provide specialized security services to support compliance concerns and industry regulations, so customers have peace of mind that they’re abiding by the rules. Some of these features and services may include:

  • Automatic and on-demand detection of system threats and vulnerabilities
  • Penetration testing and other services that simulate real-world threats
  • Security controls that restrict access to sensitive content and features

Software as a service platforms can also be well-suited for organizations wanting built-in business continuity measures. In many cases data stored in these solutions is replicated and encrypted in real time to multiple sites at different geographical locations, so if disaster strikes in one location, your data is safe and sound in others.

Especially as technology improves with vendors innovating on their platforms year after year, SaaS is proving to be a convenient and cost-effective solution for the modern enterprise.

Self-hosted solutions

Unlike a SaaS platform, where your back-end infrastructure is managed by experienced IT professionals outside your organization, these deployments offer ways for you to take more control of your hardware, software and updates. Organizations in certain industries, such as government or finance, may also be subject to certain regulations that restrict how they can store information, thus preventing them from deploying a SaaS solution for the time being.

However, a self-hosted solution can still be cloud-based, and therefore share some of the advantages of a SaaS platform. Let’s take a look at each of the self-hosted solution types.

On-premises

Before cloud technology systems, on-premises deployments were the de-facto standard for document management. The most notable differentiator for this type of deployment is owning and maintaining hardware, and the need to manually deploy software updates. Here’s a look at advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

  • Ability to purchase the highest-performance or most-specialized machines for your purposes
  • Security that can be configured for your organization, in-house by your own IT staff
  • More control over computing resource usage
  • Capability to increase access points for custom integrations and other add-ons

Disadvantages

  • Top-of-the-line hardware can be expensive
  • Managing backups and associated sites can be labor-intensive and time-consuming
  • Need to spend money and time to upgrade hardware to keep up with pace of technology
  • IT will need to spend time and resources to implement even basic security settings
  • Recurring costs such as maintenance, server rooms and extra electricity usage

Self-hosted cloud

A self-hosted cloud deployment operates in largely the same way as an on-premises deployment with the exception of maintaining your own hardware. In fact, the applications themselves are the same and simply hosted on a vendor’s servers — most of the popular platforms, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, allow you to run standard computer operating systems on them. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

  • Scalability and flexibility to grow the solution with your business
  • Reduced system downtime after a disruption with built-in security and backup features
  • Hardware infrastructure maintained by experienced IT professionals outside your organization
  • Capability to increase access points for integrations and other add-ons

Disadvantages

  • Costs of renting hardware and specialized support services can add up
  • Implementations aren’t completely configurable as hardware isn’t on-site or owned by you
  • Hardware might not be optimized for your needs (or customizable to do so)
  • IT will need to spend time and resources to implement even basic security settings
  • Recurring costs such as maintenance, server rooms and extra electricity usage

Finding the right solution

The first question you really need to ask is if you need control over the hardware itself. These days, SaaS solutions offer so many valuable benefits, like managed security, disaster recovery and automatic updates that they are a worthwhile choice unless you absolutely need to use your own hardware. Modern cloud applications offer flexibility without any of the hassle setting up hardware or paying for extra space, power or cooling for your server room. They can give your IT team extra time and resources to keep your business running smoothly.

To learn more about a document management solution that can be deployed as either an SaaS or self-hosted platform, take the Laserfiche Cloud product tour.

Automating Blotter Submissions and Supporting Compliance with Laserfiche

SITUATION

The firm saw an opportunity to automate and streamline core processes, such as the blotter process, to improve accuracy and compliance, while reducing the organization’s reliance on paper files.

SOLUTION

The firm implemented Laserfiche Forms, which enabled representatives to upload blotter forms digitally, importing and archiving files into the repository. The system sends automatic notifications to stakeholders, reducing the need to follow-up and improving accountability.

RESULTS

The firm substantially improved efficiency, enhanced the customer experience and fulfilled industry-specific regulatory compliance requirements.

A full-service broker-dealer with over 300 licensed financial advisors and team members around the country struggled with modernizing the way the organization handled advisor paperwork. All that changed when the COO joined the firm and attended the Laserfiche Empower Conference. “I happened to walk into a session where another customer was describing a simple workflow his organization had created, and the lightbulb came on,” he said. “I started madly texting back and forth with our AVP of advisor relations. We knew we could use Laserfiche to automate our entire operation across the U.S.”

Eliminating Lost Paperwork with Electronic Forms

“Our chief problem was that documents got misplaced,” the COO added. “When new client paperwork wasn’t filed properly, our back office wouldn’t see it, and couldn’t process it promptly. This caused frustration for both the home office and the advisors in the field.”

To address these pain points, the organization did a close examination of its existing processes and the steps that could be taken to improve them.

“The best decision we made was to do a whiteboarding session,” the COO said. “We sat down with representatives from every department to map out their processes and agree on the best automation plan.”

The AVP of advisor relations added, “I joke that our Laserfiche programmers are ‘business process therapists’ because they helped us look at what we were doing, what we needed to do and where we could add efficiencies and streamline processes.”

