Achieving Strategic Success
Orchestrating People, Processes and Content
8. Select a solution that is flexible and configurable. An off-the-shelf ECM suite substantially reduces integration and support costs for processes such as knowledge management, content management and collaboration. Rather than buy a standalone application for each problem area, choose a suite that is flexible and configurable across the entire enterprise. There will be less need for customization, which can be expensive and can make sharing content difficult. Occasionally, it is necessary to customize, but today’s standardized systems meet regulatory requirements as well as support best practices.
9. Develop a comprehensive plan for migration and deployment. Migration of content from existing systems is often an afterthought for organizations, but it usually turns out to be much more complicated than anticipated. Plan the migration and deployment early so that there is enough time for all your content to be transferred to the new ECM system. After all, the point of ECM is to have centralized access to all of the information related to the people, processes and content that exists within your organization and your partner ecosystem. The migration and deployment plan should also cover retiring legacy systems and define which content should be retired and which should be migrated to the new system.
10. Implement checkpoints. At regular intervals, the ECM strategy team should evaluate the status of the project. Predetermined checkpoints should be put in place to keep track of forward momentum and to ensure the entire process does not stall. Use the support teams to learn the details of the implementation and to stay on track.
11. Measure. Ongoing measurement of the effectiveness of ECM is extremely important as it directly relates to your long-range planning. The nature of business is change, change, change, so it makes sense to measure, measure, measure the success of your ECM strategy. In addition, always consider other ways to leverage various ECM functions; if you are already using ECM to manage reports and images, you may be ready to consider workflow and Web content management. To be a best-in-class organization, expand the functional breadth of your ECM deployment over time by conducting regular reviews to determine the next problem area to be addressed and any additional ECM applications that may be needed to address it. Your organization should also develop a three-year roadmap that details your expansion plan for ECM functionality.
Today’s ECM software solutions are capable of delivering significant value, but this value will only be fully realized through proper planning and measurement. Following these established ECM best practices—including careful planning at the senior level and measurement at regular intervals throughout your organization—will enable your enterprise to soar above the competition while avoiding common problems.
A well-planned ECM strategy enables you to control the risk and cost of your content, foster process agility and innovation and empower your people to make better decisions while providing them with a compelling user experience. Furthermore, it increases process efficiency, improves user and team productivity, addresses compliance requirements and allows you to reach new customers while better serving existing ones.
Open Text is an enterprise content management software company. We bring together leading Content Experts™ to help organizations manage and gain true value from their business content. Open Text provides the Open Text ECM Suite, which brings together the content management capabilities needed to manage all types of enterprise content, including business documents, vital records, Web content, digital assets (images, audio, video), email, forms, reports and more.
To learn more about the Open Text ECM Suite, visit www.opentext.com/ecm-suite.