Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Management of corporate contents. information resources

The ECM system is guided by work with unstructured information in any kind, including office text and tabular electronic documents, documents in the PDF format and also drawings, drawings, diagrams, the presentations, the scanned images, e-mail messages, web pages, video, audiofiles. Flash-animation, word all variety of content necessary for effective business. The main objective of the ECM system  is a maintenance of complete lifecycle of information, from its creation or receiving from the outside before destruction when it loses the value.

Difference of functionality of ECM systems from electronic document management systems - an opportunity to work not only with documents which are only a small part of corporate content today, but also with any other types of data: e-mail messages, graphics images, photos, audio and video the files, web pages, file systems digitized by materials.

In addition to tools for collecting, management, accumulation, storages and deliveries of information, an ECM system have means of stream loading of content, management of the websites, access rights, safe corporate search. It should be noted that possibilities of differentiation of access rights to data allow ECM systems to correspond to one of the most important security requirements of use of content in state structures often containing the personal or classified information.

Possibilities of ECM systems

Conditionally systems supporting at least 3 of 6 functions belong to ECM:

• Management of documents (statement/return, control of versions, security, grouping of documents  , etc.);
•   Input in a system and management of the received images of paper documents;
•   Joint work over the general documents and support of project works;
•     Management of electronic archive, automation of rules and standards of storage, guaranteeing compliance of records to the legislation and the regulating rules;
•   Workflow for support of business processes, routings of content, purpose of working tasks and statuses, trace of routes and control of execution;
•   Automation of publications, management of a dynamic content (for example, WEB or the intranet) and interaction of users for these tasks.

Thus, an ECM system integrates all the content and process focused technologies in the enterprise, provides uniform infrastructure for document management, minimizes need of deployment and support of a set of technologies for implementation of different business challenges. Such infrastructure approach makes corporate contents available to almost all business applications of the organization. However, in some cases an ECM system can not have decisive advantages in use before "net" electronic archive or workflow a system. The choice of EDMS should be defined by the tasks facing the organization, its structure, readiness of IT solutions and many other factors.

What EDMS differs from ECM in

The fundamental unit with which EDMS works is a document which has rekvizitny and information (the text, the picture, including the scanned document, the file of multimedia and so forth) parts. EDMS surely includes the module of automation of work of office according to features of the Russian office-work (work with the entering, outgoing, organizational and administrative and internal documents means). Modules of automation of work with agreements, citizens' appeals, the module of automation of work of the secretariat can enter EDMS by preparation and holding meetings, etc.

ECM works with documents too, but at the same time the purposes of management of documents others and respectively – other structure of modules. The purpose of ECM systems consists in providing a common information space of the organization, consistency of information in different documents, ensuring obtaining all necessary information by each user in a convenient type.

As a rule, ECM includes modules:

• management of documents (export/import, security and services of libraries for business documents);
• management of images of documents (scanning of paper documents, text recognition and details);
• management of records (long-term archiving, automation politician of storage and compliance to regulations of regulating authorities, ensuring compliance to legislative and industry arrangements);
• management of flows of works (or workl ow, i.e. support of business processes, document transfer and other content along in advance developed routes, purpose of working tasks, creation of magazines of the course of accomplishment of business processes);
• management of web content (maintenance of the corporate website or portal), interaction of users;
• management of media content (management graphic, video and audiofiles, different marketing materials, etc.);
• knowledge management (support of systems for accumulation and delivery of information necessary for decision making);
• management of collective interaction of users by preparation and use of documents (support of joint work of users and support of project teams).

Official determination of ECM systems sounds so: strategic infrastructure and technical architecture for support of uniform lifecycle of unstructured information (content) of different types and formats.

Some confusion between the concepts ECM of m of EDMS occurs because EDMS in addition to modules of automation of work of office can include also means of ECM, for example support of the portal and joint preparation of documents. Then it is possible to speak about expansion of functionality of EDMS to ECM. But it is necessary to remember: in exclusively ECM systems of the module of automation of work of office is not present, and it is the module which is most demanded among the Russian services of preschool educational institution (though such module can be made under the order).

