A single global company dedicated to more than two million users: KnowledgeLake Inc.

KnowledgeLake Inc. is dedicated to helping people work smarter by offering innovative solutions to capture, organize and manage business content resulting in amplified productivity, an elimination of paper, streamlined document processing and automated business-critical operations. While the company, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is best known for providing scalable Microsoft SharePoint enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, KnowledgeLake can now provide cloud and SaaS offerings.

Candid Confession of the CEO, Bernie Schweiss

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?

KnowledgeLake was formed in 1999 after a group of entrepreneurs with extensive experience in developing imaging and workflow solutions noticed many organizations were overwhelmed by a staggering amount of business content, yet the process of managing this information was not being properly addressed.

KnowledgeLake decided to make Microsoft SharePoint the backbone of all of its offerings, and became the first company to break into the SharePoint ECM space. In 2003, KnowledgeLake was the first to market a cost-effective, integrated, scalable, document processing solution built on the SharePoint (2003) platform. The company focused on providing imaging and capture solutions for accounts payable and human resource departments within a number of different verticals – from government to universities and banks.

How successful was your first project roll out? Share the experience?

Our first project was for a large, national financial services firm. Using SharePoint 2003, we provided a scalable capturing and imaging solution they used for the next 10 years. In fact, they ran our solution to the point where they overloaded their SharePoint repository!

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest assets to your organization, what would they be and why?

Our biggest assets are our client-first approach, innovation, integrity, great employees and the support of our parent company; Fujitsu, Ltd.

KnowledgeLake’s culture is one of collaboration. We work together to provide solutions that enable our clients to realize their full potential. We are committed to delivering a remarkable client experience.

Our seasoned experts are passionate about staying “ahead of the curve” and designing new solutions that address an organization’s pain points.

As for integrity, we have an open door policy. We believe in honest communication, transparency and confidentiality—not only within the workplace but in serving our clients.

Along with client satisfaction, ensuring our employees feel valued, respected and challenged is a top priority.

Our relationship with Fujitsu allows us to provide clients with document imaging solutions that work in tandem with their market-leading hardware.

It is difficult to start a venture. But far more difficult to maintain it. How would you and your team interpret this saying?

That hits home at KnowledgeLake. Being tied to SharePoint traditionally, the market was upset by some radical announcements and moves by Microsoft. It allowed us to look to a different type of audience and solutioning. We found the way to do so was through diversification of who we serve by building a modern, web-based platform that allows for more flexibility in technology. Business agility was a key concept. So, the answer in our case was “innovate”. 

How do you and your company contribute to the global IT platform and society at large?

Fujitsu’s presence in the imaging marketplace—Fujitsu and KnowledgeLake are guiding organizations through the digital transformation. Our mission is to enable our clients to realize their full potential by serving them with new and innovative document solutions. Fujitsu manufactures and sells about 70% of scanners of the world, making KnowledgeLake a natural document imaging partner with industry-shifting software, solutions, services and support.

Do you have any new products ready to be/getting ready to be rolled out into the market?

This year we’ve already put out two versions of our new cloud ECM platform, KnowledgeLake Capture Server Professional. This software is a game changer for KnowledgeLake, our clients and those who struggle with easily centralizing and processing documents as part of their business operations.

Where do you see yourself and your company a couple of years from now?

The end goal is to continually deliver an exceptional client experience and provide cutting-edge document imaging and automation capabilities whether that’s on-premises, in the cloud or as a SaaS-based platform. As business technology needs evolve, we’ll stay agile and responsive. After all, that pioneering spirit is what makes KnowledgeLake great.

Learn more by visiting www.knowledgelake.com or feel free to contact us via e-mail at info@knowledgelake.com.

MEET THE MASTER

Bernie Schweiss is the President and CEO of KnowledgeLake.  

As CEO, he has responsibility for the overall strategic growth of KnowledgeLake, ensuring that the company enables clients by providing innovative document solutions on-premises and in the cloud. Schweiss owned and operated his own company for over 15 years before embarking on a career in enterprise technology sales with Epson and Microsoft, joining KnowledgeLake in 2012.

“As the ECM market continues to grow, we look to expand beyond our traditional marketplace. With end users in mind, we are always working on creating industry-leading solutions that simplify the workday.”