Successful ECM Is Realizing Business Value

The general definition of enterprise content management (ECM) applies to those technology enablers used to capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver information assets in context with content-rich business processes. When asked how to best achieve ECM success, my response is that success is dependent upon the value realized from the technology-enabled business process. With all of the options faced by today’s buyers and all of the pressure to do more with ever-smaller IT budgets, customers are looking for methods and practices to maximize business value from their technology choices.

Where To Start

ECM should not be looked upon as some isolated entity, but an interconnected ecosystem of content-rich business processes and systems. Because of the size, complexity and scope of an ECM ecosystem, a question often asked by those tasked with the responsibility of developing a more comprehensive ECM strategy is: “Where do I start?” One place to start is to assess the current state of your organization’s content management practices and/or program by considering the following key questions:
1. Has a clear content management vision and strategy been established and aligned with the organization’s business imperatives and processes?
2. Has the organization established appropriate information governance structures to support, sustain and evolve the content management ecosystem?
3. How aware is the organization that unstructured content is a strategic corporate asset requiring stewardship?
4. Have clear benchmarks or key value indicators been established to measure success?
5. Has a clear set of software tools and hardware standards been established to support the content-enabled business processes?

These questions provide a starting point from which to evaluate your current state of ECM readiness. With these questions in mind, realizing business value from your ECM ecosystem requires a holistic approach that balances technology choices with equally important strategic, organizational and governance dimensions to ensure effective end-user adoption. Without end-user adoption, it could be argued that success is not possible. Let’s explore five important dimensions that, if done well, can greatly impact the outcome of your content management program and increase the likelihood of adoption—and thus realize business value.

Dimension 1—ECM vision and strategy.
The potential complexity and scope of deploying an ECM ecosystem requires a carefully defined vision and implementation strategy carefully aligned with the organization’s business goals and objectives. In most instances, the ECM strategy will involve multiple initiatives prioritized and based on business value and deployment risks, which can then be encapsulated into an overarching ECM implementation roadmap. Typically, more mature organizations delegate the ownership and management of the ECM strategy and roadmap to a centralized group such as a program management office.

Establishing an ECM strategy and roadmap encourages an incremental approach: deploy your ECM initiatives in stages to avoid the risks associated with a “Big Bang” method (introducing too much “change” too soon). Deploying your ECM initiatives in stages allows flexibility to shift priorities as business needs and priorities change, and it means that organizations acquire only the functionality needed without overcomplicating the business processes and possibly inhibiting end-user adoption.

Dimension 2—Measuring and monitoring success.
To realize the business value of your ECM initiatives, you must have a clear understanding of the key value indicators and other benchmarks with which to measure program success. Once identified, progress for each specific benchmark must be measured at pre-specified intervals. Keep in mind that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, let alone determine whether you are making progress, and while most organizations agree on the criticality of managing unstructured information assets, the majority of organizations are currently not measuring the success of their deployed ECM-enabled business processes.

With the complexity of the business environment and the intertwined nature of most IT departments, it makes it difficult to pull out specific measures for any one content management initiative. However, the following are some examples of ECM value drivers that could be used to develop metrics and/or benchmarks to measure success:

• Information governance: This category is driven by the need to mitigate risk proactively, capture and preserve intellectual capital, respond to regulatory pressures and address the issue of content security.
• Manage how content is used: Organizations are challenged by the relentless growth of content, the difficulty users have finding relevant content and inconsistent use of content in areas such as marketing, sales or operations.
• Achieve efficiency and productivity: Most businesses today feel increased pressure to lower the cost of business transactions, find alternatives to bringing on headcount, get more done while keeping budgets flat and address environmental concerns through green business practices.
• Compete for customers: It’s imperative to find ways to use your company’s content and intellectual capital to ensure global brand consistency, retain customers and provide a personalized experience for each customer.
• Address emerging models: New business models require that organizations adopt interactive Web 2.0 techniques to harness the creative power of mass collaboration with customers and partners—and yet maintain security, protect intellectual property and meet compliance requirements.

Dimension 3—Usability.
Realizing business value from your technology-enabled business processes requires, at a minimum, effective user adoption. By increasing effective usage of their ECM ecosystems, companies will experience significant returns on their technology investments. More mature organizations understand the importance of usability in the design of content management systems. How well integrated and seamless are the ECM technology-enablers built into the business processes? Do the ECM technology-enablers interoperate with existing enterprise software systems such as customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning?