10 Popular Document Management Systems (DMS)
Businesses continually collect and manage files. A Document Management System (DMS) stores electronic versions of once paper-based documents for easier search and retrieval.
A document management system (DMS) is software that creates, stores, manages, and tracks electronic documents and images of paper-based documents. A DMS can be employed to capture, distribute, and track documents. It can also be used to manage channel workflows, output systems, and information retrieval systems. This article lists 10 popular document management systems.
What Is a Document Management System? (DMS)
Document management system (DMS) is a system used to create, store, manage, and track electronic documents and images of paper-based documents through software. DMS started as a way to convert paper documents into digital documents. Hence, DMS is sometimes referred to as an electronic filing cabinet.
A DMS can have a significant impact on the way your business runs. It gives you more time to focus on the pressing areas of your business as it makes capturing, digitizing, and tagging documents quick and easy. A good DMS provides valuable benefits along with automated document management, such as increased security, collaboration, and automated regulatory compliance.
Hence, when deciding which DMS service is suitable for you, focus on both the features you need now and the ones you may need as your business grows.
Key Features of a Document Management System
While each business needs to manage its documents differently, there are key features that every document management system should have:
1. Security features such as customizable access restrictions
With any DMS, the ability to customize access permissions is an integral part of protecting your data. By controlling access, you also have a better range of options for collaborating and using your DMS. You can set unique permissions for different individuals, departments, teams, and vendor or customer access to particular files. Without this flexibility, your DMS may not have value beyond a few use cases.
2. Ability to store various file types
Document management systems need the flexibility to accommodate various file types. If your DMS only supports a small number of file types, you might need more than one DMS, potentially creating more work for your team and duplicating your business information systems. Generally, the more a single system can do, the better — you can use that flexibility to streamline your business processes.
3. Search functions for quick location and access to important files
A primary function of a DMS is to improve your use and access to documents. Without the ability to search your files, you may not be able to find the specific documents you need. Be sure to review the default search options of the tool, as different search options may be more beneficial for your particular use cases.
4. Document history for auditing and tracking
By tracking your document changes and auditing them, you can manage your documents more effectively and ensure that only authorized changes are made to your files. This helps maintain compliance for documents that are subject to internal or regulatory rules, many of which require an audit trail.
5. Version control for documents and backup storage
Your DMS should provide a historical log of changes. This feature not only allows you to see who has modified the files but also allows you to revert to previous versions. Backup copies should be easily accessible.
6. Ease of use
Finally, your your DMS should be user-friendly so that your team can use it effectively. If the system is too complex, there is a risk that it will not be fully adopted by your organization.
10 Popular Document Management Systems
Sorting through rows of file cabinets is becoming a thing of the past as more and more organizations and businesses are turning to digital solutions for their everyday processes. With thousands of solutions to choose from, it can be difficult to know which one is best for your business. Below are 10 popular document management systems, in alphabetical order.
Disclaimer: These listings are based on publicly available information and include vendors that sell to small, medium, and large companies. Readers are advised to conduct their own research to ensure the best fit for their organization.
1. Box
Overview: Box, founded in 2005, is built on “the principle of bringing people together to do amazing work.” It is used by 97,000 companies and more than half of Fortune 500 companies.
Meant for: Box incorporates artificial intelligence to deliver “intelligent content management.” It is best for organizations of any size and across all major industries.
Key features:
- A cloud-native platform with unlimited storage, with desktop and mobile apps
- Provides zero-trust security controls, collaboration tools, and eSignature.
- Box Governance allows users to proactively manage document retention.
- Offers optical character recognition (OCR) and content capture via the mobile app.
- Enables integration with over 1,500 different applications.
Pros: The user interface is easy on the eyes, intuitive, and user-friendly. The tool has an effective drag and drop functionality, and users can perform multiple tasks in multiple documents without leaving the main console.
Rating: 4.2 out of 5 on G2.
Price: Box offers a free plan for single users with up to 10GB of storage. Business plans start at $15 per user per month for unlimited storage.
2. DocuWare
Overview: DocuWare, founded in 1988, is a leading document and content management tool. It is available in 16 languages and used by major companies such as IKEA and Sony.
Meant for: DocuWare provides digital document management and automated workflow solutions. It is best for organizations of any size and across all major industries, from manufacturing and retail to healthcare and government.
Key features:
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- Operates on Windows desktops, web browsers, or iOS/Android mobile apps.