What will the management of documents according to the concept of ECM demand?

Basic concept of an ECM system – management of documents (document management) that means management of lifecycle of the document from its creation before transfer of the performed document for storage or destruction. At the same time management of lifecycle is applicable for any information object.

For work with information objects libraries which can differ with purpose of the documents which are stored in them, for example libraries of finansovobukhgaltersky documents, libraries of design documentation, client files, etc. are created. For classification of such documents more complex storage system, than usual to the Russian services of preschool educational institution the nomenclature is used But drawing up structure of storage will lay down all the same on shoulders of staff of service of preschool educational institution therefore they need to master bases of the theory of classification.

Staff of services of preschool educational institution will have to define access rights to documents (for example, on reading without the editing right, on editing without the right to destruction, to editing with the removal right and so forth).

Staff of services of preschool educational institution should master bases of information security, to understand in effect the electronic digital signature (EDS), rules of its application, to understand in what cases it is necessary to use it and in what – it is possible to do without it.

What will the management of images of documents demand?

The modern ECM systems allow not only to scan documents, but also to distinguish them, autocompleting fields of a registration card. From the clerk only confirmation of correctness of automatically created details in that case will be required. For work with these modules it is necessary to understand what is formats of the scanned documents and what they differ with.

What will the management of records demand?

The legislation in the field of work with the electronic documents intended for long storage changes very quickly now. It is quite possible that soon in archives it will be necessary to hand over not the paper documents of long storage bound in cardboard folders, and their electronic images certified by the EDS – can be, on the mobile carrier, and can be – and on the Internet. It is necessary to watch closely the legislation in this area – regulating documents which will order what document types should be created, used and be stored only in electronic form prepare.

What will the management of flows of works demand?

As we already wrote, the module of management of flows of works (workflow) – the special mechanism forcing documents to move along in advance developed route enters ECM systems.

The list of approving is set and the head who will have to sign the document after successful approval is appointed. Each participant of approval gets access to the electronic document. If all participants delivered the visa "Is approved", a system sends the document to that employee who is specified responsible for signing.

Workflow allows to build difficult routes, to consider different options of behavior, for example Workflow-services can be configured so that the initiator of approval received notifications after each stage of approval.

For mastering of this very useful mechanism it is necessary to understand methods of the process approach to company management (at which company management is considered as set of the continuous and interconnected processes aimed at achievement of result for the sake of which the organization was formed), to understand schemes of business processes. For creation of schemes of processes (and they define how documents in a system will move) different sets of reference designations which are called notations therefore specialists of services preschool educational institution should master the principles of creation of notations are used.

What will information management on the Websites demand?

The module of management of web content serves as some kind of transmitter which takes information from internal storages (for example, from repositories, document management systems) and makes it available to external visitors of the website, corporate portal or electronic shop. For work with such module it will be required to master skills of work with the Internet and basic concepts how the maintenance of the websites forms.

Leading role of service of preschool educational institution at the organization of work with this module – development of such operating procedure that the maintenance of informational portals always reflected the last minute information that there were no contradictions between information placed on the website and the existing documents.

The portal provides representation of the most up-to-date information, a unified working environment and also access isolation to information (on the website it is possible to make the closed zones, the password is necessary for access to which: for regular customers, for partners, for media and so forth) and uniform security policy.

What is required for the system of joint work?

The module of joint work (collaboration) is necessary for those organizations which activity represents or includes creative processes which difficult give in to formalization where it is required to support work of dispersed teams and the working groups. In it couples ESM often is beyond one organization and involves external consultants, partners, suppliers and clients of the company in the orbit. Today as a part of the ESM-solution surely is present a component, ensuring group functioning. For work with this module it is necessary to master bases of the organization of project work (i.e. the organizations of work within this or that project).

What will be required for knowledge management?

Documents are necessary not only for ensuring the current activity. In them what is called a knowledge asset of the company concentrates. It can be, for example, the documents describing the best developments, or useful publications and also training courses and so forth. The project course, the history of relationship with the client or the supplier can be important – all this information can become relevant and useful in several years again.

