Document management has become a critical issue for companies of all types and sizes.  And while some manage to handle the requirements in-house, the time involved in setup, as well as the costs and dependency on internal IT support, often make contracting with an Application Service Provider (ASP) a better option.

Why an ASP?

Organizations may consider using an ASP for their document management services for several reasons, including that they operate out of multiple locations, people within the company work with others on the outside, or the organization wishes to reduce infrastructure costs.  Other incentives include a desire to implement the systems more quickly and at a lower ownership cost compared to licensing software and acquiring hardware for operation in-house, improved service because there is no need to rely on the internal IT department, and reduced disaster recovery risks because the ASP should have proven plans in place for such events.

Historically, vendors have offered either traditional document management, litigation support or collaboration/knowledge management.  Over time, however, many have evolved to offer two if not all three of these services within one application.

Users also have come to need their applications to incorporate more than one service.  Legal teams tend to want to store internally and externally created materials in the same place to facilitate collaboration and access.  Applications have evolved to meet that need.  For example, the leading litigation support systems incorporate discovery, work product and collaboration elements.

Assessing Your Needs

In endeavoring to find a fitting ASP, the first step is defining the organization’s needs.  This step will determine the course of your selection process and likely its success.  From the start, the decision-makers must know who their users are, where they work, what they need and the contents expected to be housed by the ASP.  Also, how they will be used, the taxonomy that will be necessary and the organization’s records management strategy.

These determinations will be the criteria on which to evaluate the various document management ASPs.

The very basic aspect of determining requirements for the ASP is to ask each group of users to list their must-haves and their nice-to-haves.  This will come in handy in weighting priorities to narrow the field of providers and ultimately to choose one.  Additionally, those selecting the ASP must understand who the disparate groups of users are and the requirements that come along with them.

For instance, if the lawyers, their clients and third-party experts with whom they deal will be using the ASP, this factor will drive needs for access, security and other considerations.  ASP tools do respond differently to various security needs.

In defining the contents to be housed in the ASP, part of what the technology people will need to know is which documents will be in the system, where they come from, how they are created, how they will be added to the ASP (i.e., automatically deposited or directly added by users) and how the documents are related to others in the system.

A basic ASP, for example, may serve as a shared archive that allows many users to both deposit and access documents.  A more complex ASP, however, may incorporate considerations such as version control, management of content within documents, production needs and classification by subject matter or idea.

Taxonomy is another area of needs that must be addressed by any ASP selected.  This could be as simple as classifying documents by type (contract, lease, memorandum, etc.) or as complex as dividing by area of law, practice group or the combination of cases in which the items have been used.  The taxonomy also may need to describe the content and issues contained within the documents.

In fine-tuning the organization’s needs, the decision-makers should be aware of the capabilities of various ASP systems.  This knowledge can inform discussions with user groups and help build a richer, more effective tool than they may be aware is possible.

Finally, before going out to look for an ASP, the decision-makers must understand the organization’s records management strategy to ensure the documents will be managed according to both the internal records retention policy and any regulatory requirements.  It would also be very helpful to understand why the organization is choosing to implement a document management ASP and how that fits into its overall strategy.  This information can get to the ASP requirements that have not been articulated but exist nonetheless.

Closing In on a Vendor

Once the needs have been clarified, the next step is to identify likely vendors.  To do so, it’s best to run a high-level survey to narrow the field.  Buyers can do this by reviewing industry news and success stories, which are found in publications, at trade shows or via word-of-mouth.  It’s also important to know why these projects were considered successful and what the needs were that the installed users set out to meet.  If those needs are very different from those of the firm currently looking, the provider may not be a good option.

Once the vendor field is narrowed to between five and 10, the firm’s representatives need to work with the vendors to compare the capabilities and functionalities against the weighted requirements of the defined user and organizational needs.  The results will show how closely each candidate matches the firm’s requirements.

No solution is likely to be a perfect fit for the organization’s needs.  But in evaluating those that are the closest matches, decision-makers should consider several additional factors, including:

• The vendors’ willingness to modify their applications to meet the specific needs
• Available technical support
• The market maturity of both the vendors and their products
• The future product roadmaps
• Market share
• Data backups and disaster recovery plans
• Pricing models
• Making the Right Choice
• It’s generally advisable to negotiate with at least two different vendors to determine which one best meets the above considerations.  Once you get to a workable solution and a satisfactory contract, you’ve found your ASP.

Now all that remains is implementation.

About our authors . . .

David Wetmore leads the Legal Business Advisory group in Ernst & Young’s Global Investigations & Dispute Advisory practice.  He has 17 years’ experience delivering operations and technology solutions to Fortune 500 legal departments and law firms.  David can be reached at David.Wetmore@ey.com.

Bobbi Basile is a manager in the Legal Business Advisory group of Ernst & Young’s Global Investigations & Dispute Advisory practice.  Bobbi has more than 15 years’ experience in the legal industry delivering operations and technology solutions to Fortune 500 legal departments and law firms.  She can be reached at Bobbi.Basile@ey.com.