A small Incline Village software company that helps businesses manage their floods of documents last week rolled out an online version targeted to medium-sized and small organizations.
Alan Shaw, the chief executive officer of FileWorks Inc., says most of the company's competitors in the ECM market that's short for "Enterprise Content Management" target Fortune 500 companies.
"This is where the large-ticket sales are generated," he says. "Many companies avoid the online ECM market because the profit margin is slim."
But Shaw's team at FileWorks thinks the steady stream of $29.99 monthly payments from users of the online service will cover the company's investment and its operating costs.
The big challenge, Shaw says, is educating business users about the risks ranging from litigation to water damage that arise when documents aren't handled securely.
FileWorks Online uses an encryption system to protect the safety of documents stored in the company's servers.
Likely targets for the online service, Shaw says, include firms that generate a lot of paper mortgage lenders, lawyers, estate planners and the like.
His firm's sales effort also will target companies with numerous small remote offices that need a central data depository.
In its 10-year history, FileWorks previously focused exclusively on more traditional systems in which hardware and software to manage document flow is installed in the client's office.
Founded as InTech Solutions at Concord, Calif., in 1997, FileWorks completed its move to Incline Village within the last year and shuttered its California office.
"The transition went well and with no regrets," Shaw says. "Nevada is a great place to headquarter a business."
The privately held company has been self-funded. Shaw says it has "very little" long-term debt.
