Complex CCM/UX applications have been some of the slowest to move to the cloud mainly because things like insurance policy applications have been historically expensive to migrate or have requirements that overwhelm cloud capabilities.  Many CCM/UX vendors profess to have mature cloud capabilities, but the migration pathways offered tend to be murky and littered with incompatibilities and functionality caveats.  Organizations running Documaker are no stranger to this dilemma – Documaker is an incredibly capable platform built to tackle some of the most complicated document automation tasks, yet no clear pathway for moving Documaker to the cloud has existed despite its long tenure and wide adoption in the marketplace.

Why move Documaker to the Cloud?

As we’ve covered in a prior post, moving your Documaker applications to the cloud can offer tremendous benefits to the organization, depending upon the chosen service model.  The advantages of doing so are clear:

• Cloud-based processing offers operating efficiencies and potential cost-savings in infrastructure & staffing.
• Moving Documaker to the cloud can help to improve the organizational security posture with MFA-protected access and further distancing your CCM architecture from points of threat ingress.
• Documaker can take advantage of infrastructural features that underpin IaaS/PaaS service models such as scalability and high availability.
• Moving Documaker to the cloud can be an impetus to shed legacy baggage and finally retire an antiquated on-prem CCM infrastructure.

Moving Documaker – Cloud Options

The advantages of adopting cloud-based CCM/UX solutions are clear, yet the prospect of moving Documaker to the cloud has been complicated, with a wide range of factors & limitations driving the decision making process.  Documaker offers such a vast array of capabilities that the ideal cloud service model really depends upon the size, nature, complexity and demand requirements of the current Documaker implementation.

In general, cloud service options can be organized into the following 3 models:

IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

IaaS is a service model wherein bare infrastructure is provided to deploy all desired software, tools, dependencies and data.  The cloud provider handles infrastructure provisioning while you handle and control everything else.

• Compatible with Documaker:  YES
• Cost Savings (vs on-premise):  GOOD
• Documaker move complexity:  SIMPLE (depending upon the nature and complexity of your source environment)

PaaS – Platform as a Service

PaaS is a service model wherein bare infrastructure and foundational software components required to develop and host applications in the cloud are provisioned and ready to go.  The cloud provider handles the creation, management and maintenance of the environment, and you handle the development and deployment of specific applications.

• Compatible with Documaker:  YES
• Cost Savings (vs on-premise):  BETTER
• Documaker move complexity:  MEDIUM (depending upon the nature and complexity of your source environment)

SaaS – Software as a Service

SaaS is a service model wherein the entire application stack is hosted in the cloud.  The cloud provider provisions and manages everything and you get direct access to services without having any development or deployment responsibilities.

• Compatible with Documaker:  NO
• Cost Savings (vs on-premise):  BEST
• Documaker move complexity:  N/A (see below)

Moving Documaker to SaaS – The Path Forward

If you’re running Documaker and have made enterprise commitments to SaaS adoption for all of the benefits & advantages that it offers, there is an immediate path forward for you.  We have over 30 years of experience implementing thousands of complex applications under Documaker, and are constantly evaluating competing CCM/UX vendor capabilities from the likes of Quadient, GhostDraft, OpenText Exstream, Smart Communications and others.  Very few can offer the full breadth and scope of complex document processing capabilities of Documaker, but we have determined that Quadient Inspire surpasses this bar and offers the best migration path forward.

With the introduction of MigrationXpress, including support for Quadient Inspire, we’ve established an efficient and cost-effective pathway for moving your Documaker applications to a true SaaS offering like Quadient Inspire Evolve.  Recognizing that migrating complex CCM systems are arduous and expensive endeavors, we’ve built technology and a methodology that eliminates the historical barriers to true cloud adoption that has prevented so many insurance policy applications running on Documaker from moving to the cloud.

Are you still running Documaker and interested in understanding the best path forward to cloud for your organization?  We’re here to help.