Correctly organized work with documents (storage, the accessibility and so forth) allows to reuse these data assets, to save time of employees when developing new projects. For this purpose it is necessary to understand well features of productive activity of the organization and to think over methods of selection and document storage, reflecting the accumulated knowledge.

Services of integration of systems

Some analysts turn on in ECM systems technical means of data exchange with other information systems. Such exchange is required very often. For example, during the work with agreements usually preparation and approval of the text of the agreement are carried out in an ECM system, and then basic data of agreements transfer to financial and accounting or ERP system (resource management systems). Integration – a real opportunity to reach such status of information management when data in one system correspond to data in all others, and is a necessary condition of high-quality management. The staff of services of preschool educational institution should consider requirement of the company for integration of systems and with respect thereto to define need of existence and a way of use of service of integration.

Need of development of strategy of information management

Who should define what modules of an ECM system need to be used to solve the tasks set for your organization a modern era of information technologies? The solution lies on a joint of fields of activity of many divisions, including services of preschool educational institution and IT. As practice shows, it is better to develop the document in which the methods of achievement of all purposes of the concept of ECM necessary for this purpose technical means and organizational actions will be considered for the coordinated work and respect for balance of interests. The service of preschool educational institution should become the initiator of creation of such document and its main ideologist. According to the problems of content management formulated by service of preschool educational institution, IT services should dig up necessary technical means.

What are ECM 2.0 and ECM 3.0

Development of ECM systems went and continues to go parallel to evolution of the Internet: ECM systems had some tasks during an era of Web 1.0, to them were added new to an era of Web 2.0, and next new now – when on a threshold of Web 3.0.

Fig. 1. Three categories of business needs for ECM and three stages of development of the Internet

To understand an arsenal of technology trends of ECM, we will use a conceptual framework of OpenText – the company which has 18% of the world market of ECM and is the world leader among independent vendors of ECM. At the heart of OpenText ideology - trinity of people, processes and content which ECM integrates for increase in business performance. Respectively OpenText groups ECM technologies in three categories which provide the corresponding business needs: management of "involvement" into (Engagement); management of lifecycle of content (Lifecycle), and management of business processes (Transaction).

At the stage Web 1.0 websites represented in fact digital versions of newspapers and corporate brochures. Restrictions of browsers, small speeds created restrictions for applications. At this stage of development of the Internet in focus of attention of customers and ECM developers there was first of all content and tasks of providing its lifecycle – archiving, search, access, etc. Parallel to also adjacent problems began to be solved: how to manage processes of work with documents – approvals of organizational and administrative and financial and administrative documentation how to manage processes of joint work with documents in the working groups.

A decade later Web 2.0 technologies which turned Web into a social platform with the applications providing interactivity, instant information exchange and cooperation came. There were new collaboration technologies, such as blogs and wikis, their popularity began to grow quickly, and the companies had to think of how employees receive content outside firewall'a. If during Web era 1.0 technologies protected content and applications in firewall'a, then for Web 2.0 questions of information security came to the forefront. At this stage the technologies which were already available by then gained further development taking into account requirements of management not just content, and content in the huge volumes growing at enormous rates; transaction managements not just between several people in division, and transactions in networks with a large number of partners outside single department of the single company; managements of communication using social networks and multimedia.

Fig. 2. Use of social media in the companies of the different industries the Source: OpenText. Managing Content in the Cloud: Enterprise Content Management 2.0

Now at a stage of formation there are Web 3.0 technologies. It is about semantic technologies which will provide intellectuality of information and its availability from different mobile devices. Web will turn into the system of artificial intelligence which is capable to do difficult comparisons of contexts and on this basis to issue to the user information with high extent of personalisation and relevance. The interface for mobile users, capable to provide any information in any place at any time will become the most important technology of this era. Thanks to mobile means of cooperation of people can work in any place. The sales manager – a common example of the mobile worker, it needs to be in touch with different people and to have access to necessary corporate information constantly. ECM technologies provide it. Provide a virtual meeting. The mobile worker can "enter" negotiation, join, invite others, together with the others to watch video records, together with the others to take part in editing the document in real time.

