ECM targets verticals
The improvement resulting from that type of document coordination can be impressive. The MeritCare Health System, a not-for-profit system serving 2 million people in North Dakota, began using OnBase Content and Medical Records Management solutions several years ago to integrate with its clinical and business systems. By automating the processes associated with patient visits, claims and billing, MeritCare now saves an estimated $500,000 in labor costs per year, and reduced medical record analysis time to 48 hours, from the previous two weeks to three weeks.
More importantly, each patient now has an electronic medical record (EMR), and chart pulls to look for missing information occur 18 percent of visits, down from 100 percent four years ago. The system has not only reduced costs, but has increased the level of patient care and safety.
Hyland has carefully considered user preferences in the design of its interfaces for the different industries. The insurance application emulates the tabbed folders from the paper world, and the medical records looks like a patient chart.
"We took this approach because the biggest challenge in moving to electronic documentation was aversion to change," says Burns. He concedes that the incoming generation of workers, having grown up with computers, may have fewer objections to interfaces that are not related to earlier formats. On the other hand, that same group looks for features they find in software they use outside the workplace, and in some ways may turn out to be more demanding.
Burns challenges the contention that the ECM market is consolidating, at least in the SMB market. "True, the high-end market is dominated by a small number of vendors—IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. But there are five times as many potential customers in the mid-market, and that market is vibrant. We have about 60 competitors, many of whom are doing well."
Hyland itself is planning a significant expansion of its Cleveland headquarters, both in its physical facilities and its employees. "If there was ever a time for a transactional product like ours to shine, this is it," Burns says.
Recently, Hyland began offering the application as a software as a service (SaaS) product, although the company has not strongly promoted it. "For smaller users, the lower cost of entry could be appealing," Burns says. "What we are providing on this front is a multitenant arrangement, and it is generating interest both among prospective customers and our channel partners."
SaaS as an ECM platform
SpringCM takes the approach of using its content management system as a platform on which its partners can build a variety of vertical and horizontal applications.
"Once you get an application such as accounts payable for one vertical market, it can easily be configured for other verticals," says Dan Carmel, CEO of SpringCM. "They are consistent and you can have one integration paradigm, using the software as a service [SaaS] application as a backbone."
In some cases, the user develops various SpringCM applications in-house. In other cases, SpringCM partners develop applications and resell them to users. For example, Conversion Technologies International has developed a healthcare and patient records management solution, and Mach 2 Solutions has developed a digitized patient information management system containing clinical data that is captured at the point of service.
In addition to healthcare applications, SpringCM has been used to develop content management applications in legal and professional services environments. The legal solution allows users to take a matter-centric approach, organizing e-mails, reports and paper documents, as well as automating such functions as opening new matters and closing out completed ones. SpringCM’s solution for consulting and professional services firms similarly organizes project-related material, reducing the amount of time spent looking for information and supporting productivity.