IDG Research Study: How To Leverage ECM For Full Potential
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
An ERP (enterprise resource management) system is at the heart of everyday operations. But, the information stored outside of the system often creates processing delays. An IDG Research global study found that respondents agree that when information lives across multiple systems, data falls out of sync, decision making comes to a halt, and money is lost.
Hosted by SAPinsider and sponsored by OnBase by Hyland, this study explores how organizations are integrating their core business systems with enterprise content management (ECM) information hubs to synchronize data and documents across the enterprise. Organizations still struggle with information stored outside of their ERP — on paper, in file shares, on SharePoint sites, or in other ways. Beyond a mere document repository, ECM can act as an information hub to facilitate key processes, enable access to content, and maximize investments in existing applications. The study identifies the pitfalls of siloed data and documents, and explores the potential of ECM platforms to mitigate these issues.
The white paper Charting ECM’s Course from Document Management To Enterprise Information Hub demonstrates that, while the value of enterprise content management as a centralized document repository has already been well established, “ECM’s value increases exponentially when leveraged as an information hub between line-of-business (LOB) systems working to facilitate key processes, keep data in sync, and maximize investments in existing applications.”
IDG research found that organizations manage an average of 48 LOB applications containing critical business information, and that approximately 25 percent of them juggle more than 100 applications. According to the IDG survey, 69 percent of respondents still rely on network file servers to share and manage documents, and 47 percent utilize Microsoft Office SharePoint to store and access documents related to data housed in LOB applications.
The survey also found that while 66 percent of organizations are currently employing document management/ECM systems, and 68 percent even integrate ECM with their LOB applications, most of those that have already integrated their ECM and LOB systems are simply providing access to documents from the application screen using custom scripting (62 percent) or a URL (59 percent).
Deploying an ECM solution as an enterprise hub can help surmount the challenges faced by the current methods. As the study explains, ‘The ECM hub automatically orchestrates key business processes, synchronizing information managed by the system in real time with tasks and activities initiated by other mission-critical LOB systems,” enabling users to work in the LOB systems with which they are most comfortable.