Busting the myth: “SharePoint is a document storage system, not a document management system”

When we first began developing Filer in 2014, we had a myth to bust: “SharePoint is a document storage system, not a document management system.” Since then, SharePoint has made huge strides forward. With over 250,000+ organizations globally relying on SharePoint as their primary document management system, we’d say that myth has certainly been busted. 

However, some of the reasons this myth occurred still exist today. SharePoint, by nature, is a highly flexible platform with many possibilities, which can actually be more of a challenge than a benefit when it comes to structured document management and governance.  

Do users always save documents in the right place?  

Are all documents named and labelled correctly? 

Is it painless to ensure metadata is applied to every document? 

We think SharePoint could do more to make this easier… This is where Filer comes in!  

Pre-configured solution with simple system administration

Filer simplifies end-to-end delivery by providing a more packaged solution that can be easily managed and maintained through the support administration portal. This removes the need to undergo lengthy and complex SharePoint configuration projects when Filer does the hard work for you.    

A superior User Interface

Filer provides an enhanced user experience that combines basic and advanced search functionality with intuitive document viewing controls, bookmarks, and pre-configured filters to offer a polished experience for end users.  

Scalable through automation

After delivering hundreds of large-scale document and records management projects, we’re familiar with SharePoint’s limitations when handling large volumes of documents in terms of performance speeds; maximum search results returned, and complexity in managing permissions. Filer removes the support overhead associated with SharePoint by auto-provisioning the information architecture behind the scenes so you can scale seamlessly to millions of documents.  

Add-ins and integrations to deliver a unified experience

Filer allows users to benefit from a unified experience and avoids jumping between multiple applications.  

• Outlook add-in provides a seamless mechanism to save, classify, or attach documents.
• A standard Power Automate connector is used to create direct automations.
• Simple integration methods to exchange metadata with existing lines of business systems. 
• Document editor for document manipulation without downloading and re-opening documents in applications like Adobe. 
• In-context links can be embedded in third-party systems or Teams. 

In summary, Filer provides your organisation with the opportunity to benefit from the direct savings of exploiting your existing Microsoft 365 investment without missing out on any of the ‘bells and whistles’ that third-party solutions offer. It’s the best of both worlds!