Even with the Thanksgiving weekend, there’s been a few notable releases in the document management space. KnowledgeTree announces the release of the Private Cloud edition of document tools, harmon.ie offers SharePoint functionality in LotusNotes, while iNimated offers access to PC documents via iPad. Iron Mountain has also been busy.

KnowledgeTree Private Cloud Tools

Today KnowledgeTree has announced the availability of the Private Cloud edition of its document management tools.

The new Private Cloud edition will enable enterprises to opt for a couple of different deployment models including SaaS in a secure public cloud, or on-premise in a virtualized, private cloud environment.

With the Private Cloud edition, users get:

  • Enterprise-class tools that let users organize, manage and collaborate on business documents.
  • Deployment that lets companies launch a SaaS account, or get a private cloud implementation running in hours, not weeks -- no developers required
  • Tools that let users gain access to, synchronize and manage documents from the desktop and within Microsoft Office and Outlook
  • A scalable architecture installable on their own infrastructure

The result is a product that enables users to control documents from the browser or business productivity tools.

SharePoint Functionality, Lotus Notes

If you missed it before the Thanksgiving weekend, harmon.ie has announced the release of harmon.ie social business for Lotus Notes.

Notes users can bring SharePoint functionality into their email environment in an effort to unite the disparate IBM and Microsoft platforms.

With harmon.ie 3.0 for SharePoint, Lotus Notes users can complete common SharePoint tasks through the email window where they spend most of their workday, eliminating the need to navigate into other tabs or windows to complete individual tasks.

Office 15 in January?

The rumors are spreading. Microsoft, according to reports, is planning the first beta of its Office 15 software in January.

The rumors started on WinRumors, and have spread across the web. According to the rumors, Microsoft will release Office 15 in preparation for a full beta in January. And no, you didn’t miss a few versions of Office over the weekend; Office 15 is the code name for the new version of Office.

The new beta version is expected at the end of January and will provide a Technology Preview of the suite at CES 2012, alongside Windows 8.

Office 15 is said to be designed with touch at the core of its applications, with the Microsoft Outlook email client, for example, made usable by touch, pen and mouse.

Microsoft is also preparing a tile-based “Moorea” application that will work as a landing place for Office users to navigate to their documents and pictures.

Iron Mountain’s Information Findings

Enough rumors and over to hard, research-based fact. According to a new study done for information management company Iron Mountain, businesses across Europe are not making the most of their information.

While the research shows that two out of three companies surveyed across Europe recognize that making the most of information is critical to success, one in three places the responsibility for information management with departments that lack the necessary expertise or authority.

The research, undertaken for Iron Mountain by Coleman Parkes, shows that responsibility for document storage and retrieval resided with office or facilities managers for 22% of respondents, while in 14% of cases, the management of both paper and digital information was passed to the IT department.

In the UK, for over half of all respondents, responsibility for information management was spread across a number of departments or business areas, with a departmental manager in charge in just 18% of cases. The full survey doesn’t seem to be available yet, but when it is, we’ll let you know.

Accessing PC Documents Through iPad

iNimated.com has introduced everDOCs, its iOS app that gives users access to remote files and lets them share them securely to serve as a bridge between a user's iPad or iPhone and their personal computer.

More than 95% of all iPad users also have a computer with Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX, according to recent research by Chitika. However, many users have found it difficult to gain access to their important files while away from home or the office.

To help solve the problem of remote file access on an iPad or iPhone, everDOCs combines three apps:

  • A Remote Explorer and Document Viewer for iDevices
  • An Email Assistant residing on the computer at home will send any files by email when requested by the everDOCs iOS app
  • A private File Sharing Service shares selected folders and documents securely with family, friends, team members or customers, without any data being sent to Facebook, Dropbox, Google, iCloud, etc.

everDOCs can also be used securely for private or confidential documents, such as copies of identity documents, credit card or bank account details, insurance papers and contracts.

They will never be stored on a server on the Internet. Instead, they are streamed from a personal computer to an authorized iPad or iPhone over an encrypted connection when they are needed.

No personal data is stored either in the iDevice or outside, and no registration is required. Even if the mobile device is lost, no one will be able to read or abuse any documents because they are not stored there.

Aurigo’s Document Management for Construction

Finally, Aurigo, which provides capital project management software and services for infrastructure owners, has announced the release of its cloud-based online construction project collaboration and document management solution.

With this release, Aurigo enhances collaboration and ease of use, so that everyone on a construction project team has access to project information, across multiple devices including the Apple iPad.

Aurigo Projectworks is a cloud-based solution that facilitates critical project communication between various stakeholders, while also organizing the thousands of documents produced by construction work.