Select and Implement an Enterprise Content Management Solution

Organizations everywhere are transforming their information management practices, and look to introduce or update enterprise content management (ECM) solutions as a foundational piece.
The ECM market is confusing and there is a need to disambiguate the players, shortlist and evaluate solutions, and arrive at a vendor decision.
ECM technology is in a mature and saturated market, but not all solutions compare equally and understanding the nuances is a daunting task.
ECM ends up serving many different use cases across the organization; coordinating and satisfying all of these needs requires a structured approach.
Organizations often underestimate the effort involved with content transformations and attempt to roll out to too many areas at once.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

ECM is a key piece of digital transformation. Quality information provides a foundation for innovation.
No single ECM platform will satisfy all needs. The final solution for total content management will include add-ons, customization, network drives, and data and app integrations.
ECM technology on its own is not enough. To truly realize the benefits of ECM on an on-going basis a program is needed to manage it as a capability.

Impact and Result

Understand where you want to go by setting an ECM program vision aligned to your organization's greater enterprise information management (EIM) vision, and by structuring your ECM selection and implementation project accordingly.
Align your ECM solution selection to the organization’s broader ECM/EIM system architecture (including network drives, other content management products, data architectures, and enterprise or LOB applications).
Explore the ECM vendor market through a use-case lens and benchmark performance of key functions to make an informed decision about requirements and priorities.
Structure and conduct due diligence activities when evaluating solutions in order to validate vendors' claims during the selection process and arrive at a confident vendor selection.
Implement the ECM program gradually, and in a way that avoids common pitfalls, overcomes resistance to change, and minimizes the need for costly re-work, by following Info-Tech’s bottom-up, process-based approach for ECM.

Select and Implement an Enterprise Content Management Solution Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should select and implement an ECM solution, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Select and Implement an Enterprise Content Management Solution – Executive Brief

1. Launch the ECM project and collect requirements

Launch your ECM selection and implementation project and develop your organziation's ECM requirements.

2. Select an ECM solution

Shortlist and evaluate vendors to select an ECM solution.

3. Plan the ECM implementation

Create a plan for implementing the selected ECM solution, and build a tracking plan for metrics.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

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Guided Implementation 1: Launch the ECM project and collect requirements

Call 1: Identify organizational fit for ECM.
Call 2: Create the project plan.
Call 3: Plan requirements gathering steps.

Guided Implementation 2: Select an ECM solution

Call 1: Discuss the use-case fit assessment results and the Vendor Landscape.
Call 2: Perform a contract review.

Guided Implementation 3: Plan your ECM implementation

Call 1: Create an implementation plan.
Call 2: Discuss roll-out of processes and hand-over to operations.

Authors

Ryan Smith

Jessica Jenkins

Contributors

Anonymous, Mining & Metals Industry
Anonymous, Aviation Industry
Christopher Wynder, Director of Client Services, ThinkDox
Darren Kao, ECM IT Architect & Co-Founder, M-Forz Technology
Deborah Ochsenreiter, IT Senior Programmer Analyst/ECM Project Lead, SDFCU
Ilidia Sa Melo, Deputy City Clerk & Manager of Information Management and Archives, City of Cambridge
Serafin A. Gonsalves, ECM Programme Manager, Financial Services Industry