Document management software rental: how to implement OpenKM with no upfront investment

Document management software rental: how to implement OpenKM with no upfront investment

Written by Ana Canteli on 31 October 2025

Document management is no longer a technological “extra”, but a key component to digitize processes, reduce paper and ensure regulatory compliance. Service companies, professional firms, manufacturing, real estate or property managers need to centralize documents, find them quickly, control who accesses them and store them securely. That is exactly what modern document management solutions offer: digitization, classification, search, auditing and workflow automation.

The problem appears when it’s time to pay for the solution. Buying perpetual licenses, setting up servers and assigning IT staff often delays the project. This is where document management software rental —like OpenKM’s— becomes especially attractive: it lets you use the full document management system by paying a recurring fee, with maintenance and updates included, and without a large initial outlay.

What exactly is document management system rental?

It is the leasing of the right to use the software for a certain period (usually yearly). You don’t buy the licence, but you do get access to all professional features: capture and scanning, automatic classification, metadata, version control, permissions, approval workflows, advanced searches and auditing. This is what document service providers for office and business processes offer today, combining software plus service.

In OpenKM’s case, rental gives you access to the full platform and the vendor’s support, with the advantage of starting small and growing later.

Advantage 1: zero upfront investment and predictable spending

Rental removes the typical entry barrier: no need to buy licences or hardware. You pay a fixed fee that you can treat as an operating expense, something finance usually prefers over a large one-time investment. And since everything is bundled into one payment, you don’t get unpleasant surprises with updates or incidents. This is especially useful for companies that are modernizing their office environment.

Advantage 2: productivity and fewer steps

Most websites specialized in document management repeat the same idea: digitizing reduces steps and time. You go from searching in folders or emails to finding what you need in seconds, using OCR, metadata and a central search engine. Rental lets you have all of this from day one, without waiting for an infrastructure budget. Fewer steps = more productivity = lower cost.

Advantage 3: maintenance and updates included

Another reason many companies don’t adopt a document management system is because they don’t want to maintain it. Rental usually includes:
• functional updates,
• security patches,
• incident support,
• help with initial configuration.

This means the technical burden shifts to the provider and your team can focus on processes and users. Still, it’s important to say it clearly: you still need a minimum of internal IT to coordinate backups, manage users or integrate the software with other applications (ERP, CRM, print system, etc.). It’s not “install and forget”, but it is much lighter than maintaining everything yourself.

Advantage 4: real scalability

Companies don’t always have the same document volume. There are peaks: campaigns, audits, new customers, projects, tenders. With rental, you can increase users or storage when you need it and scale down afterwards. This is similar to what happens with property management software: you pay for what you use, you grow when there are more units to manage, and you keep the system centralized. The logic is the same: pay according to actual need, not to maximum capacity.

Advantage 5: compliance and traceability

One of the main contributions of document management platforms offered by integrators and vendors is the audit trail: who saw what, who changed a document, which version is the valid one, how long it must be retained. This is key in quality management, healthcare, contracting and public administration. OpenKM rental includes that control layer, so you don’t lose the compliance side just because you didn’t buy the license.

What does the company still need to do?

• Backups. Even if the provider gives you tools or service, the company must define its own backup, retention and recovery policy.
• Manage users and permissions. Each department has different needs; someone internal must govern that.
• Review integrations. If you want the document management system to talk to your ERP, your print system or your email, someone must coordinate it.
• Train users. Otherwise, it becomes just “another digital drawer”. That is why OpenKM offers OpenKM Academy, the e-learning platform that ensures a smooth adoption.

Why do it with OpenKM?

Because OpenKM is a mature, modular document management system designed to be integrated. It is not a closed tool or just a file viewer; it is a platform that lets you:
• digitize and classify,
• apply metadata,
• build workflows,
• control versions,
• audit access,
• offer self-service to users or branches.

And with the rental model you get all of that without having to justify a large investment. For companies that are already outsourcing printing, digitization or document consultancy, this is the logical next step: add the document management system under the same service model.

Who should choose rental?

• Organizations that don’t want to stop the project because of budget.
• Companies switching document providers and wanting to test first.
• Entities with distributed teams that need a shared repository.
• Departments that must show value quickly (for example, administration or projects).
• Businesses already working with service contracts (managed print, digitization, etc.) and wanting to consolidate everything in a periodic payment.

Conclusion and next step

Document management software rental is the most straightforward way to implement OpenKM with no upfront investment, with support included and with the ability to grow as your document volume grows. It lets you have today the features you need (digitize, search, share, audit) and pay for them gradually, instead of postponing digital transformation for lack of budget.

If you want to see it applied to your case —number of users, document volume, integration and backup needs— contact us, and we will prepare an OpenKM rental proposal tailored to your organization.