Here at DCT we spend a lot of time studying how SMBs organize themselves in the context of cloud services and business applications. The cloud has forever changed how we run our businesses (I say "we" because DCT is living this transition like everyone else). The cloud is taking over the PC's role at the center of data and information management, and small businesses can now capitalize on web-based tools formerly only available to large corporations. This is a powerful change, but it brings its own costs and challenges.

Over the next few blog posts, we are going to dive down into the five main categories of services that small businesses use - CRM, POS, Accounting, ERP and Productivity - and discuss how document workflows fit with them. We use this framework to think about the environment that "document management" fits into, and one of our key observations is that very few SMBs have the resources to focus on document management per se. Document management really needs to work as an adjunct to these key business functions. We also know that not all (likely very few) SMBs have a unique system in each of the five areas - most likely, they have an application that is focused on one area and that does double duty in another - an accounting system that tracks inventory for an "ERP" like functionality, or a POS system that send out customer emails for a "CRM" functionality.

We hope you find the information we share on the market useful and thought provoking, regardless of where you are at in growing your business or moving applications to the cloud.

distributed by