eFileCabinet 4.0: Manage Documents, Compliance and Backup

Tired of hunting through a paper jungle for a contract/invoice/W-2 form or other vital record you needed yesterday? eFileCabinet, a world-wide provider of document management software says its latest release can help turn that jungle into a manicured garden ‑ while providing security protocols and regulatory compliance across a wide range of industries.

Founded in 2001, efileCabinet got its start organizing electronic documents in the accounting industry and quickly expanded into banking, education and human resources, said CEO Matt Peterson. Today the company services small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peterson claimed a customer base of 3,500 companies that generate more than 20,000 people using the product worldwide.

The company offers two main products. The first is eFileCabinet 4.0, which lets you scan and store hard copy documents as PDF files. The documents you scan in reside in a database on your PC or server. “The interface is set up just like a file cabinet would be, with folders and files,” said Peterson. “You can search for records by name, social security number, date-of-birth, and more,” he said.

The software also lets you store files that are already in electronic form, such as Word, Excel or Outlook files. Peterson said you can even store Outlook e-mail attachments.

eFileCabinet 4.0 features include:

• Advanced file encryption for increased security that meets the demands of regulatory compliance including HIPAA, SEC and FINRA


• Embedded PDF viewer and available PDF editor to view and save files


• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine provides full text searching


• Security features that include permission-based groups, audit trails and e-mail files with built-in passwords


• Licensing options for cost-effective concurrent software usage


• Dynamic document check-in, check-out system provides footprint for document access and stricter control of access to files and data

The eFileCabinet software costs $2,495 for a five-person license. The company charges an 18 percent maintenance fee per year there after.

The second product, Concentsus Online Backup, provides off-site data backup and recovery, which lets companies keep a backup of their eFileCabinet documents (and other critical data) in a secure, Level 3 datacenter. In the event that a disaster – natural or man-made – you can recover your business data. The small business service to back up PCs and servers costs $3.95 per computer per month, plus 50 cents per GB.

Concentsus features include:

• 128-bit SSL encryption to protect data as it moves between your PC and the Concentsus data center


• 448-bit Blowfish encryption secures your files on the Concentsus servers


• Private encryption key options let you choose from Concentsus’ 448-bit key or manage your own private key.


• Automatic Data Protection detects and backs up new and updated files every two hours.

“Employees think IT is backing up the data, and IT thinks the employees are doing it,” said Peterson. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.” He added that 70 percent of companies that suffer a major data loss go out of business within a year. “Concentsus is a cheap insurance policy.”

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com