- Offers training in person and remotely, with customer support available during regular business hours.
- Provides collaboration tools, compliance tracking, and eSignature.
- Offers features for document archiving, assembly, indexing, and retention.
- Offers optical character recognition (OCR), file recovery, version control, and offline access.
- Enables integration with over 500 different applications.
Pros: The user interface is easy on the eyes, intuitive, and user-friendly. The tool has an effective drag and drop functionality, and users can perform multiple tasks in multiple documents without leaving the main console.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 on G2.
Price: DocuWare offers a free trial. Pricing is available from the vendor after a discovery call and personalized demo.
3. Dropbox Business
Overview: Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage and collaboration platform designed for the modern workspace to reduce busywork so that you can focus on the things that matter. Dropbox Business helps your company grow without limits while you maintain complete control over important company information and user activity.
Meant for: Dropbox Business is best suited for collaboration across a team of users.
Key features:
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- Operates on Windows/Mac desktops as well as web-browsers, iOS, and Android apps.
- Provides live training with 24/7 support with live representatives.
- Offers collaboration tools, eSignature, version control, and compliance tracking.
- Offers features for document archiving, assembly, indexing, and retention.
- Offers file recovery, file type conversion, offline access.
- Enables administration with user and role management.
Pros: Dropbox Business provides a good amount of storage space for a business entity. It is a great collaboration tool for our team. Working on common projects, revising documents, and creating system backups can all be done with ease.
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 on G2.
Price: A free trial is available. The Business plan is $15 per user per month (minimum three users). For full access to more sophisticated features and unlimited storage, the Business Plus plan is available for $24 per user per month.
4. Egnyte
Overview: Egnyte was founded in Mountain View, California in 2007 and provides cloud-based content management.
Meant for: Egnyte is focused on content security, compliance, and governance, so it is a good choice for highly regulated industries.
Key features:
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- Purpose-build AI to unlock insights within your data, securely.
- Automates content classification and metadata enrichment.
- Cloud File Server can be accessed through desktop application, web browser, or mobile app.
- Handes CUI with pre-configured controls mapped to the NIST 800-171 standard
- eSignature solution built into workflow
Pros: The product provides sensitive content classification, large file collaboration, and PDF annotations. Integrates with Microsoft 365, Slack, Salesforce, and more.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 on G2.
Price: Free trials are available for the Business and Enterprise Lite plans. The Business plan starts at $20 per user per month. Enterprise Lite is $38 per user per month.
5. Google Workspace
Overview: Google Workspace is a cloud-based DMS that is accessible to anyone with a Google account. It can store, sync, and share files easily.
Meant for: This tool is best suited for teams collaboratively working on real-time projects. Shareability and real-time editing features take professional collaboration to the next level.
Key features:
-
- Provides extensive storage for many file types.
- Enables integration with other Google products and outside apps and files.
- Offers Search function to find documents by file type or by name.
- Allows file conversion, file editing history, document back-up to the cloud for easy synchronization across devices and easy recovery.
- Offers easy file sharing with external members through like sharing and email.
- Offers offline capabilities for selected files and accounts.
Pros: Google Workspace excels in usability thanks to its intuitive user interface. A standout feature is its efficient built-in search engine, which allows users to easily search for files – not just by name, but also by type and owner.
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 on G2.
Price: Free, single users are given 15GB of storage, and they can pay for more storage (billed by month). Workspace subscriptions include 30GB with the Basic Plan at $6 per user per month for those looking to implement it in a business setting. The Business Standard plan, which is the most popular one, offers 2 TB cloud storage for $12 per user per month. For complete pricing options, check Google’s website.
6. Laserfiche
Overview: Laserfiche provides intelligent document management and business process automation. It eliminates manual processes and automates repetitive tasks, accelerating how business gets done by employing powerful workflows, electronic forms, document management, and analytics.
Meant for: The Laserfiche platform is suitable for content management of businesses of all sizes in industries such as accounting, construction, education, real estate, manufacturing, and healthcare.
Key features:
-
- Operates on Windows, iOS/Android apps, and web-based access.
- Offers collaboration tools, eSignature, and compliance tracking.
- Offers features for document archiving, indexing, retention, version control, and offline access
- Offers file recovery and file type conversion.
- Provides business process management, workflow management, and enterprise content management features.
