Secure, on-demand document sharing blooms in SpringCM SaaS model

Content management might sound staid—unless you talk with Christine Mason, president and CEO of SpringCM.

“The CM stands for content management, but Spring works in so many ways,” she says. “Springboard, for collaboration; WellSpring, as a source for fresh content; Spring in terms of an ecosystem. And as in the season, Spring is a fresh approach, because it's in such big contrast to the way others are taking the technology to market.”

Open for business not quite a year, the Chicago-based start-up has been fast out of the gate, having already signed more than 100 customers. Designed as hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) to make what is typically an expensive undertaking cost-effective for smaller companies, Mason was surprised at its appeal to brand-name clients like GE, Dresser, Avon, Stratus Technology, and Comcast.

SpringCM launched as an offshoot of ADEXS, a document-exchange solutions vendor with deep experience serving plants with OSHA compliance concerns.

“We saw an opportunity to manage all kinds of content that involves documents,” says Mason. “We built the technology from the ground up with an architecture where multiple companies could use the same core code and share costs among small groups of users.

“We're turning paper into an intelligent asset, reducing manual touch and risk, and turning it into workflow that triggers activities,” Mason continues. “We put together an enterprise depository that companies can access from anywhere.”

According to Anne MacFarland, director of data strategies and information solutions for The Clipper Group, a Wellesley, Mass.-based research firm focused on emerging technology, “SpringCM has thought about how to make a coherent whole rather than offering a bunch of pieces. There is a lot to designing software for the midmarket. Much of what SpringCM does is for that market, but it wants to reach beyond that.”

One of the challenges, adds MacFarland, is that “businesses don't know what they don't know.” SpringCM thought rigorously about that in designing its solution, she asserts. More specifically, the SpringCM product is focused on a “use” model MacFarland likens to that of a library, rather than a data-storage model that traditional IT systems employ. “They've really thought about what medium-size companies need in terms of information use,” she says. “And they've made it relatively affordable.”

SpringCM makes content automation easy, even for those still using faxes and metal file cabinets. “Companies can fax receipt-of-delivery documents to us, for example, and we'll scan them in,” Mason says. “We also provide a service where they can ship us entire filing cabinets and we'll scan that content as well.”

Tailored services and the SaaS delivery model speed ROI, cutting typical deployment from months to days or weeks. Contracts are structured by seats and memory space, and the range of current monthly customer fees vary from $1,000 to $350,000. Among larger customers, clients are typically department-based.

“CIOs know there are a lot of efficiency gains to be had at the edge of the enterprise, but they're not interested in investing to solve that problem,” says Mason. “With SpringCM, they can solve a departmental problem and be a hero while focusing on more strategic issues.”

SpringCM also tracks and monitors usage so clients can optimize their service.

“We take a lot of ownership of customers' success,” Mason maintains. “We carry a higher degree of responsibility for achieving the ROI they expect. It's more of a good steward mentality, and I think our growth reflects that.”