There is a trend in Information Technology towards applications and services that are provided by others, as opposed to having to have an in-house provision. This has been known over recent years as “Software as a Service” (“SaaS”), or the slightly nattier “cloud computing”.
The principle of cloud computing is that it shifts the burden related to managing and the cost of running a given IT system to some third party. In effect it is a form of outsourcing.
We have had a number of customers discuss with us their desire to have a fully hosted, outsourced, aka “cloud-based” solution and we are pleased to be able to offer it. It goes by the name
Topaz Filer HT.
Notionally, the system looks as per the diagram below. The instances of Microsoft Outlook running in your office talk to a server that we manage for you and from them to a SharePoint implementation that is used to store your emails offsite.
There are two limitations to our hosted solution – you can only file emails within
Microsoft SharePoint and the integration with your practice management system (“PMS”) or customer relationship management system (“CRM”) is limited. (This is not the case with our
“on premises” installation – you can store the emails in anything and have tight integration with your PMS/CRM.)
However there are typically no implementation costs involved, there is no up-front commitment and you “pay as you go”.
You will need a separate SharePoint provision. You may already have a partner, in which case we will be happy to deal with them, or you may like us to refer one of our partners onto you.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss Topaz Filer HT in more detail.
