A local IT company has taken document management to the next level by transforming its flagship enterprise content management into a service offering available on the cloud.

Formed in 2009, Docunetix is focused on the business of document lifecycle management.“We look after the life of a document from the conversion of its physical existence into digital assets, managing its workflow and subsequent storage in a content management system,” said Mr Larry Sim, the company’s Founder and Director.

Working as a systems integrator for PaperPark, the flagship document management system of China-based Bizoft, Mr Sim saw an opportunity to add value not just by implementing the product in Asian organisations, but also in enhancing the system through cloud-enablement.

“While the capabilities of PaperPark were comprehensive and built from the ground up with the Asian region in mind, we wanted greater differentiation,” said Mr Sim. “We wanted to bring to our partners and customers the best practices and knowhow with competitive utility pricing that does not require significant investments, and a flexible architecture that adheres to the unique workflows and requirements from organisations.”

This was a particularly prudent plan given the highly competitive nature of the document and content management software industry. However, software research and development required significant investment.

Docunetix managed to secure additional funding through the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s (iDA) iSTART:ACE grant scheme, which co-funds up to 50 per cent of the salaries of technical staff in order to accelerate technology commercialisation.

“We were the fortunate recipient of the scheme in October 2011, where the aims and objective of the programme was for us to have closer ties with our vendors via joint research and development,” said Mr Sim.

It was a significant turning point for Docunetix as it provided the company with the opportunity to evolve from a system integrator into an independent software vendor. “The programme enabled us to recruit a team to assist with our plan to transform ourselves into a cloud-based transactional content management provider,” explained Mr Sim.

The support of IDA also provided Docunetix with the additional leverage it needed to negotiate a joint venture with Bizoft to develop PaperPark and bring the cloud-enabled solution into the Southeast Asian market.

As part of a newly-formed software company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and China, Docunetix is working to ensure its development and business milestones are met. “We are on schedule to complete the cloud-enablement project by August 2012,” said Mr Sim. “Meanwhile, we have started bringing our transactional content management solutions to the market via our channels.”

Docunetix has gained initial traction with various clients, including a global logistics firm and its partners, a major hospital as well as several enterprise customers, said Mr Sim. “We foresee a greater adoption of cloud-based software-as-a-service solutions in the next couple of years and with this, plan to venture in the neighbouring markets like Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. At the same time, our joint venture partner in North Asia will also be exploiting this trend in Hong Kong and the Greater China region as a whole.”