The Hidden Value of Enterprise Content Management Deliver business value by leveraging information
Introduction Enterprise Content Management (ECM) provides new information management tools, strategies and best practices that have evolved with the advancement of technology over the past years. It enables organizations to go beyond traditional document management and provides the ability to manage the complete life cycle of information and automate content centric business processes at an enterprise level. Companies are using ECM tools in a wide variety of ways solving many diverse business problems. ECM is one of the most versatile and extensible IT tools available. So much so that ECM investments, when coupled with a well thought out ECM strategy, can exceed their original business case returns. Figure 1 illustrates the breadth of today s ECM platforms. In a world of failed IT projects, cost overruns and unrealized benefits, ECM is a rarity. The difference comes from the diversity inherent in the tool itself. ECM can be used to preserve ancient paper archives, automate insurance policy administration processes, publish interactive parts catalogs, and manage social content, just to name a few. Why is it possible to exceed business case returns on ECM projects? Furthermore, new technology innovations are rapidly increasing the capabilities of ECM making it an even more useful tool. A convergence of technologies is defining the future of ECM. Mobility: This technology provides new interfaces for participation in process approvals and exception handling, cameraimage (both still and video) and bar code inputs, case management system interfaces and, of course, the ability to maintain presence awareness of mobile users in an ECM system. Analytics: Content analytics defines a family of technologies that process content and provide insight into the behavior of users consuming it. Big Content: Commonly accepted consumer file formats like audio and video have made their way into the enterprise and ECM systems are being leveraged to manage them in conjunction with many other file types. The Cloud: Public and private cloud deployments of ECM. For the purposes of this article we will focus on transactional ECM that includes imaging, document and content management, workflow, collaboration, records management, case management, and content analytics. Figure 1: The ECM Paradigm 2
ECM and the Myriad of Capture Technologies Content enters an organization s IT infrastructure from a variety of sources. Unstructured content including email, instant messages, text documents, spreadsheets, and transaction records must be combined with structured content that might include both electronic forms and paper documents. Capture technologies that have now fallen within the ECM umbrella include scanning, document imaging, OCR/ICR/OMR for text and data extraction from images on paper documents and forms. For electronic content, capture tools can now parse information and transform content into actionable information needed to perform a transaction or support a specific business process. These tools are capable of capturing and processing content from all kinds of sources such as scanners, multi-function devices, email, faxes, web services, folders, print stream or data streams. The quality of captured data can be further improved using automated validations, database lookups, and math calculations. Rules engines can also be leveraged to add further value to the processing and transformation of captured content. Automating information capture from virtually any source is now possible. Sophisticated parsing, transformation and rules engines can add additional value by organizing information, validating it and presenting it in the most useful fashion for any given business process. Few companies have exploited all the ECM possibilities based on the sheer fact that so many data sources can be easily handled. The efficiency, speed, and accuracy with which information is processed are what drive savings to the bottom line. ECM and Business Process Management (BPM) Once content is captured, the next step in mining its value comes from how you store and manage it. Today s sophisticated content repositories add value by properly classifying, storing and accessing information. They provide key features such as storage/archival, library services, content profiling, searching, check-in, check-out, version control, revision history, and security. This archived content can be further leveraged for greater business benefit and return on investment through business process management (BPM). BPM tools provide the ability to automatically connect content with people which allows organizations to manage the flow of work and content by streamlining, automating and optimizing business processes. Complex business processes, such as contracts management, accounts payable, claims processing and loan origination all rely heavily on content. How efficiently one can use this content to make good business decisions has a significant impact on the business performance. Most of these complex business processes require automated decision making such as, to accept and process an application, pay a healthcare or auto claim, or to flag a transaction as suspect for fraud. Defining and changing these decisions (business rules) can be a challenge with traditional software solutions because they are often static, hard coded, and require IT resources to affect changes. Business Rules Management (BRM) tools overcome these challenges by putting the creation and maintenance of business rules in the hands of the user. BRM is typically used in conjunction with business process management technology. It enables organizations to manage business rules as a separate asset in a repository. That is, the business rules just become another form of content. Then rules can be accessed and executed by the business applications and managed by the users. For example, insurance claims processing rules can be managed within BRM repository and claims processing application can access and execute these rules from the BRM repository to processes and adjudicate claims. Any changes required to the business rules will be updated in the BRM repository without having to change the claims processing application. The value created by this marriage of content management and process management should not be underestimated. Its applicability is almost limitless as it can add value to almost any process that is heavily reliant on content which in today s business world is most of them. 3