As a result of the whiteboarding session, the team implemented Laserfiche Forms. Advisors could then submit all their paperwork using a Laserfiche form, which ensured that advisors entered all the necessary information consistently, in the correct file format. Just a few of the processes that the organization automated in this way include:
  • New account onboarding
  • Asset movement
  • Money movement
  • Distributions
  • Check requests
  • Product approvals
  • Sales preapprovals
  • Advertising approvals
  • Electronic blotters

“Follow up with the representatives is all handled electronically,” the COO explained. “it also allows our reps to see the status of their documents at any time, helps compliance by tracking all the actions taken on any given document and increases visibility by automatically generating and circulating reports on compliance, process performance and the like.”

Making Blotter Submissions Easy for Field Representatives

The blotter submission process was one that dramatically approved through automation.

“Preparing blotters is not something our advisors are excited to be doing on a monthly basis,” the COO said. “In the past, blotter submission was a manual process that was not easily tracked or reportable for FINRA. It was difficult for us to gather the data to find out which offices were compliant.”

The firm completely digitized the blotter process with Laserfiche:
  • If an advisor hasn’t submitted their blotters via a Laserfiche form by a certain date, Laserfiche starts sending automated email reminders.
  • If the deadline passes and the blotter is still unaccounted for, the rep receives an email detailing the action that has been taken as a result (e.g., a commission hold).
  • Once the blotter is submitted, the reminders cease.
  • The COO’s team can run a report to see who has or hasn’t submitted their monthly blotters and send reports to the Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) and the compliance department.

“Before Laserfiche, we needed a wheelbarrow to give to regulators the documents they needed,” the COO explained. “Now, if FINRA or the SEC asks us to produce a report showing that we have specific pieces of information, we can quickly run a report and give them that information in an electronic format.”

The benefits of automating blotter submissions have been felt in both the home office and out in the field. “Our new process saves three people in the back office at least one full work day per month, of just having to track down blotters,” the COO said. “Plus, it has taken a process that was frustrating and difficult for our reps and made it much easier for them. Really, all they have to do now is scan a check or fill out a few fields on the form.”

 medical sector can modernize and streamline data with Laserfiche

SIU also used Laserfiche to expedite the collection of patient information when a local healthcare provider retired. “There was a local practice where the provider retired, and all of their patients were transitioned into our practice,” Washburn explained. “We had to collect release of information notices, so we quickly deployed a Laserfiche form to streamline that process. Our clinical staff just had to enter the patient’s health record number. Our system integrates with our practice management system to pull everything automatically, which significantly reduced the time it would have taken manually.”

Montgomery County Hospital District Powers COVID-19 Response with Digital Data and Process Automation

The Montgomery County Hospital District (MCHD) is eliminating its reliance on paper forms and manual processes in order to keep employees and the public safe, protect information privacy and better enable remote work and communication in the midst of COVID-19.

When the novel coronavirus arrived in Texas, it changed almost everything about the hospital district’s operations, shifting many employees to work from home, and requiring new digital processes for information gathering and sharing. The hospital district had been using Laserfiche to create electronic forms and automate processes since 2019, but the pandemic would reveal new critical use cases for Laserfiche and accelerate digital transformation across the organization.

“Montgomery County Hospital District employees were using Laserfiche before COVID, but we’ve found that Laserfiche made it so much easier to work from home and maintain HIPAA compliance, and protect privacy for ambulance patients,” said Shawn Henners, Electronic Business Process Manager at the hospital district. “If COVID-19 had hit six months ago, we would have had to ramp up a lot faster, and things would have been a lot more chaotic. We’re grateful that we had begun our business process automation and electronic forms initiatives with Laserfiche at the time that we did.”

In the first few weeks of Montgomery County’s COVID-19 response, the hospital district rapidly rolled out a number of Laserfiche electronic forms and automated processes for exposure reporting, employee symptom tracking and case investigation.

Rapid Response: Automating Information Gathering with Exposure Reports

MCHD is responsible for providing indigent care, emergency medical services and public health to Montgomery County, Texas. As a publicly-funded organization, MCHD aims to provide quality care to the county while remaining a good steward of taxpayer dollars. In the past year, MCHD worked with Laserfiche Solution Provider DocuNav Solutions to unveil its first agency-wide online forms and automated workflows to increase access to services while improving efficiency.

“All healthcare organizations need to adjust to new ways of working, and technology is key to their ability to respond quickly to change,” said Cody Bettis Sr., CEO of DocuNav Solutions. “The team at Montgomery County Hospital District has really embraced a digital approach to operations, and their Laserfiche solutions are enabling them to rapidly deploy e-forms and automated workflows that meet changing needs.”

One form that was rolled out over the past year was for infection control. Initially created to report employee exposures to things like HIV or meningitis, the form and automated process behind it was used to report exposure to COVID-19 hit once the virus arrived in Texas.

“We used to use the exposure form once or twice a month,” said Henners. “In March, we had about 30 submissions due to the virus. Having those processes automated already made a huge difference for us.”

With the automated process, the infection control officer is able to document exposures and record them in Laserfiche without significant manual intervention. Information is automatically filed in a standardized manner in compliance with industry regulations, enabling authorized personnel to access the information when it’s needed.

