The Real Differentiators in IG Solutions

What started in the 1990’s as document management software, a straightforward solution to managing access and versions of documents, evolved in the next decade to an all-encompassing category including the capability to capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver all types of content. Companies like Documentum and OpenText went on buying sprees in a race to fill every niche in the ECM category, from capture solutions to records management to digital asset management.¹

One specific area of functionality that those vendors added through acquisition relates to records management. Unfortunately, those records management capabilities are poorly (or in some cases, barely) integrated with the original platform. The knock-on effect of that type of architecture is that the records management and Information Governance capabilities can be difficult to configure, inflexible and expensive to manage over time.

Architecture as a Differentiator

The fact that IG solutions are late additions to ECM platforms makes it critical to evaluate not just “what” an IG solution does, but “how” it does it. In other words, architecture matters.

One of the biggest differentiators between IG solutions today is in the architecture of those solutions. Rather than a set of functions evolved and assembled in a complex code base that can be difficult to configure and corral into an effective application, the best of the new generation of IG solutions feature a componentized architecture that simplifies building and integrating applications.

This approach to building IG solutions provides a number of benefits:

• Each service can be deployed, tweaked, and then redeployed independently without compromising the integrity of an application.
• Initial configuration and deployment are faster and easier because the system is configured through a specific, centralized point of control.
• You can deploy only the components required by an application, rather than all components, reducing the size and complexity of the application.
• You can simplify upgrades by allowing specific services to be updated one at a time without compromising the integrity of the entire platform
• Microservices allow applications to be much more scalable because you can independently scale the service requiring more power. Specifically, more instances of a service can be added, rather than adding more “cores” to run the entire application at a larger scale.

Microservices Architecture

An architecture based on microservices is the best instantiation of the idea of a componentized architecture. Microservices architecture breaks a large application into a set of small, modular services. Each service supports a specific business goal.

The services use a simple, well-defined interface to communicate with other services, enabling the mixing and matching of components as required to meet the needs of a specific use case or application. In the case of an IG solution, one service (Audit Events Service) may be invoked when an auditable activity has to be recorded, and another (Retention Policy Service) called when a complex retention rule has to be calculated.

The services model enables enterprises to create applications to address specific business needs and integrate them together in a predictable, repeatable manner. The result is software that is easier to configure, easier to integrate, easier to manage, and highly scalable.

Connectivity is Crucial

IG software sits at the nexus of business processes, collecting and tagging content as it is created, and managing and tracking it afterward. Given that central position, it is essential that an IG software product easily connects to all the other systems that create and consume content. In fact, flexibility, and ease of connection and integration are among the most essential attributes in an IG system.

Connectivity and integration should be more than possible; it should be designed into the architecture of the product. A connector-based design with pre-configured connectors for major enterprise software systems should be standard components, with simple installation and defined functionality.

A portfolio of connectors greatly enhances an IG solution. An application that starts as a repository, archive, and records management solution for one type of content, created by one system, can be easily expanded by connecting it to additional systems with additional types of content. The result is an application can be implemented and then modified, expanded and reconfigured by adding or disconnecting connectors, without additional reconfiguration or customization.

The ultimate impact of a better-architected IG system is in the flexibility to build and change applications and the long-term total cost of ownership. A more flexible, agile architecture ultimately means software that is easier to configure, easier to connect to other systems and easier to build applications with.

IG Solutions Differentiators

At Everteam, we have thought a lot about what comprises the core capabilities of an IG framework. Our thinking led us to the five core capabilities of Information Governance: Connect, Discover, Archive, Manage, and Analyze.

We then decided that the best way to ensure a complete portfolio of IG capabilities was to build our IG solutions on a microservices architecture, that would ensure high levels of usability, configurability, and scalability. And our approach takes full advantage of a connector-based model to simplify connecting to—and integrating with—other enterprise software systems.

These decisions reflect our belief that any organization approaching an IG initiative should be looking at what differentiates IG solutions today. Those differentiators include a focus on the core Information Governance functions and a modern, agile architecture that makes implementation easier—and pays back faster.

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Everteam is a global software vendor with over 25 years of experience delivering highly sophisticated implementations of Content Management, Information Governance and Business Transformation solutions for mid-to-large corporate enterprises and government entities.

¹ For example, in the six-year period between 2001 and 2007, Documentum purchased 11 companies.