The biggest problem rolling out an ECM system are:
- Lack of Staff Training
- Underestimating Process Issues
- Internal Politics
- Poor Policy Enforcement
That’s according to an assessment recently issued by AIIM (American Association for Information and Image Management, and now renamed, the Enterprise Content Management Institute).
Organizations are hesitent to move forward with ECM simply because of lack of understanding — just what ECM is and how to implement it effectively remains a big unknown to many people. Because of that only 28 percent of those interviewed have or are deploying an ECM system. And another 18 percent are planning to deploy a system in the not too far future. Of those that are involved in ECM, only 48 percent have confidence in their systems.
AIIM recommends more homework and research to be done upfront before moving forward with any project, especially to fully understand the issues behind managing company email and documents.
While a sizable number of organizations have left the implementation details up to IT groups and groups directly overseen by CEOs, nearly 67 percent of ECM projects are overseen by compliance officers, a real sign of the the times and of the influence of regulatory compliance. AIIM sees a problem with systems run only by IT or only by compliance officers. The two teams need to work together to bring together systems that are best in class.
Records managers have expertise in how long documents are kept for and the management scheme that needs to be used, while IT people have the knowledge of how documents are stored presently and in the future, Miles said. CEO’s have the best understanding of compliance and legal issues, said Doug Miles, AIIM’s managing director.
Cooperation between the groups is clearly key, but that’s easier said than done.