“We were able to quickly give our employee health monitor access to the infection control form, so they can see what’s going on, stay in the loop, run reports and make sure that nothing is falling through the cracks,” Henners added.

The hospital district’s human resources team, which is working remotely, can also easily track processes, file workers compensation claims, and communicate with people in office as a result of Laserfiche forms and the repository.

The Front-line: Symptom Tracking for Safer Work Environments

In addition to tracking exposure, MCHD gathers data on employees’ temperature and symptoms to help protect the health and safety of its workforce — including doctors, nurses and EMTs — and those they serve.

“This has helped tremendously since we have employees spread over the county,” said Henners.

Employees who report to work take their own temperature at the beginning of their shift, and log it along with any symptoms they may be experiencing. They are required to do the screening every 12 hours, so if employees work for 12 hours, they would log the information at the beginning and end of their shifts. Those who work 24-hour shifts perform the screening three times.

If the employee becomes symptomatic, the system advises them on what steps to take next. The forms and workflow also enable dynamic case scenarios, so instructions may differ depending on the individual’s department or role. For instance, the protocol for an employee who reports symptoms in a care unit would look very different from the protocol for an employee in an administrative role.

The information collected provides MCHD insights such as the employee’s symptoms and temperature the day before, or two days ago. To protect employee privacy, only infection control officers have access to individual data, while incident command and executives have access to see totals and trends by unit.

“We connected that information on the backend with our scheduling software to look for people who missed their check-ins, so that supervisors can follow up with them,” said Henners. “We want to keep employees safe. Those who are in essential positions can’t work from home, and so we want to do everything we can in order to make sure we’re not exposing each other, and that employees feel safe when they come to work.”

The project took MCHD about a week to get up and running, and staff has been able to copy and paste from the Laserfiche workflow to repurpose it for other processes.

Case Investigation: Automating Information Gathering and Reporting

MCHD has also implemented a Laserfiche solution to automate case investigation, and the collection of data to inform county decisions about COVID-19. As a manual process, case investigation involved epidemiologists making phone calls twice a day to close contacts of people who had tested positive for COVID-19, to manually enter their symptoms into the system.

“On the public health side, they were monitoring hundreds of case contacts, and it was unsustainable,” said Henners. “We built an electronic form and automated workflows that take a huge burden off of the epidemiologists, who can now better focus on their jobs.”

MCHD rolled out the new electronic form and process which enables people to voluntarily self-report their symptoms every 12 hours. “For every positive case we get, we’ll do an investigation on it in the public health department and document our findings,” Henners said.

The information collected also enables MCHD to create reports in Laserfiche that provide critical insights into the health of the county, while protecting patient privacy in accordance with HIPAA. For example, MCHD staff can pull up reports on how many people are at home under monitoring or how many people have recovered. This aggregated data can be made available to county leaders who are making decisions about reopening, while details about individuals is only available to case investigators who need the information to follow up with patients.
Medical worker approaches car to administer COVID-19 test during the pandemic of COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

The New Normal: Accelerating Digital Transformation

MCHD is in the planning stages of offering telemedicine through an app; as part of this process, a Laserfiche workflow will support the collection, centralization and protection of patient information, signed consent forms and medical charts in the Laserfiche repository.

“We want to make sure that we have continuity of care, and all of the patient’s information is saved in a central location,” said Henners. “We already have a Laserfiche repository set up for patient records with appropriate security settings in place, so we are able to build and adapt processes easily, while staying in compliance with HIPAA requirements.”

Henners and the team at MCHD continue to experience increased adoption of Laserfiche and digital initiatives across the organization as employees discover new ways to streamline manual, paper-driven processes.

“COVID-19 has forced every employee to use Laserfiche for something — whether it’s specifically about COVID or not,” said Henners. For example, MCHD has a Laserfiche Form embedded on the employee website, where employees can ask questions. “If someone doesn’t know who to direct the question to, they can still get a response. If they don’t want to provide an email address, their question will be addressed in our all-staff calls. That’s another way Laserfiche is improving communication.”

MCHD is working to roll out new, key processes such as travel expense reports and inventory checkoff sheets for ambulances. “In the midst of all of this, I’m still getting emails from EMS chiefs and others who have paper forms that they would rather have in Laserfiche,” added Henners. “We are still improving processes, building checks and balances into our system, and maintaining ease of use for everyone.”

How to Expand Laserfiche Beyond Your Organization

Whether it is to access documents from your repository using the Windows or web client, or to submit and review various electronic forms, you’ve gotten used to using Laserfiche internally. Yet, nearly all organizations, whether private and public, have to interact with customers and citizens on a regular basis. That may involve fielding phone calls and emails, providing requested information, accepting forms to process permits or enrollment, or meeting face to face just to obtain information to get a process started. With tools such as Laserfiche Forms, the WebLink public portal and direct file share, Laserfiche can help you provide a better customer experience, reduce time spent on routine interactions and enable you to spend more time building meaningful customer and citizen relationships.

Laserfiche Forms

Instead of customers coming in person to submit requests or mailing in paper forms, you can have them fill out an electronic form instead. They can even upload documents or photos to the form to save time and build a complete application package.

