ECM stands for Enterprise Content Management and it is a system solution that is designed for managing documents of an organization. The main point of implementing an ECM solution is simply to improve business. Word documents, PDFs, scanned images, Excel spreadsheets, and other unstructured information are stored and made accessible to the right people.
These solutions improve a business’s efficiency and effectiveness by organizing unstructured information and getting rid of the dependence on paper documents. No matter the business or industry, customers generally depend on ECM to help eliminate dependence on paper, increase productivity, reduce organizational risk, improve customer service, and streamline business processes.
The best ECM solutions can fulfill all these goals and many more, but before we look at what they are, let’s see what the five key elements of these services are.
Capture documents digitally
A lot of effort and expense is needed to capture documents using traditional methods, but capturing and importing them in a digital storage gets rid of the many hurdles that paper creates. These methods include the usage of electronic forms, scanning paper documents, managing already digital content, and automatically filing and organizing documents from servers.
Store documents in a digital repository
According to professionals from Optima ECM, using these powerful systems enable organizations to store all important documents in a digital repository which allows them to view or make edits to any file, view document’s metadata, and organize files using an adaptable folder structure.
Reduce organizational risks and secure documents
An ECM system must provide customizable security settings so that businesses can protect their information from unauthorized modification or access. Organizations are increasingly using these systems to optimize records management and protect against risk. By implementing an ECM system companies can restrict access to documents, monitor all logins and logouts, document creation, password changes, and many more.
Have access to documents regardless of device or location
These systems reduce the time spent searching for information which improves efficiency. Once all the documents are stored digitally, organizations are able to find any file using full-text searches, searches based on the date of creation, keywords or phrases, entry names, and other metadata.
Automate document-driven processes
Automation aids in achieving greater results, at the same time using fewer resources, since they eliminate the need for manual tasks like hand delivery, photocopying, and more. Some ECM systems have features that allow automatic routing of documents to the right people, recognize errors beforehand, and alert staff members when documents require their attention.
Some of the best ECM solutions include.
OpenText
This Content Management Software enables capturing both structured and unstructured information more efficiently and delivers content to any platform, process, or application. It ensures that people have secure access to the necessary information whenever and wherever, no matter their device and location, enabling them to do their jobs more efficiently.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
This SAP document management system offers robust management capabilities of documents and content. It provides advanced tools that keep data consistency and eliminate its redundancy, offer easy accessibility, automatic classification, a repository for storing content, and many more.
M-Files
This ECM software solution manages all your information like documents, images, projects, and business processes and adds intelligence by combining information with other systems such as SharePoint and SAP.
SharePoint
The key functions of this software are to store documents in a more effective format and enable content sharing between team members within an organization. It enables an effortless and secure collaboration and ensures that everyone gets critical information that is relevant to them.
Conclusion
There are many advantages to using ECM solutions. They are useful not only for improving a business’s efficiency but also to provide automated processing to streamline and accelerate one’s business and reduce organizational risks.