MSPs May Now Be Able to Offer ‘Paperless’ Cloud Services

By Michael Brown 1

Some companies still like the traditional look and feel of paper documents. But many companies despise the clutter, the storage, the hassle and the cost of thousands or millions of paper documents; long after visions of paperless offices were first discussed. Managed service providers (MSPs) today frequently help companies be more effective, reduce costs and expand via cloud solutions.  Now they may have another tool to add to their arsenal: going paperless. Helping with such a service could be a good portfolio addition for MSPs who offer cloud-based file sharing services.

Really going paperless. Not saying “paperless” and actually meaning “paperless except for these and those and these documents. A new cloud application and platform called Canvas, is looking to make that paperless future a reality, sooner rather than later.

“Canvas is an application and a platform – primarily it is a place for businesses to create mobile forms that replace paper-based ones. But as well as that it is a marketplace where businesses can find, customize and share forms among a community of users.”

Users can find or create their own “small, lightweight situational” apps according to their exact business needs. A business can customize a micro app to replace a specific paper form they use regularly, and then collect data from the app and automatically store it in the cloud. Another major point is that Canvas is currently already integrating with many of the main cloud file sharing players in the industry.

MSPs that have access to a platform like Canvas would have a far greater ability to customize services and meet their clients’ needs.  Individual cloud based apps could be built to slowly replace all paper forms in a company, reducing the physical cost of the forms, allowing for much easier storage and use, and freeing up valuable data entry time that could ultimately be utilized elsewhere by the company.

No doubt other platforms will likely adopt similar models to Canvas’ approach in the future, but be it with Canvas, or another provider, MSPs will have even more ability to shape their cloud services that they can offer to their clients. Being able to say they can “eliminate all paper” isn’t a bad perk either.