ECM 2.0 as a benefit on business transformation: specific solutions for specific business challenges

It is possible to resist it, to say that we it will have no hundred more years – but it how to close eyes and to say that around it is dark. In the world it is not a fantasy any more - ECM as the platform which incorporates all raznoformatny (including multimedia and social) content of the enterprise and also all content of business communication and transactions of employees with the outside world, structures and provides to each employee with content its business processes, and at the same time is located on the user's palm. In the world there are a lot of examples of implementations which using ECM 2.0 technologies changed business: not just created a common information space of the enterprise, the new sympathetic relations in a supply chain or with clients, and changed corporate culture. These examples are not single, and they show that today any large company is in choice point: ignore the changes happening in a world business environment or accept them.

What did the era of Web 2.0 bring in ECM? Here some examples from the book OpenText about ECM 2.0.

ECM 2.0 became relevant for large media. For example, the news portal of national scale having the largest network of correspondent offices through the whole country decided to improve the user experience when using a heading of archives and to make the platform more attractive to advertisers. It was for this purpose necessary to make millions of materials available to navigation, there were not enough classical means – the powerful search engine was required. Semantic search on the website – intuitive and relevant was implemented, and users had an opportunity of easy navigation according to the current and archive materials. As search connects the current and archive materials in bundles, search issues of high relevance, with the background to 25 years as a result turn out. Increase in attendance of the website and its positions in searchers became a ghost effect of implementation. Other example: ECM 2.0 helps with the organization of business actions. A success story of the website Canada 3.0 – an interesting example for the companies owners of industry portals. Canada 3.0 was created as a resource of the conference of the same name which is held in Canada annually since 2008, bringing together numerous developers and other players of the market of digital media. The website works during the periods between conferences, performing function of the platform for life of community, the platform for permanent dialog which uses the centralized storage for collecting and information exchange, blogs, forums, Twitter. Feature of this resource – wide use of the user content (user-generated content).

ECM 2.0 works in hosting business: the large hosting provider uses ECM for management of documents and knowledge that ensures the companies functioning according to regulations. In business of the commercial data-centers the requirement of compliance – is priority as a basis of hosting business is the Agreement on the Service layer (SLA), and in cases of deviations trials with execution of the corresponding responsibility are possible. Besides, the company as the owner of the commercial data-center has a great number of clients its competitiveness therefore ECM for it is the best means of communication with clients and cooperation in a chain of work with their requests to a great extent depends on quality of communication with whom. ECM 2.0 finds broad application in public administration. So, the local administration sets to itself a task to reduce the volume of paper documentation and to increase quality of informing the population and the organizations. ECM is the solution which cardinally changes quality of work with the population. Still example: the state department – the regulator of activity of financial institutions automates routine transactions using ECM, releasing the potential of employees for the solution of more difficult and important tasks. At the same time the centralized storage of unstructured information, workflow, platform for cooperation of the working groups is important. The center of readiness for emergencies at the Global Network of Information in the field of health care implemented the system of multi-lingual text search on information sources around the world. The center performs forecasting of possible threats to human lives – natural and technogenic, such as fires in California, the outbreaks of plague in Africa, leakages of nuclear waste, etc. Three times a day the command of the Center releases eight types of forecasts on the basis of search on the Internet and the ratings of relevance. For preparation for the Olympic Games the state department implemented ECM for ensuring reliable and safe work with documents and for cooperation of participants of process of preparation. To documents convenient access, including mobile was provided. A system works with the documents arriving from faxes by e-mail, on paper. One of the main advantages, according to the Customer, - a guarantee of safety of information.

In the insurance industry using the ECM tools the company passes to electronic trading with partners worldwide. The integrated business process management gives it a strategic prize in the long term and also reduces time for the solution of administativny tasks in the field of underwriting and management of requests.

Utility company - the energy company improves the business processes, improves transparency of transactions with the help of ECM. For it also topical issues of compliance to the state regulations, a problem of storage of content according to certain terms.

