Organisations underestimate the complexities involved in managing content, documents and records linked to key business processes.
In a recent international survey on enterprise content management (ECM) by AIIM, 42% of respondents indicated the most challenging element of implementing ECM technology is underestimating process and organisational issues.
This finding highlights the fact that capturing, managing, storing, preserving and delivering enterprise content, like documents, records, scanned images, e-mail, Web and other content is more about organisational processes, practices, behaviours, strategies and policies than about technology.
The complex nature of ECM lies in the fact that it is not a single technology or system, it represents processes and culture; it is intrinsically tied to business strategy and requires a holistic approach. Given these factors, the findings of the AIIM survey and challenges associated with ECM can be supported by the following:
* ECM impacts on all business processes within the organisation: Every single business process within an organisation, from the super functions and value chain right down to fairly unimportant routine activities receive content, process this content and generate more content as output. Organisations might be using sophisticated transactional systems but in many cases not enough attention is given to the underlying content that forms the "glue" in binding the processes together. If there are business processes that are not aligned with the organisational strategy, if there are business processes that are not performing optimally, it will come to the fore when the organisation is trying to implement ECM systems.
* ECM impacts on all members of an organisation: As with business processes, ECM impacts on all members of the organisation - the people within the organisation are all consumers of enterprise content while most members will generate content on a daily basis. When dealing with ECM, one should state the obvious fact that change management and training are of the utmost importance. The change management efforts should be directed towards a new way (and behaviour) of managing documents, records and other enterprise content. ECM is about collaboration and sharing, but technology tools will fail if the members do not fully appreciate their application. In this day and age, everyone is a records manager and the challenge is to instil behaviours in all members to manage content for compliance (as record of activities) while at the same time using ECM to improve business processes.
An ECM technology implementation will not ensure compliance; an ECM vision, policies, procedures and rules will.
Bennie Kotze, manager of the ECM strategy development unit at Nokusa Engineering Informatics
* ECM needs a framework and business rules: An organisation should know what content it is supposed to possess and how this content should be stored, managed, preserved and eventually disposed of. The organisation should know the regulatory environment within which it operates and translate this environment to its ECM initiatives. An ECM technology implementation will not ensure compliance; an ECM vision, policies, procedures and rules will. Trustworthy content can only be achieved with a combination of policy, process, organisation (people) and technology.
* There is no quick-fix or magic wand: ECM is a resource- and time-intensive programme consisting of multiple projects, addressing issues such as an information survey, information security rules, regulatory framework, metadata schemes, data migration, business classification schemes, retrieval strategies, integration elements as well as business, functional and user requirements. A "just get on with it" approach, implementing technology without detailed planning and a clear roadmap normally leads to extreme difficulties in retrieval of information, duplication and questionable integrity.
* ECM is an organisational resource: Content, along with financial, operational and human resources, is a key resource in managing any business. As with the management of important resources, like finances and humans, enterprise content needs to be managed as an integrated business resource. Organisations need to plan their ECM needs, and effectively use and manage their information and associated technologies, to support their business processes. Organisations sometimes pay lip service to this fact stating that it is a resource - but what are the practical measures in place? Do they audit the management of this resource? Is it part of organisational key performance indicators? Do they really treat information in the same manner that financial or human resources are being harnessed?
Organisations can minimise the complexities related to ECM by planning, identification of needs, improving behavioural issues related to content and above all envisioning at the top and building from the bottom to truly establish information as an organisational asset.
* Bennie Kotze is manager of the ECM strategy development unit at Nokusa Engineering Informatics.
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