Stop the Chaos: Put Your Content to Work Today
Enterprise content management systems don't have to be complex or costly. All it takes is the cloud. Today's enterprises face content management challenges everywhere—growing volumes of digital documents from within and outside the organization, workers overburdened with "stuff" that needs to be handled and routed and executives who need to understand what's happening at every level.
The problem is that most enterprise content just sits there, waiting for someone to retrieve it, use it and put it back in the virtual storage box. Cloud enterprise content management solutions put content to work rapidly, so that means you can have a working content collaboration, sharing and workflow application within a few hours. So all of that content that surrounds you can be transformed from "just documents" into real engagement with customers, partners, employees and others.
When it comes to document management, sharing and collaboration and automating workflow around content, businesses want the ease and convenience of cloud solutions. While most of your content should be treated as an information asset—with a lifecycle and process to manage it better—the pace of content growth means information moves in, out and around the organization with little management or control. What should you do?
The demand for access to content has never been greater. The increase in mobile, outsourced and distributed workforces means that access to your information is required in more places—some of which are located outside your corporate firewall. The drive and demand for customer self-service in sales and customer support requires access to the right (and often rapidly changing) information. Yet, in the era of increased compliance and regulatory scrutiny, the issue of tracking content throughout its lifecycle is becoming a business imperative with huge consequences for non-compliance.
Cloud enables you to get there faster, at much less cost and with zero hassle. Typically with cloud content management, organizations can actually start building a real business application within the first hour and have a complete working app in a few days. In a world where businesses must move fast, cloud makes sense.
Let's look at six ways cloud helps you put content to work quickly and easily.
1. Fast deployment. Expect to start building an app in minutes and have a proven, working app in days—rather than months or years with on-premise software. Faster deployment means faster time to value.
2. No installation necessary. Traditional enterprise content management software typically requires long implementation and training cycles. With cloud, all you need is a password, a browser and an Internet connection and you are more or less ready to go. Cloud requires no hardware, no software and no additional network infrastructure. Typically, all necessary components of a cloud solution (like document management and workflow) come pre-integrated. No need to pay for additional modules or expensive and time-consuming integration services.
3. Predictable cost, low risk. Cloud poses much lower risk to the organization than a huge capital investment in software and technology infrastructure. With cloud, if the organization changes direction and needs to go a different way, it can choose not to renew the services agreement at the end of the term.
4. Ease of use. Business units want to solve business problems—not manage ECM software. Cloud applications are always built with the mindset of getting users productive as soon as possible. Top-notch cloud applications should include an intuitive Web interface, easy configuration steps and a quick tutorial that gets users familiar with the system in minutes.
5. Easy integration. Got SharePoint and want to build document management, collaboration and workflow apps? Need to manage content easily in Microsoft Outlook or Salesforce.com? Cloud makes it easy to leverage these investments. You should be able to access full-function content management directly from these other applications, so you don't have to relearn a new user interface. Cloud ECM integrates in the same way with other cloud apps as well and offers a secure way to collaborate with other teams beyond your corporate firewall.
6. Secure. A pure-play cloud solution can provide security advantages over traditional on-premise software solutions. For example, cloud platforms enable engineers to build additional security at points within the solution where other typical enterprise content management (ECM) products cannot. The modularity of Web technology supports most business security architectures. Look for certifications and leadership on security issues from cloud providers. Your vendor should match your commitment to data confidentiality, integrity and availability, starting at the network port and extending to your environment.
Cloud ECM can quickly and affordably improve the effectiveness and efficiency of information flow in your business, ensuring the right information reaches the right person when and where they need it without compromising privacy and security of intellectual property. All without long, complex, or costly implementation cycles. The cloud puts content to work fast.
SpringCM is a recognized market leader in cloud content management, sharing, collaboration and workflow automation. We make it easy for businesses to put documents to work so teams can share and collaborate around content with others-inside or outside the organization or from mobile devices. Customers rely on SpringCM to avoid the expense, complexity and risks of traditional on-premise software installations. Sign up for a SpringCM no-obligation, 14-day free trial at www.springcm.com.