Technology

On-demand software has taken firm hold in the enterprise market. Businesses are turning to web-based applications for everyday activities, particularly when it comes to customer relationship management (CRM) tools. However, most businesses still rely on traditional software suites for document creation, collaboration, and sharing. While Google Apps and Adobe’s Buzzword are plenty functional for many small businesses, those with more complex needs are looking for enterprise-specific applications. Both SpringCM and Xythos offer unique SAAS document platforms designed with business needs in mind.

SpringCM offers a tool which is aimed at collaborative teams who want to create and share documents in an organized workflow. As their website puts it, “SpringCM makes document handling, workflow and collaboration, and business process management as painless as possible.” They’ve made frequent updates to the platform since its inception, now offering SpringCM 4.2. Some of the features they’ve introduced for business use include:

• Unique email address for each user (documents sent to the address are automatically added to the repository)
• Functionality for saving and reading documents within MS Office applications
• WebDAV folders for drag-and-drop access
• Multiple workflow function
• Diverse delivery options (email, PDF, fax, etc.)
• Advanced search capabilities
• Strong security parameters
• Customizable user interface

SpringCM’s offering has received accolades from industry experts, and it’s business-specific functions give it a leg-up in on-demand document creation. One especially useful feature is the ability to incorporate existing workflows into the application. For example, if an editorial team at a publishing company needed to review one document in specific phases (Editorial Director first, Editorial Assistant second, etc.), SpringCM would support the multiple steps in the project. It also allows any document to be saved as a template for future use. SpringCM offers free trial periods for exploration, and pricing is based on optional features and the number of users.

Another promising SAAS document application is offered by Xythos, which has developed an on-demand version of its popular Enterprise Document Management Suite. Xythos on Demand boasts a number of Web 2.0 features designed around business needs. They also offer potential customers a free trial period, with pricing based on number of users and storage needed. The application allows users to build WIKIs, manage workflow, access and collaborate on documents anywhere, share files securely, and subscribe to updates.

In an eWeek review, the last feature was especially impressive to testers: “All folders and content within Xythos on Demand can be subscribed to through an RSS feed…giving users notifications of changes to document repositories using the same feed-reading tools that they use for get updates from blogs and news sites.” This is a function I haven’t seen in any other web-based document app, and it makes perfect sense in a business setting. While many of us use RSS feeds to stay up-to-date on our friend’s blogs, the latest news, and industry publications, RSS feeds are beginning to make the jump into the enterprise world. Now, instead of walking into the proverbial bullpen to see how everyone is coming along, a team leader using Xythos can simply check his feed for a status update. This functionality has the potential to catch in in many different web-based applications.

Xythos’s offerings are geared towards an enterprise audience, and their website tries to assuage some of the common fears about outsourcing document hosting. They assure their clients, “All of your data in Xythos on Demand - your files, the metadata you put on the files, your user accounts - are only available to your organization. No one outside your organization has access to these.” This is in sharp contrast to Google Docs, where the Terms of Service pose a privacy concern for many companies. For example, Term 11.2 states, “You agree that this licence includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.”

Now that on-demand services are becoming accepted in businesses around the world, companies such as SpringCM and Xythos are stepping up to the plate to create tools specifically for enterprise use. Both offer a unique platform users with unique needs, and both are on the cutting edge of the SAAS movement.

By Haley January Eckels