By: Matt Peterson
November 5, 2014—Q&A with Matt Peterson, President and CEO of eFileCabinet
1. What is eFileCabinet’s business?
eFileCabinet helps increase the profitability of the SMB market (and departments of larger enterprises) by using software to remove office paperwork.
2. Why are you in this business and how did you start?
Our business started in 2001 when James Blaylock, an accountant with his own business, realized he was paying too much for his $80/hour CPA employees to run back and forth between filing cabinets to get files all day. He created software to digitally file customer records and he made it very easy to search and retrieve straight from the computer. It enabled him to go paperless, and recognizing the great value in what he had created, he decided to sell this solution to peers. Thus eFileCabinet was born. Since that time, industries such as doctors, financial planners, non-profits, HR departments, insurance businesses, religious organizations and others, including accountants, have become users of eFileCabinet software. At the time of this writing, there are more than 123,000 users.
3. Why do customers select you over your competitors?
Our company continues to experience record growth because our solution provides huge value. We have enterprise-class features in document management software at small business prices. We also win over competition because we are always innovating and providing valuable features. For example, we are releasing a SalesForce integration in October 2014, along with 5 more new features. We also differentiate ourselves through our superior support and training departments. As a small business ourselves, we truly understand the importance of being able to maximize the investment in tools, so we make it a priority to support and help our customers. Value, innovation, and support are the reasons that enable us to win over our competitors.
4. Does eFileCabinet have a Cloud product?
Yes. In fact, we are rare in that we provide a Cloud solution and a conventional on-premise product. We offer customers the ability to manage their own servers and computers with our software, or, they can just use the web to access eFileCabinet. More importantly, regardless of which platform, both solutions are offered at the same subscription pricing.
5. What problems are you specifically addressing for the SMB market?
We are solving (1) the need to do more with fewer people, and that means removing inefficiencies from the office (too much time wasted in searching, retrieving, sending, and refiling documents), and (2) the need to manage documentation correctly not just for accuracy, but for retention, compliance audits and, ultimately, to serve customers better.
6. How does your solution get implemented?
Is it easy? How long does it take?Most of our customers are business owners and not technical. With our product, not only do they have a very intuitive interface that has Microsoft-familiar navigation, but we also provide implementation and training help. Within two weeks, customers are working with the system at a very competent level.
On a process level, most customers start scanning in paper documents and ultimately end up using eFileCabinet as a repository for all emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, Word documents, music/video files, etc., and all of them can be searched, sent, previewed, updated, and managed. Some of our more sophisticated clients also use workflow management, digital signatures, enable role-based security and use their mobile apps to manage client files.
7. What measureable impact have you had for your clients?
Smaller operations of 3 – 7 employees save over $3,500 annually, while larger organizations save more. We also have had clients who have experienced devastating fire or tornadoes which ruin their physical businesses, but they are still able to conduct business because their files were electronically managed using eFileCabinet.
8.Do you have turnover/churn of your customers?
We experience very small turnover because not only does our software fulfill the promise of a paperless office, but the clients become very dependent on the ease of the system and do not want to abandon their acquired efficiencies.
9. What are the new products and features you are releasing soon?
We have our eFileCabinet 2015 products being released November 2014. The newest versions of our on-premise and Cloud solutions include some great new features and enhancements.
- Our eFileCabinet Online is now integrated with Salesforce.com, allowing customers to simultaneously update and make changes to existing documents in both programs, with drawers automatically created for contacts from Salesforce.
- Enterprise Access enables larger companies, with remote offices that require audits for compliance reasons, to conduct exams of their files without leaving their office. Based on permissions provided by the remote office, corporate HQ can inspect and audit as if they were on location by just looking at the records and files within their eFileCabinet structure.
- Customers can have files synced automatically between online and on-premise systems to assure data integrity and back up.
- On-premise eFileCabinet 2015 will have the ability to automatically back up their content for free.
- Role-based security capabilities have now been extended to standard users. They can also designate, if required, other users to have certain access privileges.
- For customers using eFileCabinet’s WorkFlow product, email notifications can now be executed outside of the eFileCabinet login environment; meaning office personnel can be notified of next steps and their role via email sent to their Microsoft Office, Gmail, or any other email provider.
- Zonal OCR technology is also being released, helping many organizations that require access and sorting based on consistent, key data in the same page location to be scanned, searched, and retrieved quickly and easily.
- Active directory syncing will help IT administrators of larger organizers to create and manage eFileCabinet users with mass application of titles, departments, and roles.
10. What do you see happening in the next 5 years in your business?
- We expect to see more enterprise-level features at SMB pricing.
- The level of digital workflow is being adopted at the mobile level, with people making decisions, passing on approvals, and managing the flow of daily procedures from a smart device. This trend will continue, and it will force software vendors to design and enable 24/7 access to their solution from any platform and access point.
- While many software solutions are moving towards a Cloud-only solution, we are finding that the compliance-bound, conservative market will require an on-premise, or desktop, solution for the foreseeable future.
Bio :
Matt Peterson is the CEO of Lehi, Utah-based eFileCabinet, Inc. Founded in 2001, eFileCabinet, Inc. began as a cutting-edge tool to digitally store records in accounting firms. As it grew in popularity, eFileCabinet developed into a full-fledged electronic document management solution designed to help organizations capture, manage, and protect their data. http://www.efilecabinet.com
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