ColumbiaSoft Certifies Document Locator Green

By Greg Crites | Published Feb 4, 2009

Document Locator Goes Green ColumbiaSoft™, a provider of document management software for a variety of customers, announced approval of Document Locator® for listing in the Construction Specification Institute’s (CSI’s) GreenFormat. Greenformat is a search engine firms can use to find green-certified products for construction. It also charges a thousand dollars a year for this listing. Apparently, it takes some green to certify a product as green. It is unclear whether any product backed by the thousand dollar payment is rejected for inclusion by Greenformat.

There is no doubt that a properly deployed, properly utilized ColumbiaSoft Document Locator® software product will be inherently ‘green’. ColumbiaSoft did roll out a series of collaboration tools fitted especially for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms that if used correctly — reduces paper waste.

Just listen to what ColumbiaSoft executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, David Pogue had to say, "Eliminating the use of paper is one very good way to reduce your carbon footprint, and a system that stores documents electronically also has many other advantages that make it a smart choice for business. Beyond the obvious cost savings that come from reduced paper use, printing and storage, there are some even greater benefits in terms of efficiency, accountability, and overall knowledge management."

Can’t argue with that. In fact, there is an entire industry built around managing data and documents for compliance with eDiscovery and several million pages of related government regulation.

ColumbiaSoft is hoping to gain client share in the construction industry by this listing in Greensoft. According to the 2008 Autodesk /AIA Green Index, 42% of architects surveyed indicated that their clients are inquiring about green design on 50% or more of their projects. Document Locator offers builders a paperless, green approach to managing the large volume of designs and construction-related documents; so it’s green.

As the catchword ‘green’ becomes even more ubiquitous, one wonders how long before every enterprise level document management software suite will pony up the entry cost to be included. There are a couple hundred ECM software solution providers out there.

This could be a profitable year for Greenformat, an offshoot of the (CSI) Construction Specifications Institute, when the combined wallets of the ECM industry bum rush the Greenformat site to be listed as what they obviously are… green.