Optimizing the digital employee experience is critical for long-term business success
Unlock the full potential of your workforce. Discover emerging trends and technologies to enhance efficiency and collaboration.
Your ECM defines the level of efficiency at which your content is managed — from it's creation to disposal. How do you lay the groundwork for maximum ROI?
When you're ready to experience the benefits of an enterprise content management (ECM) solution, you need to know what to look for in the platform and the partner.
Here’s what you need to know about the ECM space.
The ECM solution your organization chooses must be a smart investment based on your unique content requirements and team structure. Look for an ECM platform that has:
Low-code and no-code ECM platforms are a simple and cost-effective way of developing applications with minimal coding. Teams that work through a low-code or no-code platform use a straightforward visual interface and drag-and-drop tools to reduce the burden on IT teams and achieve a faster time-to-market.
Make sure the solution meets your needs now and in the future by considering the investment beyond the immediate challenges it solves for you. An ECM solution should easily accommodate your organizational changes over time, from the opening of new offices or branches to the increasingly remote environment.
The right ECM solution must ensure the security of your organization’s data and documentation. An ECM platform should be able to grant different permission levels to various users, track document activity with version control, and monitor incoming and outgoing documents from your business.
Businesses lack oversight when they rely heavily on paper-based and manual processes. Even if processes are digitized, bottlenecks occur when workflows rely on human intervention to launch work or to keep things moving. Tools like data capture and workflow automation in an ECM platform automatically capture, process, store and route important data to the right reviewers or approvers in a team.
Today’s top ECMs use artificial intelligence (AI) such as intelligent document processing and machine learning, as well as simpler (but highly efficient) automations like robotic process automation (RPA), to aid human workers and speed business.
The ECM product must be able to integrate with your existing departmental or enterprise-wide business management applications (ERPs, electronic health records, student information systems, etc.). Organizations do not have to overhaul entire systems, and your entire business is able to continue operations with minimal downtime.
Analyst reports like Gartner’s Market Guide for Content Services Platform (content services is another term for ECMs) or IDC’s MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud Content Services Vendor Assessment provide guidance for buyers. From industry standards and forward-looking expectations to vendors’ strengths and weaknesses, these reports are an excellent starting point.
Unlock the full potential of your workforce. Discover emerging trends and technologies to enhance efficiency and collaboration.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a document used in the decision-making process before a product or service is purchased from a vendor. An RFP outlines your business’ specific requirements, including your budget, so multiple vendors can share their solutions and you can compare them against one another.
For the best outcome, you must clearly identify and define your needs. Here are some tips for creating your ECM RFP.
Once you've identified your needs, focus on the three Bs:
A comprehensive RFP is critical to a good outcome. The RFP document should be concise and easy to understand. It should include a summary of the project, detailed requirements and expected outcomes. It would be a bonus if your RFP encompasses of existing content management challenges – just so your vendors can tailor their proposals accordingly.
The best RFPs come back to you with simple answers: yes, the vendor offers that, or no, they do not. Many vendors will provide additional context if the answer isn’t quite so black or white.
It’s also important to read between the lines of the answers. If a vendor has a lot to say about a pretty simple question, their solution might not fit your needs quite as perfectly as they’re presenting.
Another area to pay close attention to is how they answer questions that relate to the company more than the product. Do they have great references? Do they show up as leaders in analyst reports? What’s the culture like among their employees? In some cases, it’s wise to visit the headquarters of your preferred vendors to see how they do things behind the scenes, how they use their own software and what the overall atmosphere is like in-person.
When properly vetted and deployed, an ECM solution not only brings all of your content into one universe, it gives your content power by making it easier for users to share, collaborate and act on the most accurate data — from anywhere, at any time.
That’s why an effective ECM can help you stand out against your competition by:
Related articles:
Hyland’s migration structure is designed to minimize downtime and interruption to your organization's processes regardless of the complexity of your solution.
Managing your assets in the cloud keeps you well positioned to meet the growing demands for content.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of cloud terms, jargon, solutions and more, you’re not alone.