Moving from BPM to Case Management BPM offers organizations the ability to automate and optimize many types of processes. The processes may be simple or complex as long as they can be defined by a set of business rules. However, not every situation or process can be automated. So what do you do in a situation where knowledge workers are still required to make a decision? This happens when events are normally unplanned or when processes are extremely ad hoc and unsuited for automation. In these cases the knowledge worker makes decisions by accessing, retrieving and understanding pertinent information, consulting with subject matter experts, and conducting current and historical analysis of supporting data and content. Activities performed to make such decisions are dynamic, ad-hoc, and collaborative requiring responses from people to determine actions. These are called Case Management activities. Traditionally, most organizations build case management capabilities on top of core BPM and ECM platforms. The challenge with this method is that every time a new decision making process or case management activity needs to be added, it requires a sizable effort to enhance the BPM and ECM systems. In the past few years, leading ECM and BPM vendors have started offering Case Management tools that augment ECM and BPM with advanced a n a l y t i c s, s o c i a l s o f t w a r e, d e c i s i o n management, collaboration and content management facilities in an integrated form. These capabilities are delivered in the context of a case to offer the case worker all pertinent elements required to make decisions affecting the outcome of the case. ECM and Mobility Mobile devices have changed the information access and delivery landscape. Organizations are now leveraging mobile platforms and applications to provide information to customers as well as to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their knowledge workers. The marriage of mobile and ECM technology not only provides improved accessibility but it increases collaboration as more and more people have access to content. Mobile devices are being used as content capture devices as well. Examples include camera images (both still and video), QR codes / Barcodes, and geographic locations. Even electronic signatures and online forms can be delivered to an ECM platform via a mobile device. From an ECM perspective, the mobile platform not only provides an additional way to capture and disseminate information, but ubiquitous access to ECM provides knowledge workers access to the tools they need to make decisions or work cases ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. ECM and the Cloud As organizations work to provide ubiquitous access to their content, you would think this was a natural and inevitable marriage. However, most of the leading ECM providers are yet to offer cloud based content and document management solutions. Their current licensing agreements are based on named users or servers. So there is no practical way to use their products in the cloud. However, there are several new players in the ECM space who offer basic cloud based content management with highly competitive cost models. The feasibility of using a cloud based ECM platform depends on several factors. Cloud based solutions offer limited levels of customization and you are limited to the out-ofthe-box features. Integration with legacy systems and enterprise security is also more difficult. So cloud based ECM solutions are not as prevalent as you might hope today. But again this is a natural evolution and it is just a matter of time till ECM vendors figure it out and make it a reality. 4
Increasing the Value of ECM Returns from an ECM implementation increase as you move from basic document management functions to process automation to analytics as shown is figure 2. But the path to increased returns is not always obvious. Figure 2: Value of ECM But the key question remains, how can a company exploit ECM and maximize the benefits of its use? So, how do you increase the value of your ECM investment? The answer starts with strategy. With the help of some sage ECM experts, a company s operations should be analyzed to look for opportunities for business efficiencies through the use of ECM. This may sound a little like a hammer looking for a nail. It is! But if you have already spent large sums of money on your hammer, shouldn t you figure how else to increase its contribution to your bottom line? It is unlikely that a savvy CIO would embark on so generic a venture. Typically a premise or hypothesis emerges that becomes the impetus to start an ECM strategy. Some examples: Now that I have an ECM system, I want to do more than just manage the content. How do I enhance how I create it in the first place? How can I get this valuable content to our people in the field, our customers, and our potential customers? How can I mine real intelligence from my content and unlock its hidden value? The answer really lies in the questions. That is, what do you need to do to make your organization more effective, make your business processes more efficient? Can ECM help? In most cases the answer is yes. 5
How HTC can help HTC Global Services has ECM experts that have already answered almost any content management question you can come up with. These experts can help your business with a specific ECM opportunity, new application of the technology, or an enterprise wide ECM strategy. HTC has experience with most of the commercially available ECM packages and has worked extensively in the Insurance, Healthcare, Publishing, Financial Services, and Manufacturing industries as well as the Public Sector. Since they are not tied to any one platform they can assist with ECM package selection and have successfully implemented these packages and migrated ECM systems from one platform to another for several clients. With 600 people working in the ECM practice, HTC has the depth and breadth to do the heavy lifting in any ECM project. About HTC HTC Global Services, Inc. (HTC) is a global provider of IT Solutions and Business Process Outsourcing services. HTC has a strong client base of Global 2000 customers. HTC specializes in innovative and cost-effective solutions to shorten the time to market, reduce costs and improve business processes. As a mid-sized IT company with qualified and experienced professionals, HTC is well positioned to provide its customers fast, focused, and emerging IT solutions that maximize return on their IT investments. HTC is a US based company with corporate headquarters in Troy, Michigan; providing services and solutions at customer locations and at HTC delivery centers located around the world. HTC's process maturity is recognized by its quality certifications: SEI-CMM Level 5, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. World Headquarters Written By: Prashant Kothari 3270 West Big Beaver Road Troy, MI 48084, USA Phone : 248.786.2500 Fax: 248.786.2515 www.htcinc.com