The utility company providing with water the city processed in a year 1, 35 million paper documents. With a release of the new legal act to utility company it was imputed a duty to carry out the large-scale program of improvement of activity in the next years, accompanying each action with careful documentation. With implementation of ECM seven offices numbering 1,400 employees increased efficiency of the work with the help of a management system for lifecycle of content, having received automation of 200 business processes and having built them in a single system. ECM 2.0 successfully works also in the transport industry. The airport international airport sent and received monthly hundreds of faxes within cooperation with vendors and the state organizations. Paper turnover of faxes did not allow to react quickly to them and did not provide necessary confidentiality. At the airport 50 faxes for which service and supplies constantly were required worked. With implementation of ECM the staff of the airport works with faxes without departing from the computers and also about use of mobile devices.

The agency marketing and PR-researches using the ECM 2.0 tools analyzes an information field and appropriates quantitative metrics to indicators of perception of brands, reputation and risks of political leaders to make to clients recommendations about an occasion of their communications. This service enjoys popularity among Fortune companies 500 as on perception indicators the market they can improve the activity. The largest shoe retail network has special division which executes construction projects, providing territorial expansion and playing an important role in growth strategies and development of the company. Implementation of the archive ECM solution provided to the company storage and convenient further use of all materials connected with design and construction. A part of the documents saved in archive of the company – e-mails which storage is required by regulations. The solution is integrated with ERP and is available from different regional departments.

The large producer of paint and varnish products working at the market of repair materials using a web content management system within ECM changed the presence at the Internet from the static website to the website giving to buyers effect of telepresence on a demo platforms. Visitors of the website have a number of tools? Which help them to select the necessary products and to carry out test drive of paints. There is a Virtual Center of Colour, there is a Gallery of Inspiration with the large-format image, there is online a Notebook where users can store the works on design of design of the housing and the choice of a color gamma. Management of web content gives ample opportunities for use of multimedia, tools of interactivity and at the same time for ease of use of a resource.

In the automotive industry Mercedes-Benz uses a web content management system on the ECM platform for maintenance of integrity of a brand on more than 500 websites in the USA from which 350 belong to dealers. Such constantly used materials as images of models, specifications, information on spare parts and service, promo-materials, are stored on a centralized basis and are available to owners of the different websites. The website supports digital multimedia formats – video, a sound, the photo to attract users, influencing different canals of perception. The system of approvals and workflow provides integrity of branding in transfer both images, and texts, more than 100 participants work with a system. Without ECM in scales of all company the integrity of marketing and branding could not be provided.

The large hotel chain aims at high-quality provision of services and at maintenance of their equally high level on all network. Hundreds of employees of network who need to be involved in accomplishment of a uniform mission of the company work on it. It is especially difficult in a situation when hotels are in the different countries, in the different language and cultural environment. The company implements the solution intranet on the ECM platform which allowed the company to pass from scrappy automation to the complete solution for uniform community. Via the simple interface employees have access to all necessary corporate information on policy, procedures, the best practices, etc. through safe connection with the browser from any computer. On the portal cooperation of the working groups and project teams is provided that allows to reduce terms of accomplishment of tasks. The large travel agency attracts clients mainly via the Internet using ECM 2.0, widely using blogs for attraction and then customer retentions. Each client of the agency can create the blog on the website to keep informed the travel friends and acquaintances, sharing with them digital photos and video. Fans can create communities, exchange experience, make recommendations. Thanks to the system of tags it is easy to conduct search in this user content. For a short time after start of a resource on it there were hundreds of blogs which attract a great number of visitors on the website. Thanks to coherence of information of owners of a resource on the offered tourist products with the user content and the recommendations of sale of the company considerably raised. Thanks to an online resource the company remains the strong player in the highly competitive environment.

In conclusion there is a wish to add that the listed examples for certain will get a response from the Russian business. If to say about whether the Russian market is ready to ECM 2.0, it is possible to ask either in the CIO language, or in the CEO language. The conversation in terms of technologies is closer to heart of the IT specialist - whether collaboration technologies, multimedia, advanced technologies of search are necessary to our companies, social media, etc.), - but then the answer will be rather negative. And terminology of business needs – increase many times the number of consumers, competitive advantage, efficiency of work with customer appeals, integrity of a brand, etc., - and then in response to a question is closer to the head whether are necessary to the Russian business of the solution based on ECM 2.0, there can be interesting and very subject conversation.