Information submitted through these forms can be pushed to an external line-of-business application without employees having to decipher paper forms to re-enter information.
Electronic forms can improve experience for external users.

If you work for a college, university or school district, you can convert a lot of common paper forms usually filled out by students and parents into electronic forms. You can host these forms on your organization’s website or within your app, if you have one.

Some examples of organizations that have extended Laserfiche Forms usage to external users include:
  • Oakwood University. The university streamlined the graduation clearance process.
  • Cowlitz County, WA. The county automated the property value appeal process.
  • City of Southlake, TX. The city automated police department hiring.
  • T Bank. The bank simplified the lending process.

WebLink Public Portal

If your company has the Laserfiche WebLink public portal, then it can use it to share documents with the public and other employees outside of the organization. For example, a city can host meeting agendas and other public records in the public portal so that citizens can find the documents they need without having to contact the office or department. The city of Ithaca, NY transformed the permitting process by letting the public view permit information from the city’s website through WebLink.
City of Ithaca’s citizens can search for permits directly on the city’s website using WebLink public portal.

Other examples of documents that can be shared with the public via WebLink include meeting agendas, historical documents, company financial statements, fund prospectuses and other public records.

If you don’t use the WebLink public portal but frequently deal with public records requests, you can use Forms and Workflow to streamline fulfillment of these requests.

Direct File Share

You can also share content from your Laserfiche repository with external users in a manner that is tracked and secured within Laserfiche. This is called direct share. When you send documents through direct share, the recipient will receive a URL through which they can access the files. You can specify the number of days until the URL link expires.

Using direct share helps reduce the risk of sending important data to the wrong person, and limits the access they may have to the document. It is also useful for sharing files that would otherwise be too large to attach to an email.

Direct share can be a component of these business processes:
  • Contract management
  • New account opening
  • Benefits enrollment
  • Legal document requests

More information about using direct share can be found in the product documentation.
Direct share simplifies sharing documents with external users.

Embed Laserfiche in Other Applications

Laserfiche Forms and WebLink can be easily embedded in websites and external facing applications. For example, the city of Newport Beach, CA embedded WebLink into the city’s website, which allows the public to search for permits without even realizing that they are searching in Laserfiche.
WebLink is embedded in the website of the city of Newport Beach, CA, allowing the public to search for permits.

Furniture store chain Steinhafels Inc. links to the company’s employment application, a Laserfiche form, from job postings posted on external websites.

You can also integrate Laserfiche with your geographic information system (GIS). In this way, clicking on a parcel or building on a map on your website, can open any related documents in Laserfiche.

Shufro Rose Embraces Process Automation to Keep the Focus on Clients

SITUATION

• Shufro Rose needed a platform to automate key processes and integrate with the firm’s tech stack.
• The firm wanted to standardize the experience for advisors so that they could continue providing the highest standard of service to clients.

RESULTS

• Built a digital infrastructure strategy with Laserfiche that has enabled the firm to thrive through change
• Improved back-office efficiencies that make employees’ lives easier
• Kept client-facing staff focused on clients

Wealth management firms need consistent, standardized processes to scale their businesses successfully. When Shufro Rose began looking for ways to digitize its workflows, its customer relationship management tool was unable to produce the robust audit trails or perform the sophisticated workflow logic the firm needed to support its growth. It turned to Laserfiche to manage its books and records document repository and manage its workflows.

Today, the New York City-based independent wealth management firm manages approximately $2 billion in assets across 1,200 households and roughly 2,700 accounts. As it has grown, it has also steadily converted more and more of its business processes to digital workflows that integrate tools such as Tamarac and Docusign with Laserfiche.

“[Laserfiche is] our books and records document repository, storing all the client paperwork we’re required to have by regulation, but it also serves as an operational workload tool for things like account opening, moving money, so that our client-facing and operational teams can work as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

— Vibhaw Arya, chief operating officer at Shufro Rose

Building Flexible Workflows Driven By Front-End Needs

Laserfiche allows Shufro Rose to design automated workflows that make its front-end and back-end processes more efficient simultaneously. The firm approaches digitizing a process by starting with a front-end client request. That requires the team to think about the data points it needs to move forward each step of the way. The ability to integrate the process with Tamarac means the firm can pre-populate information it already has, minimizing data entry errors and enabling advisors and their staff to focus on client service, and obtaining only the information they still need.

Digitizing the firm’s money movement process was an early target. The ability to create electronic forms using Laserfiche, which are pre-populated with information saves administrative time and energy. The process also employs sophisticated logic to mitigate risk dynamically, based on the type of transaction taking place. For example, a request to write a first-party check from an investment account with all the information on file and documented can be approved without as much intervention as a client request to wire funds to a car dealership. In the latter case, the firm would need a letter of authorization on file, and may also need to get approvals from the portfolio manager and chief compliance officer.

Using workflows built with Laserfiche, Shufro Rose was able to automate the sending of approval requests as appropriate depending on the situation. The system prompts the appropriate people for secure, electronic approvals, reducing bottlenecks that could slow the process. Because the workflow automatically produces and files a paper trail in the Laserfiche repository, the firm’s record-keeping and compliance requirements are met without the need for additional intervention by staff.

