With an optional module, it is possible to save individual e-mail items from within MS Outlook. In addition, if you create a subfolder for each client in MS Outlook, you can have a utility monitor those Outlook folders and automatically copy all e-mail to a corresponding folder in NetDocuments. This will not necessarily provide you with a comprehensive e-mail archive, but it will make all e-mail from a specific client available in the client workspace within NetDocuments.
Besides the basic features that you'd expect, NetDocuments includes some interesting advanced features. Many of these are not apparent to novice users, and many are turned on by default, but they are worth discovering. I'll just highlight a few.
Since NetDocuments is a Web-based application, you can share individual files and folders with others. For example, on a client's workspace you might create a folder for the client to view certain reports. If you did not want the client to see the other folders in the workspace you would be able to do that.
Another feature the application offers is echoing, which allows you to retain a local copy of a document on your hard drive for a specified period, perhaps ten or 20 days. Echoing can be useful in a number of situations. For example, if you work in an area that experiences intermittent Internet outages, echoing would allow you to work on your recently accessed documents even if the Internet went down. Echoing can also improve Internet access speeds, particularly if your connection or network is slow.
Another nice feature is the ability to add a NetDocuments search option to the Internet Explorer browser search box. This would allow you to search the NetDocuments repository even when you are not on the NetDocuments site. Firms that have Microsoft Active Directory services on their network can allow users at their own workstations to automatically log on to their NetDocuments accounts. NetDocuments also offers a special interface that allows users of some Blackberry, Treo and Windows Mobile devices to access the application with their handheld devices. For an additional charge, NetDocuments offers a local document service that allows firms to maintain an on-premises server with copies of their NetDocuments repositories.
Pricing is reasonable. The Professional service costs $30 per user per month with a three-user minimum for 3 GB of storage. Additional storage is $6.25 per GB per month.
Some things are not as intuitive or well executed as they could be. For example, while it is possible to customize one's home page, other Web applications offer drag-and drop capabilities and more flexibility. Customizing document attributes and the views on various screens is possible, but again, it is not as intuitive as it could be.
Overall though, NetDocuments looks like a very appealing online document management solution. The firm's long history of servicing law firms of all sizes is encouraging. Setting up and learning the system will require some patience, but once it is implemented, the application should be able to serve the needs of many advisory firms.
Redtail Imaging
Redtail Imaging was developed by Redtail Technology (http://www.redtailtechnology.com/), developer of the popular Redtail CRM, an online CRM application for financial service professionals. Redtail also offers Redtail e-mail archive and retention, an inexpensive e-mail solution for advisors.
Redtail offers many of the same features and functions as NetDocuments. Both allow you to outsource the maintenance of your document management hardware and software (with the exception of scanners) to a third party, but they each require the installation of various Microsoft components to operate effectively. Each firm has secure, redundant server repositories located in different parts of the country. Both offer an online TWAIN scanning interface as well as a method of scanning to the local hard drive and then uploading documents in batches. A full audit trail is available from both platforms.
A cursory examination of Redtail and NetDocuments might lead one to believe that they are interchangeable, but closer examination reveals differences that might be significant to some. Redtail owns and manages its own data centers. NetDocuments does not. Redtail's East coast center is managed by LexisNexis, the one in the West is managed by federally regulated Commercial Bank.
Perhaps the defining feature of the Redtail platform is its simplicity. It does not offer all the advanced features that NetDocuments does, but keeping things simple makes it easy for novice users to master. The top-level Redtail folder structure is predefined and cannot be altered by the user. Each account gets a corporate library, a client library and an unfiled library. All client records go in the client library, documents that have been uploaded but not yet filed go to the unfiled library, and everything else presumably goes in the corporate library.