I recently read a post on the AIIM blog that really hit home. It’s like they sent a secret agent inside my brain, harvested my thoughts and then typed them out.
The Adlib team and I are always preaching about adding value to your current ECM investment. Enterprises have complex requirements when it comes to content management, and it’s unlikely that an out-of-the-box solution will ever be perfect for anyone. That’s why more and more organizations are opting to extend their current ECMs or PLMs by adding products by way of a connector.
Some enterprises opt for adding secondary ECMs to do the job, or purchasing expensive software that doesn’t really work with the current ECM’s architecture. However, as AIIM so eloquently puts it, you should first look “at your existing ECM solution to see what can be leveraged from your investment there”. Find products and services that connect directly with your ECM, so you’re not wasting time, dollars or resources training your IT department to use new systems or bogging down end users with technical details they don’t have time for.
Enhancing SharePoint with Advanced Rending
While ECMs have excellent functionality and really do help organizations to manage workflows and content, they are often missing some key elements, such as archiving, records management and Advanced Rendering (shameless plug!). I find SharePoint problematic in particular when it comes to Document Output Management, and Adlib has recently published a white paper on how to enhance SharePoint in this area (okay, 2 shameless plugs!).
If your ECM isn’t presently meeting all of your content management requirements, they answer may not lie in a secondary ECM. Instead, take a closer look at what your current system can do, and how it can be extended further with add-ons and connectors. Your IT department, end users and bottom line will thank you.