“The repository is our books and records,” said Arya. “We have it all within one platform that keeps it all together and ensures we’ve got full audit trails.”

One of the firm’s significant Laserfiche initiatives has been to streamline the account opening process. This process originally relied heavily upon manual data entry and manually scanning numerous account documents. Shufro Rose created an electronic account opening form in Laserfiche that captures all client information necessary to open a new account in a consistent digital format. A Laserfiche workflow then automatically routes information to relevant operations and client service personnel for execution and review. Any required signatures required for account opening are executed through an integration with DocuSign.

Supporting Compliance and Risk Management

As Shufro Rose turned its attention to other business processes, it uncovered additional benefits to its operations. “The other thing Laserfiche Forms helps us do, given that it’s very checkbox-oriented and data-entry oriented, it also helps us create the operational procedures within Laserfiche itself—it’s become our digital operations management in a lot of ways,” said Arya.

Operational procedures are automatically documented because they live on the Laserfiche form used for the process. Because the process is digital, it’s also consistent. With workflow logic built into the process, steps don’t get forgotten or skipped. And the firm is able to keep track of things at all times using dashboards to monitor the status of requests. “It actually helps us onboard new employees as we’re trying to grow—it becomes a type of training tool, because the process helps you drive what’s needed,” Arya said.

Managing Increasing Complexity

With the help of its Laserfiche implementation partner, Accelerated Information Systems, Shufro Rose has been able to take advantage of the flexibility provided by Laserfiche’s API functions to automate more complex processes.

When teams initiate requests for gift letters, produced when clients donate stock, often to unlock tax benefits, Laserfiche uses an API connection to pull in the historical prices of the stock or stocks being gifted. The process then automatically generates the gift letter to send to the client, which the client can then pass to their tax accountant. At the end of the process, the paperwork and audit trail are filed in the Laserfiche repository without the need to scan paperwork manually.

More Benefits to Unlock

As Shufro Rose continues to grow, it has additional enhancements already in the pipeline. In 2023, it plans to automate the creation of investment policy statements for new and existing accounts, as well as the complex process of splitting existing accounts, for example, when transferring IRA account assets to beneficiaries.

“Shufro Rose’s approach to digital transformation is firmly rooted in its dedication to serving clients,” said Zaheer Master, president of Accelerated Information Systems, the solution provider that implemented Laserfiche at Shufro Rose. “The firm’s vision and use of Laserfiche has positioned it for success, even in times of dramatic change.”

Improving back-office efficiencies makes employees’ lives easier and keeps client-facing staff focused on activities that produce value for clients. With compliance functions automated and processes well documented, operations can run more smoothly without compromising on risk mitigation. “There are so many intangible values that have come out of this process,” Arya said. As organizations scale, process automation can ensure those benefits multiply.

A Quick Shift to Remote Learning

When the COVID-19 outbreak hit the U.S., the team at Linn-Benton Community College sprang into action. To protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and community, the college had to get classes online and prepare faculty, staff and students to work, teach and learn remotely. Linn-Benton Community College, which works closely with Laserfiche solution provider CDI, previously used Laserfiche to automate more than 200 processes across campus, but this unprecedented challenge would put the organization’s digital operations to the test.

Using Laserfiche as a key tool for communication and collaboration, the IT team has been working tirelessly to ensure everyone has access to the information, systems and processes necessary to keep business moving at the college, and enable classes for the spring semester to begin remotely April 6.

“Our No. 1 priority is health and safety,” said Michael Quiner, CIO at Linn-Benton Community College. “I know it has been extremely difficult and stressful for everyone, but we can help to protect students, staff and faculty, by having people work from home, and having students learn from home. To be able to use technology to enable that — I think that’s pretty amazing.”

Enabling a Quick Shift to Remote Work and Learning

Linn-Benton Community College serves more than 10,000 students, with almost 600 faculty members, and over 300 staff members. As concerns around the COVID-19 outbreak grew, the college braced for unprecedented change.

“I don’t think anyone’s seen or experienced anything like this before,” said Quiner. “But I believe that the team we have at Linn-Benton Community College is very innovative, and we are used to leveraging technology to enable agility and flexibility.”

On March 19, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued an executive order to immediately implement measures for significantly reducing in-person operations at Oregon colleges and universities. The order also advised colleges and universities to continue learning and teaching operations, but to shift to remote or online delivery.

The immediate challenge was communication. With staff and faculty working both on- and off-campus, and the situation changing by the day, the college needed to make sure everyone knew where everyone else was, and how to get in touch if needed. The college’s institutional research department quickly created an automated process in Laserfiche that emails everyone employed by Linn-Benton Community College each morning, prompting them to fill out a form to indicate where they were working that day and the best way to get in contact with them. “That information is automatically posted in a web portal so people know how to contact each other,” Quiner said.

Next, to quickly transition everyone to operate remotely, staff needed to request remote access to systems they typically use on campus. “This seems simple, but it’s a big workflow that involves staff who have to install software on people’s machines and staff to provision accounts, and more,” said Quiner. The college again used Laserfiche Forms to enable staff to make these requests digitally, and route them to the relevant parties.

