Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMs) are used as on-premise platforms in many companies. However, the entire variety of business processes can not be fully represented with exactly one ECM platform. The complexity of the requirements is simply too great, the implementation effort is too high, and the efficiency of the platform is compromised.
ECM & Cloud: The Facts at a glance
The alternative in the form of faster, simpler and more demand-oriented services from the cloud is still not quite in motion. In the management days as well as in the IT departments, concerns about security and the lack of adaptability, legal issues as well as the fear of insolutions are at the forefront.
The market is changing
This is confirmed by recent market analyzes as well as reactions from industry associations, such as BITKOM and the Cloud-EcoSystem. The concerns are, however, only partial and short-term, as the services as well as the framework conditions for their use are developing rapidly.
The chances of agile services
Those who want to secure competitive advantages are now the best time to start with the first ECM projects from the cloud - because the necessary interoperability is guaranteed, added value included.
Concerns and risks
The general awareness that ECM technologies can improve business processes and thus the added value in the company has increased noticeably. However, many enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, still do not have clearly formulated expectations or strategies for implementing enterprise content management.
And why should they? End users do not focus on the technology, on powerful monolithic enterprise systems, but usually search for simple solutions to specific questions and problems, so have the business and processes in view.
Comprehensive solution suites, which represent large areas of document-driven business processes for their own sake in complex ECM functions, therefore do not fit into the picture. The cloud could help.
But the extensive portfolio of classic ECM vendors, which is usually based on a central technology platform, from which customized solutions have been developed for specific customer requirements, is a difficult endeavor.
In addition, the necessary standardization of the portfolio would limit functional diversity and adaptability. Independent software vendors are now increasingly focusing on smaller, specialized, agile cloud services and are more oriented on the individual business processes.
The development of such ECM services is not as resource-intensive as the adaptation of complete ECM solutions. This is why new providers and cloud offerings are always striving for the market. This development also offers end-users great chances: from the document management, through contract management, archiving and digital files to the control of electronic bill-incoming processes and collaboration scenarios, there are many specialized and powerful applications.
The technological and economic benefits of such solutions are straightforward: they are easy to use (low investment), and users usually pay only for the performance or periods that are called - with scalable services, they can flexibly react to fluctuations in demand (pay- Per-use and cost transparency).
In contrast to a purely technological understanding of ECM, which ultimately attempts to map all document-centric processes from input to output in a software, the services focus only individual processes. Examples are
This focus on a narrowly defined requirement leads to a strong standardization of the respective service, which can ultimately lead to a cost savings in the applying company. In conjunction with Internet delivery, users are provided with ECM services that quickly realize specific business requirements, significantly increase the efficiency of business processes, and are also ideally suited to decentralized or mobile workstations - whether as a web client or as an application for Mobile devices
Quo Vadis, ECM?
Companies can therefore concentrate even more on their core competencies. With the cloud, ECM is likely to gain a new quality.
This is at least theoretically true, because many cloud-based ECM services can only be adapted to a limited extent and can only cooperate effectively with a narrowly defined circle of local application software. The interfaces to other applications are often missing, and individual configuration or parameterization is also rare.
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The great performance in a particular area therefore faces the problem of lack of interoperability. In the company IT, the ghost of Insell solutions is quickly transformed.
Frequent concerns include the fact that the ECM service, which is actually useful, can not be part of a holistic IT strategy or that a standardized product is not able to support the tailor-made in-house processes. Many companies are hesitant, despite the advantages of cloud-based ECM solutions.
The implementation of new techniques and structures always means weighing up opportunities and risks. However, hesitancy is not a feature of responsible and entrepreneurial behavior. As with many other hypes and trends, the high expectations of cloud computing and ECM from the cloud are first disappointed before a promising productivity platform is reached - the latter usually quiet and secret.
This means that interoperability and adaptability will increase significantly. In some areas faster, in others slower - depending on how extensive the specialist and business logics are in these areas. Single sign-on procedures and the development of Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) as open standards for the industry are first precursors.
Another great advantage of this development is that cloud-based ECM services can react quickly to changes in business models, application scenarios and business processes - changes which are usually unpredictable. On the other hand, large local on-premise solutions are not able to provide them with the necessary agility. For example, it is much easier to take account of the increasing internationalization of business processes with cloud services.
Furthermore, thanks to standardization and central provision, special added value can be developed and established on the market much more quickly. A small tool for form design or online communication with experts may not be necessary, but will be used when it is integrated into a cloud service. This is a great opportunity for vendors and users alike.
Once interoperability, standards, and standards have been established, the first Web-based ECM services will already be in place for the large suites. If you only then start into the ECM-Cloud, then probably missed the connection. Anyone who wants to get started in time should consider two basic requirements: On the one hand, the new governance and compliance requirements must also be taken into account in the new web offerings. In the case of a blind flight into the cloud, a break land is pre-programmed. In order to avoid this, secondly, professional vendors who understand the cloud and the business processes are needed.
The selection of the right supplier in a constantly changing ECM market is not easy, as new suppliers are constantly pushing into the expanding market. This is not only true for the ECM market. The emerging networks, such as the Cloud-EcoSystem, bring together analysts, vendors, and users to create transparency and support the confidence building process on the market.
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