What Is Enterprise Content Management?

Let’s begin at the beginning. Enterprise Content Management, or ECM, is a combination of methods and strategies used to collect, manage, and deliver information in various forms. Information is also stored and archived for future use.

While all of this is very important to keep things running smoothly and efficiently, it’s just not enough. In fact, it’s antiquated at best because so much more is needed by businesses today. Information needs to be managed to achieve the goals of the business, but with ECM not all content can be managed.

And that’s a problem.

The sticking point for Enterprise Content Management is its inability to manage unstructured content, such as emails, rich media, invoices and other records, analytics, and more. Unstructured content also includes things like survey responses and social media communications, which continue to grow as more social media platforms are developed.

These  are types of content that every business produces in massive amounts. In fact, an article on CIO.com estimated that the amount of unstructured data of a business accounts for 80-90% of overall data. That’s a huge amount of information that can’t be managed with ECM.

If you can’t manage and analyze this data, you are missing out on most of the information you need to gather insights that you simply can’t get in any other way. If you don’t have all the data, it’s obviously going to have a negative impact on your business. It’s like trying to balance your ledger without payroll information.

That’s where Intelligent Information Management comes in.

Intelligent Information Management—The Rebirth of ECM

When it was developed, ECM was exactly what companies needed; but these days, companies need far more. Fortunately, ECM has gone through something of a rebirthing process. It has evolved, as any good technology does—or should—over time. It’s not just about content anymore.

Today, Intelligent Information Management is the solution to the need for more capacity, more integration of information, more time savings, and more money saved. Not only do you have the ability to store content, but you also can access all the data you were missing before.

Content management is still essential, but with Intelligent Information Management, you can also connect other enterprise data to that content and analyze it. This enables your business to make better decisions based on hard facts and creates a more customer-focused business.

Why It’s Better

Now that you have content and data, it’s time to make it intelligent by automating document management routines and compliance. You only need to know what you are looking for, not where it is, so your search is faster.

You can now collaborate easily and securely without losing track of documents or having to recreate documents that you can’t find. The document stays right where it is: collaboration takes place with one link that allows everyone to see the current version. Tie in your favorite everyday work tools to create a feeling of familiarity, along with suggestions for tags and workflows, and you have a magical transformation.

Suddenly, you have a more efficient, streamlined work process where everyone has what they need, faster than ever before. How much money do you think that will add to your bottom line? Every organization can benefit in multiple ways from IIM. Isn’t it time you found out how Intelligent Information Management can make your business better?

Learn about M-files now and schedule a demo. See for yourself how Intelligent Information Management will make your organization more efficient and more profitable.