“The main benefit of using Laserfiche has been that we’re able to quickly create an automated process, and have that process save all the necessary documentation, contain all the right information, and be seen by the right people so that we can get these activities done right the first time,” Quiner added.

At the same time the college was managing the enormous shift, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) was passed, requiring certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. From the passage of the act to the time when organizations were expected to comply was very short.

A cross-departmental team from human resources and IT quickly tackled the challenge and created a work process which has seven unique forms, six decision points, and 16 process tasks. This was made available to college employees inside of 48 hours.

“Laserfiche allows us to keep the college in compliance during a fast-moving situation while dealing with constantly shifting requirements, interruptions, and urgent priority requests,” Quiner added.

Additionally, Linn-Benton Community College modified an existing Laserfiche Form to track the equipment being loaned out to staff and faculty, and enable people to request other equipment they might need. “Before, we were just using this form for staff to request if they needed something new,” Quiner said. “We adapted the existing form so that we could track loaner equipment, and we can still see what additional or alternative support our staff needs.”

Accelerating Transformation

The rapidly changing COVID-19 situation continues to pose challenges for all organizations that are transitioning employees to work from home, and working to standardize and digitize business processes to enable business continuity.

“While this has been extremely difficult for everyone, Laserfiche is helping make an impossible task possible,” Quiner said of the experience.

And while student, staff and faculty health and safety remains the college’s top priority, Quiner explained that the organization’s digital transformation efforts will continue.

“Transformation is the idea that we can use technology tools to better leverage our staff’s time,” he said. “We’ve only started to transform. There are so many exciting things — for example, robotic process automation — that we’re dipping our toes into, that will take a lot of the repetitive work from our staff so we can concentrate on supporting each other and supporting our students.”

Future plans include automating time sheets, and employee onboarding and offboarding processes. Quiner is also interested in working with other community colleges in the region to share data and collaborate on processes, so that the larger community of educational organizations can build on each other’s success.

“We’re saving a huge amount of our staff’s time — and not just IT staff but college staff, too — by using business process automation, and moving documents to the right location using Laserfiche Forms,” said Quiner. “Tools like business process automation and RPA can help us get away from chasing down forms or responding to emails, and enable our staff and faculty can do what they were hired to do, which is to make better people, better families and better communities through education.”

Download The Ultimate Guide to Business Continuity Planning for tools and strategies to keep your business moving in times of uncertainty.

eBook: Ultimate Guide to Business Continuity

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Continuity planning is crucial in times of uncertainty. Discover the tools and strategies to keep your business moving at all times, in any situation, on any device.

Topics Covered in the eBook

  • Learn how your office can prepare a 360-degree action plan for minor and major disruptions to operations and keep assets safe.
  • 9 must-have policies that every business should build into its business continuity plan.
  • Strategies to maximize efficiency and productivity so your business can thrive, even in uncertain times.
  • See how enterprise content management and cloud technology can keep your business focused on serving those who need you the most.

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Riela Yachts: Superyachts on Their Digital Journey

For Riela Yachts Ltd — a company that provides cybersecurity, safety, technical, crew, fiduciary administration and emergency response services to superyachts — safety and quality service are top priorities. Using Laserfiche, the organization recently transformed the way that it manages information related to safety standards in order to make critical safety processes and procedures more efficient, effective and transparent. This digital transformation has supported crews in their ability to focus on their day-to-day jobs, and further enabled owners and their guests to fully enjoy their superyacht experience.

Navigating Digital Transformation

Modern superyachts — commercially operated luxury yachts that are 24 meters or larger — have some of the most advanced technology onboard, including engineering and navigational equipment, plus sophisticated “toys” like tenders, helicopters, cars and fully-equipped cinemas. Dedicated to providing services that fully complement superyacht operations, Riela Yachts also leverages leading technology in order to provide a modern experience for those they serve.
Large luxury motor yacht under way sailing out at sea

The company used this tech-forward approach when developing a new solution for meeting the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, an international standard for seagoing vessels.

“It was shocking to understand that on the bridge of these vessels they were operating with huge amounts of paper,” said Christian Moore, technical officer at Riela Yachts.

Riela’s Safety Management System (SMS) is made up of standard operating procedures, contingency plans, operating manuals, reporting forms and more. Prior to using Laserfiche, this information was managed manually, on paper — employees had to print, scan and file documents related to the ISM Code. When updates were made, manuals had to be flown to vessels’ locations, which could be anywhere in the world. A single superyacht could use over 5,000 pages’ worth of forms and manuals each year. The paper and manual processes involved with updating them led to the possibility of ships having outdated versions onboard, and made audits extremely cumbersome.

Riela Yachts recognized an opportunity to digitize and streamline the updating of these manuals, enabling yachts to work smarter and crews to focus on day-to-day operations.

Riela Yachts set out to reduce the amount of paper being used onboard, decrease crews’ administration load as well as improve auditability, to support and simplify ISM Code compliance. By digitizing the manuals that were once made of thousands of pages of paper, Riela Yachts can now store them in an electronic repository. The company also automated the process of updating the manuals of all the superyachts it serves, so that once a change is made, all vessels receive the latest information within minutes.