Gartner determinations

2017: Gartner Content Services

Content as service

2016: "ECM in resignation"

Gartner announced in 2016 that it "dismisses" the term "ECM" because of cumulative influence of three key factors:

• cloud, social, mobile, analytical and digital business systems forever changed ECM;
• SharePoint, Office 365 and G Suite also SaaS made content management available to all;
• Dropbox, Box and others changed expectations concerning content management.

Gartner: "By 2020 applications for content services will replace traditional ECM in 25% of large enterprises".

New requirements to content management:

• Cloud-first. Fast deployment, elasticity, availability from any place, permanent updating.
• Intelligent Capture. Capability standardize separate entrance flows and to directly connect them with the main business processes.
• Consumer user experience. Decision making using simple, clear user interfaces, independent registration and simple administration I instant providing a subscription.
• Independence of a repository. Capability to work independently or with the existing storages for an exception of migration and protection of investments into ECM. Eventually everything comes down to effective management of metadata.
• The integrated instruments of joint work. Turning on of instruments of collective work in general strategy of content.
• Automated management (governance). Expel as much as possible human element from management, applying semantic and autoclassification technologies.
• Open services of content. An opportunity it is easy to connect applications and platforms of the content assets with the low volume of coding or at all without code and both with SaaS, and with on-premise.
• Automatic classification and analytics. An opportunity to fill metadata where they are absent and to use these data to provide a context for unstructured content that was to look for less and to find, do less handwork more and to be engaged in manual classification less.

• Transition to content services means that ECM will recede into the background.
• Focus is displaced on the applications using content services for specific business objectives.
• Also there is a transition to integration of content services to existing applications – at last, providing the promised advantages of ECM without problems of adaptation of users – what we so long fought for.

Trend as presentiment

The Russian market of ECM has, specific, features. However it does not mean that world trends avoid it. Moreover, owing to a number of the objective reasons in Russia the trend of transformation of platforms for corporate content management to the platforms providing to the organizations different content services without any adaptation difficulties is felt even stronger^[1].

The movement ECM towards content services in Russia began, of course, not with the forecast of analysts of Gartner. Crisis of 2014 strongly strengthened and increased competences of both customers, and suppliers of IT solutions. From the CIO companies strategic planning of development of IT environments taking into account tough limitation of budgets was required.

Analysts of ECM, including from Gartner, select five levels of a maturity at which there are customers of systems.

5 levels of a maturity of customers, Gartner, 2016

Model of a maturity of ECM from Gartner

Many Russian customers either passed today, or passed the periods when the attention is focused on increase in productivity of individual employees and many separate applications (initial level) are used. Or, when the best practices of ECM are applied inconsistently, and abilities to integrate applications are insufficient (opening opportunities). The companies which look towards ECM now, as a rule, are at two top levels. They describe business cases, the integrated ECM packet (organized level) is implemented, and understanding of direct link between ECM and results of business comes (corporate level). The transforming level distinguishes the organizations which select new technologies, relying on standards of content management, widely use metadata. Such companies are ready to paradigm shift with ECM with content services today.

2012: Magic quadrant of Enterprise Content Management, ECM

The Gartner company published in the fall of 2012 "A magic quadrant" for program systems of content management of the enterprises (Enterprise Content Management, ECM).

Analysts noted continuation of growth of the market of the ECM platforms – the sales volume of this software in the world rose by 11.1% in 2011 and reached 4.3 billion dollars. Gartner considers that many enterprises are not limited to basic functions of the ECM platforms any more, such as the protected storage of files in ordered libraries, and begin to solve more serious business challenges with their help. It leads to transformation of ECM on the Wednesday integrating applications which satisfy to different business needs. Such applications in Gartner call composite content applications (Composite Content Applications, CCA) and consider that need for the most different CCA types is one of key factors of further growth of the market of ECM.

