Part 2 of 4

Enterprise content management (ECM) solutions help companies capture, organize, manage, preserve, and control unstructured information—allowing business processes to move faster and more precisely. All with superior client and customer service.

Part one of our online series on ECM technologies discussed the different types of ECM solutions available today. Here, leading vendors provide insight on choosing a proper fit for your organizations’ specific challenges.

Tackling Challenges
A number of business challenges are addressed with ECM. "I think it’s fair to say that the problem—regardless of industry, revenues, or employee count—is a lack of process efficiency," says A.J. Hyland, president/CEO, Hyland Software. Businesses need to find a way to eliminate manual tasks that result in additional costs.

Lubor Ptacek, VP, product marketing, Open Text Corporation, says ECM customers fall into three main categories. Those trying to assume better control over content—either driven by concerns about compliance or governance, or concerns about the volume of content. Those that are looking for better efficiencies. And, those looking to heighten productivity either on an individual level or team level. "We make it easier for individuals to find and reuse content and ensure that the latest version of the content is available," says Ptacek.

"The primary goal is the elimination of paper and costs associated with it—physical storage and couriers," says Stacey Zengel, GM, Imaging Solutions, Jack Henry. She notes a secondary goal of gaining electronic efficiency.

"Organizations adopt ECM to address the challenges associated with unmanaged information—how to leverage content for competitive advantage and how to minimize compliance risks," says Andrea Leggett, senior product marketing manager, Content Management and Archiving Division, EMC Corporation.

Measurable return on investment (ROI) is top priority for enterprises shopping for an ECM solution. "In today’s market, customers buy solutions that improve business processes, meet regulatory requirements, or show a viable hard dollar ROI. The days of dazzling clients with features or modules that often ended up as shelf-ware are long gone," states Steve Leichtman, senior VP, Clearview Software.

Customer-facing opportunities that expand relationships are important, especially with the current economic challenges in the U.S. "An example is the ability of a customer service representative to field an inquiry by a client, view the customers’ current products and services, and then start a workflow that would automatically notify the correct department of the opportunity to expand the relationship," says Leichtman.

Considerations
Investing in ECM is an investment into the future. "It’s important the solution you choose serves you today, but also over the long term," suggests Jim Thumma, VP, sales and marketing, Optical Image Technology, Inc.

Enterprise organizations need to form a clear picture of their internal objectives prior to an ECM investment. "By clearly defining these objectives and prioritizing the must-have features down to the nice-to-have features, they quickly understand how each solution may be effective at meeting their needs," notes Leichtman.

This is particularly challenging to organizations that want one enterprise solution across many departments with varying requirements. "Often the organization may find that different ECM solutions will have strengths and score very well in one department, but not well in others," says Leichtman. "The trend is for multiple applications to exist across an enterprise, but organizations should not try to force users into using applications that do not work for them. History shows that these types of implementations fail.

Industry consolidation leads to unorganized vendor solutions, warns Hyland. "This is an industry that has seen serious consolidation. Big takeovers and buyouts are commonplace. In the process, interfaces are confusing and constantly changing." Hyland adds that security and administration modules are cut and pasted, ultimately compromising usability. Shoppers should factor in the strength and stability of an ECM vendor as part of a core list of considerations.

A Strategic Investment
Financial investments vary depending on the type and size of an ECM solution. "EMC advises its customers to take the approach of starting small, thinking big, and scaling fast," says Leggett. She suggests a strategic approach to implementation, starting with the biggest pain point.

An important part of ECM implementation is the commitment of top-level management to make it happen, says Zengel. Consider how the solution will integrate into the enterprise, what processes are targeted for automation, and weigh the benefits of enterprise search functionality. She also suggests companies consider the mechanism for moving content into the ECM solution.

Enterprises may benefit from the guidance of an outside consultant when choosing an ECM solution. i-Squared is a Pittsburgh, PA-based consulting firm specializing in ECM. The company helps organizations build and implement ECM strategies, with no allegiance to any particular vendor. "We help companies get the right information to the right people in the right place, and most importantly in the right way. We actually go a step further and make ECM part of their culture, so that when we leave they are able to go on without us," says Joyce Query, CEO, i-Squared Inc.

i-Squared’s expertise and focus is on the information architecture, which includes business objectives, taxonomies, data tagging, governance, information ownership, and business process links. "We’re intimately familiar with the technical issues, but we know from experience that an ECM project’s success and business value is largely dependent on the methodologies used to structure the information architecture," states Bernie Hockswender, VP, sales and marketing, i-Squared Inc.

Some customers come to i-Squared seeking help when, "They have something like a portal sprawl, meaning that they deployed the technology and didn’t have the right governance around it," says Query. "They know they need to move into an ECM world, but they don’t know where to begin."

More on ECM
Part three of our online ECM series focuses on successful implementations. Stay tuned for next week when we pinpoint specific market segments experiencing the benefits of ECM. Our July/August issue offers a full-featured article on the topic. dps

Click here to read part one of this series: The Many Faces of ECM