“We wanted to achieve a fully paperless superyacht where possible and improve the time spent on the SMS for crew, so they can get back to their real job, which is ensuring the owner enjoys their asset to the fullest,” Moore said.

Using Laserfiche Forms, Riela also developed more than 30 electronic forms in the SMS that help individual crews streamline regular procedures. These forms include arrival and departure in port, accident reporting, and checklists for when the engine room goes unmanned.

Now, all information related to these critical safety procedures is collected digitally and automatically sent to Riela’s staff at headquarters in the Isle of Man, so it can be reviewed and stored in a central repository.

Smooth Sailing

Riela Yachts and their customers have saved significant time and money from working smarter and digitizing, centralizing and automating safety manuals and processes. Vessels have the most recent information at their fingertips, making compliance with the ISM Code much less of an administrative burden. Crews are freed from many of the previously required manual tasks and captains are able to audit completed tasks as needed by the ISM.

The company is now also using Laserfiche to digitize more forms including permits for work, standing orders as well as management minutes. Also currently in the works: moving to a mobile app version of the SMS, which will allow captains to access the system through a tablet.

Riela has also been able to recoup administration costs associated with the manual processes and gain new clients as positive reactions to the modern, digital SMS system experience have spread through the docks and shipyards.

“We are excited to for the future and even greater returns on investments as the company grows and expands,” Moore said. “The savings, returns and new business we have gained from introducing Laserfiche have been significant and, after just celebrating our one-year anniversary as a company, we see Laserfiche aiding our success over the years to come.”

Digital Filing System vs Enterprise Content Management System: What Is The Difference?

A digital filing system, as you might expect, primarily serves the purpose of converting your more traditional filing systems, such as filing cabinets and stacks of folders, into a digital format that makes it easier to search for and store documents.

An enterprise content management (ECM) system does everything digital filing system software can do and more. It adds additional layers of security, administration and collaboration that make it ideal for offices that want to become not only more organized, but also more scalable and efficient.

Read on for an in-depth look at what a digital filing system and an ECM system have in common, as well as what makes an ECM system a more robust option for organizations that need it.

Scanning Documents and Gathering Metadata

One of the most obvious advantages of any digital system is the ability to scan and capture digital or paper documents. Digital filing systems can reduce clutter and create more space around the office, while being able to store documents almost indefinitely, which can be crucial for the proper preservation of historical records.

Along with being able to scan documents, most digital filing systems allow users to fill out information about each entry — frequently referred to as metadata — that makes content more searchable and thus easy to find. This can include anything from time stamps to receipt amounts and invoice numbers, information that many organizations find essential for business operations.

Compared to a standard digital filing system, quality ECM systems include optical character recognition (OCR) technology, which can pull information directly from a document to auto-generate its associated metadata. For example, accounts payable departments across industries regularly process invoices and compare them to purchase orders sent out to vendors. With OCR, they would be able to streamline the matching process, and with the help of other technologies, likely create an entirely automated process.

Search and Storage

A key advantage of a digital filing system over a paper one is the ability to more easily search for documents. In a digital filing system, you can search for documents based on name, contents and associated metadata. Digital folders are also incredibly more flexible than physical ones, being able to expand with your organization’s needs.

ECM solutions go beyond simply making documents easy to find and store, however. ECM systems also make information easier to share and keep track of, with features such as co-authoring and version control. Most enterprises face challenges dealing with collaboration — whether multiple teams need to sign off on a document or work together, documents can be lost or contain errors if communication isn’t a priority. The collaboration features of ECM help teams collectively agree on the formatting and content of documents, while version controls assist in efforts to provide an accurate history of them. This is a boon for highly regulated industries, such as finance. An ECM solution can support these firms in their efforts to stay in compliance while providing their own staff and auditors up-to-date and correct information.

Ease of Access

With so many devices at the disposal of today’s users, most digital filing systems feature a variety of ways to access their content. A digital filing system may include different clients for desktop, web and even mobile. This is a boon for expanding enterprises as it keeps documents, ideas and projects moving.

Of course, the more accessible information is, the harder it is to control what is public or private. However, ECM systems offer tools to restrict or open up document access to meet your organization’s needs. For example, if you’re a government agency that needs to retain transparency, you can host a public portal with an ECM system that supports compliance with FOIA and allows constituents to stay informed about agency projects, initiatives, meeting minutes and more. On the other hand, the same agency can use an ECM system to restrict access to confidential documents, such as staff records.

Choosing the Best Solution for You

Although a digital system can fulfill many of your organization’s needs and facilitate the move towards a paperless office, the right enterprise content management system may be your best solution as it can offer even more benefits.

With the ability to pull data from scanned documents, foster collaboration and provide the tools to support compliance, ECM can help your organization more clearly manage its information in order to propel itself towards success.

Ready to learn more about the benefits of an enterprise content management system?

Download the Document Management Buyer’s Handbook to learn how ECM can improve business processes while saving time and resources. 

Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures Transitions Corporate Operations to Laserfiche Cloud

Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV), created by the tribal government of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, manages the business affairs of the Band. This includes oversight of two casinos, Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley, which employ nearly 3,000 people and welcome millions of guests each year. The casinos, as well as the rest of the Band’s portfolio, use Laserfiche enterprise content management (ECM) to automate and streamline key business processes.

