The future of ECM - Part I

There are a number of writings regarding where ECM is going.  Many companies are working on new features etc.  Let's explore the economics of ECM first and see where pricing will probably be heading in the future:

What I can see happening over the next 2-3 years is the Commoditization of the ECM platform.  Tools such as Vital-Path will enable companies to move information into and out of or between ECM repositories and even Open Text’s efforts with SAP blur the lines of where the ECM repository starts and ends. 

What becomes the glue between the information is the meta data about the documents.  I've called this relationship RALPH (Records and Logical Path Hierarchy).  RALPH includes not only the departmental level file plan, but the records classification, document meta data and security information.  

The only “link” between the various points of information will be RALPH, such a relationship will enable an organization to move information into and out of any system, and throughout any part of their organization.  

Research shows that  almost 50% of company's ECM deployments are hampered by a lack of a file plan.  Nothing new here, so any organizations efforts should be in developing the relationships and hierarchy that bind their information together.    

So back to my original point.  If the primary need of an organization is to link the types of information together and companies develop these types of specialties, then the ECM system can be any one of the major vendors on the market today.  When the loss of specialty occurs, then Commoditization will be the next step.  

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog, Electronic Content Management.  I've been dabbling with blogs for the past year or so (see http://entium.blogspot.com).  As my career in the content management space develops, I have been fortunate to be accepted to speak at the ARMA International convention twice.  As with most industries there is a need to publish to keep your name in circulation and help others find what's next or the zeitgeist of the industry.  However, finding the time to write a lenghy paper or presentation takes some serious time committment.  The blog gives me the balance that I need, where I can write short pieces on a topic and develop them over time. 

So here I am.  

A little about me.  I started my carreer in the early 90's as a network engineer, moved into programming for several years and later into information management and security.  I have worked on a number of high profile projects over the years and worked for both fortune 500 firms and small 30 member firms.  I won't go into my full profile here, but you can find me on LinkedIn or just read some about me in the banner in this blog. 

Last year I won the Brit Literary award with my co-author Ellie Myler for a paper that looked at the ISO 17799 standards and how they affect records manangement.  

This year I am speaking at the ARMA convention in Las Vegas, on the topic of ISO standards and how they influence your ECM deployment.  If you are in the Las Vegas area and in the content management space I would encourage you to attend the ARMA convention.  Its probably one of the best in the industry. 

Well I hope you enjoy reading.  

George

ECM What's Next

So I've been giving some consideration as to what the next generation of ECM software will look like. Our current suite of software addresses the holes in the ECM puzzle, but more often than not as a consultant you feel like you are the little boy plugging the holes in the dam. There are so many areas that ECM needs to cover, so many components that are needed, that the consulting costs and software costs are sometimes too much for a company.   When this happens we start to talk about Risk Management for a company.  What's the least amount that they can do, and still keep themselves whole.  

However, ECM is not about the least that you can do.  It's about saving corporate assets and information. Its about not searching endlessly for a document.  Its about being able to tap into the experts within the organization and intuitively understand where information lives.  

So I ask the question.  How do we fix it all.  Spend Millions on software, consulting and years to implement?  Is there a better way?

Some of this thought process comes from the new Chrome browser from Google.  They have "redefined" the browser for the next 5 years but we are still limited by the web interfaces to find information.  

This blog will  start to breakdown the current offerings that are on the market and see what holes or niches that they fill.  Then we can look at the "what's next" from MIT and IBM to get a glimpse into the future.  We will also look at how information is organized and the benefits of using folksonomies for corporate information. Finally we will try to make some sense of what's out there and how corporations can deal with the massive amounts of information on their servers.