FileVision targets information relationship management software at SMBs 26 June, 2008 By Chris Talbot

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FileVision rolls document management, imaging and workflow into one application, which it refers to as "information relationship management," said Lu Woods, director of marketing at FileVision. According to Woods, comparable software to FileVision's is aimed at the enterprise market and has a price tag that's too high for SMBs.

"We target small- to mid-sized businesses. We make the solution very affordable," she said.

The company has two ways of selling its product -- as software and as a hosted service. Woods said FileVision has had success in markets like local government, community banking and medical practices, but it's also found opportunities in case management, physical therapy offices and utilization review (a branch of medical). What other types of businesses would find FileVision's application useful?

"Any business that has paper-intensive process," Woods said. "Essentially, that's just about everybody."

The software has been designed to be very simple and flexible. Businesses use it for a variety of process purposes -- from using it to simplify the process for applying and getting local building permits to managing road repair work orders to tracking shareholders.

"Our solution, the way we've got it set up, it's configurable to each business," Woods said. The database fields can be configured however a customer wants, she added.

The software was designed to be easy and quick to install.

"We make it easy for our resellers, as well, to sell and implement it," Woods said.

FileVisions works with a variety of different resellers. Some resellers sell the application into specific vertical markets while others are more horizontal and focus on their geographic areas of coverage.

"We do support the reseller. We've put together such an attractive package to help them sell the product. They don't have anything else like this that's affordable, so it's something that's been really attractive to the reseller," Woods said.

Through its channel partner program, FileVision offers discounts that increase as resellers sell more, a licence for in-house and demonstration software, marketing materials, sales tools and technical support. The resources are made available through the company's secure partner Web site.

Additionally, FileVision offers training at its headquarters in Atlanta. The training takes a week, but at the end, the partner gets a two-user licence to resell (so partners can make back the money they spent on the training). FileVision also offers monthly Webinars that are related to the product and/or how to sell it.

The biggest challenge for partners is in educating customers, who know they need something to manage their information and documents but don't really know what that is.

"It's not a short sell cycle, unless you're selling the hosted version," Woods said.

There has been a lot of interest in the hosted version, she added.

"They know they need something to help them be more productive and profitable. They just don't know what it is," Woods said.