Document software developer begins slow transition to Incline

FileWorks, Inc. has opened an office in Incline Village, a move meant to start what Alan Shaw, founder and chief executive officer, calls a slow transition to Nevada from its current headquarters at Concord, Calif.

The company's flagship software product, iFile, electronically scans, searches, sorts and routes documents.

Shaw designed the electronic system to replace the paper processes used by organizations such as health care giant Kaiser Permanente to handle customer service and claims processing.

"FileWorks started out just accommodating growth with that company," says Shaw. FileWorks now is beginning to shrink-wrap software for mass sales and distribution.

Shaw says he hopes for a good 50 percent growth rate this year as his sales staff ramps up. He also credits recent federal legislation, such as laws covering privacy of health information and Sarbanes-Oxley, for calling public attention to the need for electronic filing processes.

While he says people advised him to remain in the company's first vertical market medical billing of insurance companies Shaw says he's found a need for the product among a broader market, including hotel chains and pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials.

"It could fit anywhere there's a lot of paper," he adds.

But the primary force driving his business, says Shaw, is simply that price points shifted the market past that tipping point where it's getting cost-effective to store millions of images digitally.

"People are just getting more comfortable with it," he says.

FileWorks was established in 1997 in Concord, Calif. as InTech Solutions. The Incline office will employ three, an addition to the four still based in Concord. "Even a small employer is valued here," says Shaw, citing Nevada's business friendly climate.