KnowledgeTree and Document Management

Knowledge Tree is a newcomer to the collaboration and cloud-based document management field. Based on their web site, they have mostly non-legal clients.

Like many “store and forward” products, saving a document to Knowledge Tree is based on a windows explorer model: “click upload, browse to the right location, and save” as one of their demo videos says. This simply replicates the error-prone model of saving to a physical location.

KnowledgeTree seems to focus on being an industrial-strength cloud-based file sharing program, a step up from the DropBox family of programs. Thus it lets users add one or more “tags” as searchable metadata. It also features a variety of workflow options and document alerts to notify users when documents have been changed. The document store is searchable (including with some boolean operators).

However, it lacks critical document management features, in particular the ability to “lock down” the system and oblige users to actually use it. It’s claim to simplify the uploading of documents with drag and drop technology actually illustrates one of the program’s core weaknesses. Furthermore, it integrates only with a vary limited range of products. So with KnowledgeTree you would constantly have to switch back and forth between the documents (probably a minority) stored in the cloud and everything else. Not a model of efficiency.

So if you are looking for a more industrial-strength version of DropBox, KnowledgeTree is worth checking out. If you are looking for a full-featured document management system, however, you would be better off looking elsewhere.  As a rough estimate, KnowledgeTree is about where NetDocuments was 4-5 years ago, so it might be worth checking back in a few years.

Comments

[Peter Mollins]

John, thank you for taking the time to review KnowledgeTree. We always appreciate feedback on our solution. One of the strengths of the technology is the ability to work with documents across teams in ways that are natural to users. For some, that means simply uploading a file through drag and drop or desktop synchronization in order to efficiently share. For others, it could mean being able to collaborate on documents via Microsoft Office tools. With KnowledgeTree, you can access the latest or prior versions from your vault via Word, Excel, etc. without having to leave that tool. Updates can be made, saved, and reconciled with colleagues all without leaving the Microsoft Office tool. That flexibility makes collaborating on documents easy and is a productivity gain.