Anatitiki is marked out that in response to market trends more and more suppliers of the ECM platforms begin to offer the facilitated cloud environments. Thereby they aim to keep the clients from use of cloud file services which provide only a small part of opportunities of full-function ECM also. Among such vendors of Gartner calls EMC which purchased the Syncplicity company, Oracle with its product Social Network and OpenText which recently issued the solution Tempo. According to analysts, these solutions will attract to ECM new generation of the users who got used to work jointly with files from mobile devices and it will be one more incentive of market development. According to forecasts of Gartner, support of mobility in the next years can become a mandatory function of the ECM platforms which will leave further and further from the traditional appearance of environments for a back office.

Analysts of Gartner carried the companies to market leaders of ECM IBM Microsoft Oracle EMC, OpenText and Hyland Software.

2007-2010

The active phase of formation of the ECM market in terms of distribution of forces on it passed in 2007 — 2008 as a result of mass purchase by platform vendors of the leading specialized developers and an exit in the leading group of Microsoft corporation with its SharePoint. If to look formally at the sequence of ECM quadrants of Gartner, then it is possible to see that in general the situation in respect of alignment of forces changed not really strongly. But actually relative invariance of positions does not reflect real dynamics of development of this market and the processes happening on it.

And dynamics is, and it clearly was visible in the conditions of a recent economic crisis. Begins the next annual report on the subject ECM with this aspect Gartner company: while many IT directions experienced obvious difficulties and even showed recession, world sales of ECM products grew in 2009 and 2010 respectively by 5.1% and 7.6%, their volume in 2010 was 3.9 bln. dollars. Also it is predicted that growth rates in the next years will be even higher — it is said about annual 11.4% till 2015. Experts explain it rather simply: ECM is just the IT that direction which provides increase in efficiency of the organizations now, improving business processes and quality of the used data, helping to build new schemes of interaction in the companies and also with customers and partners.

Survey of customers conducted within the research Gartner showed that use of ECM means by them is connected with the solution of the following business tasks.

Increase in efficiency due to quality improvement of the made decisions at more complete use of information which is available in the organization. Here the crucial role is assigned to various management tools knowledge and supports of group work, including with orientation to project models of the organization of activity. ECM means play also large role for improvement of work with external clients.

Decrease in operating costs in many respects as a result of transition to electronic methods of management of documents and information exchange with clients. In the relations with external the world of improvement are reached substantially by transition from traditional methods of mail interaction to use of the optimized Web channels. Cost reduction is provided also due to consolidation of different storages of content.

Business process optimization, as before, is executed in many respects using means of work with images of documents and new methods of management of documents. Now an important role is played by transition to use of transaction document types and the corresponding tools.

Ensuring compliance to regulatory requirements concerning archive storage and conducting electronic investigations represents one of key aspects of application of ECM means now. Gartner speaks about presence of several levels of support of these tasks, beginning from integration into office applications of Microsoft and finishing with use of an automatic categorization of records (records).

Receiving and customer retention are one of the main tasks of almost any commercial organization. Here the crucial role is assigned to management tools Web content (WCM) in which instruments of interactive interaction, including using the methods applied on social networks have the special importance today.

ECM yesterday, today and tomorrow

Though the term ECM appeared only in the 1990th, history of this direction, according to Gartner, began earlier, about 30 years ago when the organizations began to use computer networks and scanners that allowed to create also the first applications aimed at processing of images of documents. Among the main historical milestones of development of the Gartner this direction selects emergence in the середине1990th - x the first integrated packets of IBM, transition to broad application of Web at the beginning of the 2000th and also entry into this market in the middle of the 2000th Microsoft with its SharePoint. Certainly, its consolidation as a result of acquisition by large vendors of a number of the leading specialized developers became an important stage of market development.

Speaking about changes in alignment of forces, Gartner, as well as earlier, notes that direct comparison of its quadrants for several years is not really correct including because for these years there was a certain correction of a technique of a research. Nevertheless we provide these diagrams here for the last five years as all of them allow to see dynamics of development of a competitive situation.

