Enterprise Content Management Benefits and Features to Consider

Posted by SharonEvans on January 22nd, 2013

One truth that you need to understand about business is the fact that it is quite hard to find document that are needed when there are many files stored in electronic format. Most organizations out there do not understand what identity and access management is and will never think about using enterprise content management (ECM) in order to increase the work flow speed inside a company. We will take a look at what ECM is and how it can help your company become more productive so that you can see why it is an investment you should consider.

Enterprise content management can be defined as a set of methods, tools and strategies that are used in order to store, capture, deliver, preserve and manage document and content. This helps the company’s organization process and makes every single task a lot faster. ECM is used to handle continuous data flow and also refers to processes and systems that are linked with arranged content. To put it simple, ECM connects content and processes with people.

Most people compare ECM with identity and access management. That is not entirely correct. ECM basically helps in managing all data that is unstructured and delivering proper information to the individuals that need it. All this is done in a very timely manner and organizations are helped to manage all electronic content types. At the same time, this set of strategies and tools will enforce the consistency of business processes and collaboration between various employees or even customers.

Before talking about the benefits and features of enterprise content management, it is very important that we understand what unstructured and structured data is. Structured data is basically very ordered and you can retrieve desired information with ease. In most cases ERP (enterprise resource planning) software is used in order to gain access to such data. Unstructured data is found outside databases and will not be arrange in a specific order. Most enterprise information stands out as being unstructured and will be located as text included in emails, spreadsheets, Word documents, rich media and web pages.

There are various enterprise content management features that can be highlighted. The most important ones are: document management, document capture, digital asset management, collaboration, business process management, recording retention, archiving, email management, content reporting and web content management. A different list of features is offered by different companies that offer ECM services. It is very important that you look at the features you are given so that you can decide exactly what firm you should be working with so that your needs are properly assessed.

There are 4 main benefits of using enterprise content management. For starters, it will offer a complete experience for the user and easiness of use becomes a reality. ECM empowers decision making and employees thanks to the tools that are offered and it will help the company to control costs and risks associated with their operation. Also, ECM will foster innovation and agility. To put it simple, this is a set of systems that will make your company operate better and faster thanks to organizing absolutely all the data that the employer needs.

A good company will always outsource identity and access management and enterprise content management when there are no funds available for developing in-house departments. Always choose a company with experience, like the one presented here, so that you reap in all the benefits and features of proper ECM.