Question

Sharepoint vs Laserfiche

Laserfiche

Updated March 21, 2023

asked on October 2, 2014

I know that comparing Laserfiche to sharepoint is like comparing an apple to an orange but apparently, people are using sharepoint just like we would want them to use Laserfiche. Sharepoint's highlights are just like ours and for small to medium sized companies they are just as adequate. We would really need Laserfiche to provide us with the difference between the two and why would a prospective client go for Laserfiche and not sharepoint.

Sharepoint doesnt have its own scanning interface and also no PDF. I know the metadata is the same and it is user friendly as well. I know laserfiche does not create such comparison sheets but its about we have one that you guys provide.

4 0

Replies

replied on October 8, 2014

Hi Sally,

You are absolutely correct. Comparing the 2 is a bit like comparing an apple and an orange. They are both fruit but totally different.

It's important to remember that SharePoint is an intranet system 'out of the box'. It will do search and retrieval with metadata. That is all. No Scanning, No Workflow, SharePoint does have audit trail however. SharePoint is essentially Laserfiche 6 but web based. All the functionality for SharePoint comes from 3rd party add-ons which have an additional cost to both purchase and to configure. I've regularly seen SharePoint implementations where the configuration of SharePoint is double or triple what the system actually cost to purchase (Queue entrance of 'SharePoint Consultants') $$$$$$!!!

Laserfiche however with the introduction of Avante has most of these things 'out of the box'. Scanning, Workflow etc. with relatively little configuration, therefore again reducing costs. It too has 3rd party add-ons which add additional functionality to match or trump SharePoint.

Basically the main differences is what the 2 products do 'out of the box' which is the key comparison. It's also important to note that the Laserfiche SharePoint integration components also come free when purchasing Web Access for Avante or come as standard with Rio. So there is no real reason why the 2 systems can't run side by side in their apple and orange fruity world

I agree there is no real 'documentation' that shows the differences but things are changing so quickly these days it would be quite difficult to keep such a document up to date, so looking at this logically I can see why such a document hasn't been written.

Hope this helps Sally!

14 0

replied on October 10, 2014

Solid reply! We don't have a competitive matrix or article comparing the two, but I agree--Laserfiche and SharePoint are geared to do different things.

Laserfiche helps organizations govern documents through their entire lifecycle. We call it "capture workflow": the ability to manage documents using out-of-the box tools from the point-of-capture to the archival or mandated disposition. I'm not an expert, but I've most frequently seen SharePoint used as a collaboration portal. It provides a structure to encourage project management and collaboration between groups. Yes, there's some feature overlap between the two products, but their strengths and focus lie in different places. Frequently, organizations will use SharePoint for collaboration, but use Laserfiche on the back-end for file storage, records management, and Workflow. It's pretty easy to set this up using the Laserfiche/SharePoint integration provided with Web Access.

I've also heard that Laserfiche Workflow is significantly simpler to work with than SharePoint's workflow engine, and that it's much easier to set up and manage a Laserfiche installation.

5 0

replied on February 26, 2019 • Show version history

Quick update on this, here is the latest Gartner report. Good compairson listing.

https://info.laserfiche.com/gartner-magic-quadrant-content-services-platforms

2 0

replied on October 8, 2014

Sorry not an answer but I too would like an answer to your question.

It would be good to have have something that spells out the differences.

1 0

replied on June 30, 2021

There's a lot of great information here - I concur with what has been posted so far, and can add a bit more. In the last two years we've been deep into the guts of Sharepoint, migrating over 30 different SP databases to Laserfiche. If you have documents that groups are working with, like project tracking spreadsheets or documentation efforts, you can't beat Sharepoint. It's great at allowing multiple people work on the same document at the same time.

As a document management system, it's a big mistake. Among the issues:

-- All files are stored in the database unless you also buy a (typically expensive) external blob storage system.

-- Searching often does not work, even with DM add-ons like Knowledge Lake.

-- It's almost impossible for an inexperienced organization to set it up correctly. The experience level required is pretty high, yet the functional ceiling is much lower than LF.

-- In contrast, it's easier for an inexperienced person to do a good job setting Laserfiche up even at a basic level, LF is more forgiving, and a moderately experienced person can do far more with it.

1 0

replied on March 21, 2023

Another significant gap to note is in Public Forms. We have found the MS Forms app saves form attachments to the users SharePoint folder and therefore requires any application with attachements to be authenticated into office 365. As soon as the upload control is dragged on the form, the public url vanishes. You cannot have public forms with attachment in standard forms although this is available for the pro version (based on dynamics 365)

1 0

replied on May 12, 2020

This reply might have been helpful it it pertained to the 2020 versions of Laserfiche and Sharepoint. Even the Gartner report is 2 years old.

0 0

You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Question

Question

Sharepoint vs Laserfiche

Replies

Sign in to reply to this post.