Over the years, the casinos in particular have achieved great economic success thanks to a strong operations infrastructure powered by Laserfiche. That steady growth, however, has led to a very large and complex business environment that is catered to sustaining the needs of the casinos. The MLCV leadership team knew that they needed to create a separate business environment for corporate operations to maintain performance, so they made the decision to migrate MLCV content and processes to Laserfiche Cloud in order to create a more accessible and agile environment for corporate operations.

Transitioning Key Business Processes to the Cloud

For the last 10 years, Laserfiche has been instrumental in supporting the Band’s mission of building a sound economic future for generations to come by enabling the Band to standardize, automate and optimize core company processes. Having initially deployed Laserfiche on-premises, the MLCV team was confident that they could leverage Laserfiche Cloud to build an accessible corporate business environment quickly, with the added bonus of familiar technology.

“The digital workplace is constantly evolving, and the obvious next step for us was to start transitioning operations to the cloud,” said Angie Litchy, CIO of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures. “We selected Laserfiche Cloud because we already had a successful on-prem solution, which means we could easily migrate key workflows and ensure business continuity while we made the transition.”

“Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures has always been at the forefront of using technology to create efficiencies,” said Ned Weizenegger, COO at Laserfiche Solution Provider Minokaw Technologies. “Moving operations to the cloud was a natural next step, and aligns well with MLCV’s vision of improving businesses and communities by infusing passion and ideas.”

Among the first workflows that Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures migrated to the cloud was the contract management process.

“Before our initial Laserfiche solution was implemented, contracts were impossible to get a status on because the process varied from person to person, which created bottlenecks and lost information,” said Andrew McElrath, strategic project manager at Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures. “Laserfiche introduced uniformity and a clear line of authority, which ultimately expedited the entire process from weeks to just hours. It was a priority to ensure that this process wasn’t interrupted as we transitioned operations to the cloud.”

The contract process was migrated to the cloud with few alterations. Today, associates can start the contract process by submitting a Laserfiche Form with the contract for review. The information is automatically routed to the submitter’s supervisor, contract coordinator, COO, CFO and legal counsel for review and approval. The document is then sent to the legal coordinator who prepares the document for final signature by the vendor, and then the countersignature of the MLCV CEO. The legal coordinator also stores a final version in the Laserfiche repository.

“In Laserfiche Cloud, it’s easier for us to determine where requests are in the process at a glance,” McElrath said. “And the transition itself was fairly easy. Our Laserfiche Solution Provider mocked up the forms and process for us, then we would review it and suggest changes. The most important part of the process is to communicate clearly and test thoroughly so that your solution fits your needs once it has been launched.”

Reevaluating Business Needs

Another major benefit of transitioning to the cloud was that it created an opportunity for MLCV leadership to reevaluate the organization’s established processes and make adjustments if needed.

“We have been using and building upon our Laserfiche Workflows for a number of years, and the way our business operates has evolved since that initial implementation,” said McElrath. “We wanted to introduce more efficiency into our processes, so we took a hard look at what we were doing and how we could do it better.”

For example, during the transition, the MLCV team realized that the purchasing process was cumbersome and it could be streamlined further. Migrating to the cloud provided the chance to take another look at the process and simplify it.

Today, associates can access Laserfiche Cloud in order to submit a purchase request. After logging into the online system, the employee navigates to the purchase request page, fills out required fields (such as the purchase amount, purchase order number and vendor IDs), attaches required materials, and submits the request. From there, the request is routed to an approver depending on the cost of the purchase. The appropriate reviewers will then approve or reject the purchase order through the system. If approved, the information is submitted to a purchasing agent who can then follow through with the request.

“The entire process is completed in the cloud,” said McElrath. “Every individual that is included in the workflow can complete their portion of the process from the comfort of their home, from a conference or on an airplane. All they need is a mobile device and access to the internet.”

Looking ahead

Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures has migrated many business processes to Laserfiche Cloud including contract management, purchase order requests, annual appraisals, direct deposits, system access requests, tuition reimbursement requests and more. This has been especially helpful since all the company officers now have remote access to one common business platform, enabling the organization to standardize, streamline and expedite major business processes.

“Laserfiche’s compliance tools in the cloud, and knowing that Laserfiche takes security very seriously have been important factors in our decision making.”

—Andrew McElrath, strategic project manager at Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures

Other benefits to transitioning to Laserfiche Cloud include:
  • The organization easily migrated key business processes to Laserfiche Cloud without introducing a learning curve or creating a gap in business continuity.
  • Employees no longer need to be on-site in order to complete work, which has reduced bottlenecks, improved efficiency and bolstered productivity.
  • MLCV simplified operations since Laserfiche Cloud requires no physical hardware and users receive instant updates.

“Once you’re invested in Laserfiche as a platform, you start to unlock a lot of the value,” said Litchy. “Now that we have the system, we are invested in leveraging it to its full potential to reach our business goals.”

Find out more about the benefits of managing content and automating business processes in the cloud. Click here to visit our Laserfiche Cloud page and get a free trial.