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A legacy Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) such as Meridio can cause a plethora of challenges for organisations including end of support, increasing security issues and expensive maintenance. So, how can organisations overcome these challenges and how can moving from Meridio to the cloud prove beneficial?
In our first of a two-part series blog, we hear from Automated Intelligence’s David Corkill, Technical Director, as he chats us through how to overcome the unique challenges of a Meridio migration and how Automated Intelligence can help.
What is the Meridio platform and why should users be concerned?
Meridio is an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS); however, the platform became a legacy content repository becoming end of life in 2015, with support ceasing in 2017.
There has been a shift in users moving to more modern, innovative cloud-hosted platforms in recent years due to the ending of mainstream support. Concerns around ongoing maintenance costs, security vulnerabilities, as well as the unrestricted nature and inflexibility of the legacy system are just a few of the issues users are experiencing today.
In order to decrease costs, improve productivity and enhance compliance and security, organisations should consider a move to the cloud to better enhance and embark on their digital transformation journey.
What are the challenges associated with Meridio and how can Automated Intelligence help users overcome these?
There are numerous challenges associated with Meridio, moving to a cloud hosted platform such as Microsoft Office 365 will enable organisations to overcome these challenges and ensure improved outcomes such as enhanced collaboration and improved efficiencies. Challenges include:
- RTF emails and attachments – when added into Meridio, emails are converted into RTF files, meaning the email is split up into separate files, where the metadata, body and attachment is separated when storing the email. This can result in a loss of data, losing not only the content but the context of the message or email. However, we can ensure it’s only one single file during migration (to SharePoint for example), reducing data loss and resuming the context of the attachments in a format that is more recognisable to end users.
- Slow extraction performance and use of APIs – extracting organisational content can be a time-consuming process and place an already aged system under additional load, particularly if APIs are used, which can have an impact on users. However, we bypass APIs, going straight to the database, resulting in little or no impact on users’ environment. Extractions are therefore performed quicker with no disruption.
- Path Constraints – naming limitations and path length restrictions are much more open in Meridio and during migrations this can cause issues that could result in loss of data. Our AI.DATALIFT solution can detect these files and provide resolutions to ensure they are migrated to the new platform.
- Maintaining versions – It’s important organsiations have access to information provided by each document version such as the document author and when it has been issued to a customer as well as the history of changes to a document content. Meridio makes it challenging to extract these versions, however AI.DATALIFT ensures seamless extraction for a successful migration.
- Ensuring your users are ready for implementing change – organisations need to educate their users as some staff may have used the same system for numerous years and can be reluctant to change. However, organisations should ensure users are engaged prior to any migration to enable business as usual and successful onboarding of any new platforms. At Automated Intelligence, our team have significant experience migrating both public and private sector organisations from Meridio to SharePoint and quite a few of our management team are previous Meridio employees with extensive expertise in the software.
Moving from Meridio to the Cloud
Are you ready to move from Meridio to the cloud? For further information on how Automated Intelligence can help, visit our website here. You can also contact us to discuss further by emailing info@automated-intelligence.com
Keep an eye out for our second blog focusing on the benefits of Document Conversion.
