Enterprise Content Management (ECM): An Overview

ECM is a term with vague credibility problems. It has been called a process. It has been described as a transformation of less sexy markets. Yet ECM has status as an industry buzzword. And it can help explain vendor consolidation.

ECM seeks to couple related market segments into a single category. ECM market segments can therefore include document and report management, records management, data capture and forms processing, Web content management, email management, digital asset management, media asset management, document collaboration and more. A few common challenges relate these market segments to one another. One is the management of exponential growth in different types of unstructured data. Another is the need to tie management of unstructured data into business process.

ECM and the Middle Market

Middle-market customers (roughly $500M to $5B in revenue for a commercial group) approach ECM vendors presenting narrow needs. These needs begin as workgroup, departmental, business unit or single site in scope. Over time, successful installations roll out across departments, business units, sites, suppliers and partners. They begin to take on enterprisewide attributes. In addition, initial installations integrate with enterprisewide IT resources. This includes databases, storage, directory services, the company-wide area network or a line-of-business system.

Middle-market customers should not seek a “does it all” ECM system. Such an approach is risky, expensive, unproven and even overwhelming. Better to focus on meeting specific, acute needs. At the same time, the system can be coupled with most or even all of the current enterprise IT infrastructure.

The middle-market prospect base has many pain points. Accounting departments can be buried by paper invoices. Healthcare faces escalating security and compliance requirements for patient records. Governments need to provide citizens with on-demand Web access to documents and records. Insurance carriers want to cut costs and improve service by integrating claims processing and underwriting. And this is just the short list. The full list, across industries and in specific verticals, is almost endless.

Middle-market constraints must be considered carefully. It’s a good idea to leave line-of-business applications that are 20 years old or more alone. Workflow and business process must support constant change. If the effort requires distributed system design and coding, the ongoing change cost can be high.

Post-Sale Implementation is Critical

The first few months after a sale set the stage for success or failure of middle-market ECM projects. Some customers are led to believe they purchased an off-the-shelf system requiring minimal customization. But typical middle-market projects require a major post-sale integration effort. This effort includes workflow and process automation, business application integration, automated index value capture, content security policy and more.

Certain practices can help deliver middle-market systems on time and under budget. These include:

• Off the shelf customization for key system functions. This translates into fast
  implementation and painless ongoing change;
• Simple, integrated rapid application development tools. The tools are suitable
  for use by network managers and system engineers;
• Access to case history of successful line-of-business integration. Integration is achieved using any method that fits
  customer needs and budget;
• Low-cost business process management based on rapid workflow development ;
• Support for re-use of workflow from prior industry-specific projects;
• Simple user interface customization based on end user workflow function;
• Removal of admin and power user options from thick and thin client user interface; 
• “No compromises” approach to security. Security must be powerful and flexible enough to allow auditing and access control for a wide range of file types, meeting multiple compliance needs; and
• Simple, ad hoc capture solutions for end users using multifunction peripherals (MFPs).

Practical Solutions

There is no shortage of prospect pain in the middle market. Yet failure rates for ECM initiatives continue to be too high. Projects often attempt too much at the outset. Projects and service billings drag on.

Middle-market customers need practical solutions to acute problems. Initial victories over serious business pain set the stage for broader rollouts and more applications. When the post-sale process—from off-the-shelf install to customized system rollout—exceeds customer expectations for cost and time to live, everybody wins.

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Liberty IMS (www.LibertyIms.com) is the award-winning provider of LibertyNET software platforms for document management, report management, document imaging and unstructured data management. Major product lines include LibertyNET Enterprise (LNE) for rapid deployment of scaleable, tailored solutions without the need for complex integration programming, and LibertyNET Office (LNO) for deployment of document management systems with distributed capture using multifunction peripheral (MFPs). Based in Costa Mesa, CA, Liberty IMS delivers solutions through value-added resellers and OEMs to major vertical industry groups including transportation and logistics, government, financial, healthcare and more.

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