In 2008 top five as a part of four multivendors (EMC, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle) and one 'true' ECM supplier — Open Text was created. Let's note that then analysts actively discussed an issue whether OpenText in this group will be able to keep and whether it will be purchased by someone from 'big' IT players (first of all among candidates SAP though it was not excluded also by HP was called). However it became clear two years ago that Open Text both kept, and saved independence, having relied on industry cooperation, first of all with SAP. At the same time It is necessary to tell that SAP, several years being present at a magic quadrant of Gartner, in the 2010th disappeared from the diagram. As well as HP, appeared once in a research of 2009.

Of course, the quantitative estimates of indicators of business used for arrangement of participants of 'competition' on the diagram are quite approximate, but nevertheless we will note that in 2011 in the big five there were visible changes: forward the three of IBM, Microsoft and Oracle left.

According to Gartner, about a half of volume of ECM sales is the share of four multivendors, as well as in the 2010th year, however this does not mean at all that this market is in their hands. In the field of ECM technology innovations and new business models which are actively used not only by big developers, but also the companies of small and medium business advancing huge corporations in flexibility find broad application. Speaking about it, Gartner selects four key areas which define market developments now in general.

Clouds. Deployment of ECM in public clouds allows the enterprises to increase flexibility in implementation new initiatives in the field of content, significantly having lowered at the same time capital costs of project implementation (acquisition of servers, software licenses, payment of services of system integrators). Transition to service model of interaction with payment of really consumed resources (on number of users, depending on volumes of the stored documents) allows to reduce the sizes of the unrolled systems. Especially as application of file servers when no customization and integration just is required quite is suitable for many cases.

Mobility. Meeting an explicit market demand concerning ensuring universal access and wide use of smartphones and tablets, ECM systems offer a rich range of the supported client devices now, passing into an era of 'post-PC'. In addition in simple mobile access to storages of documents many vendors develop the special interfaces providing integration of mobile users into business processes. At the same time the photo and video functionality of devices, for example, is widely used for scanning of objects or input of barcodes.

Analytics. Analytical processing of content includes the whole family of the technologies helping consumers to receive answers to the questions interesting them today. As content texts of all types are most often used here (traditional documents, blogs, the news websites, discussions on social networks and so forth), but actively applied also audio-, photo and video this. Translating more and more the content under management of ECM means, the companies want to receive more return from information for the solution of the business tasks.

Content of the big sizes. Transfer to maintaining ESM-sistem delivered to an audio-and video information before the enterprises a problem of optimization of efforts on storage and management of big information arrays. It forces them to use, on the one hand, more sophisticated means of archiving and storage, and with another — it is wider to apply outsourcing services.

Components and 'four worlds' of ECM

The name ECM was entered into use in 2000 by Gartner company. It is necessary to remind that it treats the term ECM in two connected, but nevertheless different concepts: as general strategy of work with different corporate content and as a set of software products for management of complete lifecycle of such content.

In general ECM market structurization also remains approximately to the same, as 10 years ago though nevertheless there are internal changes connected with emergence of new technologies and business models. In recent years Garnter selects the following basic ECM directions: management of documents, management of web content (WCM), management of records (Records management), management of images of documents, management of social content, management of flows of works and management of business processes and also expanded ECM functions.

At the same time for systematization of idea of a range of offers Gartner suggests to select four most dynamically developing groups of software solutions now — 'four worlds (four worlds) of ECM': for management of transaction content, for management of social content, for optimization of on-line channels, for management of 'content as infrastructure'. This classification differs from classical option of a categorization of ECM in that. what is guided by the solution of some complex tasks. At this Gartner notes that very few people from vendors offer the leading means in all four directions.

• Source: ECM market: steadily high dynamics of development

See Also

• EDMS/ECM projects directory and solutions
• EDMS (more detailed)
• EDMS (Software technologies)
• EDMS (implementation technique)
• ECM (world market)
• Main trends of ECM
• EDMS (market of Russia)
• EDMS in Russia: industry specifics
• Trends of the Russian market of ECM
• EDMS/ECM projects geography
• EDMS in the SaaS format
• EDI - Electronic Data Interchange
• Modern ECM: chronicles of transformation