New EDRM system promises to reduce reliance on paper and storage space and enable staff to work more independently...

London, UK, March 23rd, 2009 – Kainos, (www.kainos.com) a leading IT consulting company, has today announced that it is working closely with North Somerset Council to implement its electronic document and records management system (EDRMS). The first project is underway in Adult Social Services & Housing and expected to go live in the next few months.

Kainos was awarded the contract following a market tender which attracted a number of supplier responses. Discussions with Havant Council, another forward looking council whose EDRMS implementation was handled by Kainos, sealed North Somerset’s decision to select Kainos whose proposal included a solution based on Autonomy Records Management and data capture from Kofax.

Barrimore England-Davis, EDRM Project Manager at North Somerset Council recalls, “Kainos’s track record implementing EDRM solutions in other councils was very comforting to North Somerset. Havant spoke very highly of the experience, integrity and professionalism of the Kainos team, qualities that we have come to rely on heavily as we embrace our own EDRM challenges!.”

North Somerset has already made significant headway tackling the EDRM demands of its Adult Social Services and Housing department. This department relies entirely on paper files but a recent white paper that indicated the benefits of handling electronic rather than paper files, provided the necessary impetus to help this department to ‘go electronic’. The EDRM system links closely with the department’s patient care system and all new correspondence coming into the department will be scanned, indexed and stored electronically.

Barrimore explains, “EDRM will make a great difference to the speed and accuracy with which we find information. The cost of maintaining and supporting documents in filing cabinets is simply staggering when you account for floor space, management, retrieval, heat, light & storage. These are some of the very tangible savings that we expect to realise through the broader implementation of electronic document and records management technology across departments.”

Barrimore and the implementation team have their sights set on a number of departments that will benefit from EDRM technology across the council but first they have set up a ‘model office’ for the Adult Social Services EDRMS where the technology can be tried and tested to ensure it is robust enough to be handed over to departmental staff.

Deirdre O’Neill is Head of ECM Services at Kainos and adds, “North Somerset Council joins a growing list of UK councils that have entrusted their EDRM projects to Kainos. We are looking forward to helping the team deliver on this first key implementation and making it a beacon for success for other departments to follow.”