Allowing people to access information they need, anytime – anywhere in the world, means they can quite literally self-serve their own needs without having to call on people back in the office to find and send files. What could be smarter.

Imagine employees, vendors, and clients alike all having a safe and convenient way to upload and retrieve files from your office without loading software, hassling with email and file-size-limits, or getting tangled in the chaos of FTP. Putting your office online by hosting your own information system for people to securely access files is easier than you might think. Like all online solutions, people use a Web browser to log-in and access the information. Anyone you authorize can have access.

For many, self-hosting the system on-site is the best of both worlds: you maintain control over the content in your office, while allowing others to gain access only to what they are authorized to from the outside.

Employees who are traveling or working at satellite offices are more productive and no longer need to have documents faxed, emailed, or worse… overnighted; authorized customers get their own project files without consuming employee time; and vendors submit important forms and invoices without files getting lost in an in-box. The possibilities are endless.

The capacity for resources both inside and outside of the company to collaborate with one-another while maintaining internal business controls is invaluable. This kind of collaborative exchange depends upon information management tools to provide a secure, intuitive portal for easily uploading and retrieving documents.

A 3-minute video introduction to such a Web accessible tool, Document Locator, is available here.