Pros: Laserfiche boosts efficiency with automation, optimizing the application process, simplifying case management, and eliminating paperwork for employee onboarding. Laserfiche makes it easy to create, store, and send digital documents within the business, speeding up correspondence and making it easy to make data-driven decisions since all the information is in one place.
Rating: 4.7 out of 5 on G2.
Price: The Laserfiche Cloud Starter subscription starts at $50.
7. M-Files
Overview: M-Files provides a next-generation intelligent information management platform that improves business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively. Unlike traditional enterprise content management systems or content services platforms, M-Files unifies systems, data, and content across the organization without disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration.
Meant for: M-Files is suitable for small to mid-sized businesses. The company offers a number of industry-tailored solutions. Customers can choose which features they want and can opt-out of others, making it both flexible and cost-efficient.
Key features:
-
- Enables customization with other features available for purchase and bundling.
- Offers offline access, file recovery, file type conversion, version control.
- Provides OCR features for more complete search capabilities.
- Offers collaboration tools, automated workflow, compliance tracking, eSignature.
- Offers features for document archiving, assembly, indexing, and retention.
- Provides access and control permission tools.
Pros: M-Files makes it easy to access content across devices. It enables easy content retrieval by using the search feature. Sharing files across the team is also easy, especially when working together on the same project.
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 on G2.
Price: M-files offers a free trial. The cost after the free trial depends on the features you need and the number of users as M-Files is focused on giving you the exact features you need.
8. OnlyOffice Workspace
Overview: OnlyOffice Workspace is a bundle of web apps for online collaboration and team management.
Meant for: OnlyOffice provides a platform for document management best suited for multiple educational organizations (schools, higher education institutes), small and medium-sized companies, enterprises, and government organizations.
Key features:
-
- Offers collaboration tools, eSignature, document archiving, version control, file recovery, file type conversion, OCR, document assembly.
- Provides project management tools, team chats, file sharing, and presentation tools.
- Operates on the desktop version for Windows, iOS, and Android apps. It can be accessed via a web browser.
- Offers training through live, online calls.
Pros: OnlyOffice runs on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows smartphones and cloud. It includes a large library of document, spreadsheet, and presentation templates.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 on G2.
Price: Workspace Enterprise is available as a lifetime license for $2,200 per server.
9. Revver (formerly eFileCabinet)
Overview: Revver is the combination of eFileCabinet and Rubex. The new tool helps digitize and automate document-heavy work through data extraction, business process automation, automated governance, and more.
Meant for: This tool is ideal for content management of businesses of all sizes across industries, including accounting, government, healthcare, real estate, and manufacturing.
Key features:
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- Offers a cloud-based and on-premise platform.
- Operates on Mac and Windows, iOS, and Android mobile apps.
- Provides features for managing workflows, OCR, secure file-sharing, email importing, and eSignature.
- Allows file type conversion, version control, file recovery, and document archiving.
- Offers in-person and remote training along with 24/7 support.
Pros: Offers on-premise and cloud options, giving customers the flexibility to choose the best plan for their business.
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 on G2.
Price: Customers must contact sales for a custom quote.
10. SharePoint
Overview: Microsoft’s document management solution was initially presented in 2003. With each update came better integration with Microsoft’s other products, making SharePoint one of the most widely used document management systems.
Meant for: Compounded with its ability for lists and integration across the whole Microsoft ecosystem of products, SharePoint is best suited for large organizations to segment their access policies and controls.
Key features:
-
- SharePoint is very customizable. Nearly 65% of users choose to add custom functions.
- Allows external sharing of files.
- Offers content management using libraries, lists, metadata, records management, and retention policies.
- Provides search functions to find files and contacts.
- Team sites provide space for predetermined groups of users to collaborate. There are also customizable sub-sites.
- Automates business processes by creating alerts and workflows.
Pros: The tool is easy to use, configure and deploy, ensures the security of data, and allows role-based access to SharePoint sites.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 on G2.
Price: SharePoint does not offer a free trial, but SharePoint Online Plan One starts at $5 per user per month. Microsoft 365 Business Standard, is $12.50 per user per month. For full pricing information, check the company’s website.
Takeaway
Businesses continually collect and manage files, making the choice of a reliable and scalable Document Management System (DMS) crucial. A DMS helps keep your files organized and compliant with industry standards, while also streamlining and automating workflows. With the latest information about the leading document management systems at your disposal, we hope you find one that best meets your business needs.
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