Platforms
The platform is a means. It is not the point.
We are accredited across several document management systems. Below is what each one is genuinely good at and where it is the wrong answer, which is the more useful half of that sentence.
How we choose
Six questions, asked before any product is named.
What must you keep, and for how long
Retention rules come from your own service regulations and from the regulator. They decide more about the right platform than any feature list.
What are you already running
A system that will not speak to your existing estate creates a second island of records, which is the problem you were trying to solve.
Where must the data sit
If the requirement is hosting inside Nigeria, that removes options before anything else is considered.
Who will run it internally
A platform nobody owns inside the institution will drift within a year, whatever it cost.
What is the actual budget
Including licences in year two and three, which is where most of these decisions quietly go wrong.
Is software even the answer
Sometimes the honest recommendation is a retention schedule, a file tracking system and better filing discipline, at a fraction of the cost. We will say so.
In this order. A vendor that only sells one platform reaches the answer before the questions. Our accreditations sit across the market, which is what makes the recommendation worth having.
Laserfiche
Enterprise content services, managing the whole life of a document from capture to disposal. Available self hosted as Avante or Rio, or as Laserfiche Cloud. The platform most often specified by name in Nigerian public sector tenders.
Where it is strong
Strong where an institution needs formal retention schedules, audit trails and approval workflow in one system, and where the requirement is likely to grow rather than stay still. Available on premises or hosted.
What to watch
It is a substantial system and it rewards being implemented properly. An institution that buys it and then does not configure retention or train its registry has bought an expensive filing cabinet.
Our position
DocuSoft is a Laserfiche Authorized Reseller. We implement, support and train on it, and we hold the support resources, user guides and training material for our clients.
DocuWare
Document management and workflow automation, with a strong cloud offering and quick deployment for defined processes.
Where it is strong
Strong where the problem is a specific process rather than an entire records estate: invoice approval, HR files, contract circulation. Gets to working faster than a full content services platform.
What to watch
Less suited to an institution that needs a single system of record across every department from day one.
Our position
We can discuss implementation, support and training options for this platform; current partner status should be confirmed for each engagement.
M-Files
Metadata-driven management. Documents are found by what they are rather than by where somebody filed them.
Where it is strong
Strong where the same document belongs in several places at once, and where staff filing discipline has historically been the point of failure. It largely removes the folder argument.
What to watch
The metadata model has to be designed properly at the start. Done casually it produces the same mess in a different shape.
Our position
We can discuss implementation, support and training options for this platform; current partner status should be confirmed for each engagement.
FolderIt
A cloud document management system, straightforward and quick to adopt.
Where it is strong
Strong for a smaller organisation, a single department, or an institution that wants to prove the idea before committing to a larger platform.
What to watch
Not intended to carry a service-wide records estate.
Our position
Available through DocuSoft with a thirty day trial. Start a free trial or ask us for pricing.
GigaTrak
Asset and file tracking. A physical folder is assigned to a person or a location and its movement is logged.
Where it is strong
Strong where the paper is not going away and the real problem is that nobody can say who has a file. Works alongside a document management system rather than instead of one.
What to watch
It tracks the physical item. It does not digitise it.
Our position
Ask us to confirm current supply, deployment and support arrangements for your requirements.
CarpediumECM
Enterprise content management for organisations seeking structured document capture, indexing, access control, repository management and workflow-supported handling of business information.
Where it may fit
CarpediumECM can be considered where an organisation wants to bring documents and related processes into a managed digital environment. Requirements, integrations, security, retention and deployment needs should be assessed before a product decision.
Our position
DocuSoft Nigeria Limited offers CarpediumECM as a value-added reseller, supporting client evaluation, licensing enquiries, deployment planning, implementation, configuration, user training and support. CarpediumECM is a separate product and is not represented as software owned by DocuSoft.
Next step
Arrange a discussion with DocuSoft to review your document volumes, workflows, access controls, hosting preferences and implementation objectives.
Ask DocuSoft about CarpediumECM ยท Visit the CarpediumECM website
Kodak Alaris capture
Production document scanners and the capture software that drives them. This is the hardware layer that sits under every one of the platforms above.
Where it is strong
Strong where an institution intends to run capture with its own staff rather than send files out, and where the document mix is difficult: bound volumes, treasury paper, carbon copies and files that have been in a store room for thirty years.
What to watch
A scanner is not a strategy. Departments that buy one without a file plan tend to produce several million unindexed images and no way to find any of them.
Our position
We are an accredited Kodak Alaris reseller. We specify against your actual document mix, supply, install, train the operators and support the equipment afterwards.
And one of our own
Appraisium is ours, and it is listed separately for a reason.
It is a performance management system for ministries, departments and agencies, built by us rather than resold. We keep it off the list above so that nobody has to wonder whether a recommendation was independent.
Start with the assessment, not the platform.
We will look at what you hold and what your rules require, then name a platform. Doing it the other way round is how institutions end up with software that does not fit.