What is it with analysts? Here we are with Enterprise Content Management (ECM) well defined and Gartner needs to get a new spin going! Why am I saying this? Well in reviewing the ECM MQ 2007 I realised that they have started to push the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) acronym.
I need to ask, is that not what ECM technologies are for the supporting and management of enterprise information? But to put a perspective for my following comments I must quote from the Gartner MQ what they are saying.
I need to ask, is that not what ECM technologies are for the supporting and management of enterprise information? But to put a perspective for my following comments I must quote from the Gartner MQ what they are saying.
"Moving Toward Enterprise Information Management
Content technologies are steadily gaining more capabilities to integrate with, or handle some aspects of, structured data, as well as document-centric data. Gartner’s vision for the evolutionary path of these technologies is called enterprise information management (EIM). IBM, Microsoft and Oracle have strong opportunities, as database vendors, to bring these two worlds together. As companies plan for an increasingly information-centric future, they must understand how the development of today’s content management applications will fit into an overall architecture. For information management, solutions such as content integration and service-oriented content applications will gain momentum to resolve unique business requirements. Information access has always been a critical component of an ECM suite and will play an even bigger role in helping companies sift through structured and unstructured information as it expands to include content analytics."
Maybe I have been somewhere else but this is not a new realisation and feels like new money for old rope. Maybe it is all down to language and definitions. After all we have had "Information Technology" (IT) for a long time but it feels a lot like the "Information" piece always seems to drop out and it should be technology only.
Information people "feel" like the poor cousins at time when it comes to senior executive buy in. If there is any focus on information it generally is at the data in the database level rather than an enterprise level of how information comes together regardless of the form or function.
Guess it is easier to see the hard tin and understand a database than have to do the heavy thinking required to get a concept to a model and then out to the business stakeholders for translation into technology.
Enterprise Content Management is in its broadest sense is the management of content across the enterprise, so far no rocket science here. Maybe it is all in the way that we view the content, or maybe the way the analysts view it. Here is how I view it anyway.
Firstly my definition of ECM is"
Enterprise Content Management is in its broadest sense is the management of content across the enterprise, so far no rocket science here. Maybe it is all in the way that we view the content, or maybe the way the analysts view it. Here is how I view it anyway.
Firstly my definition of ECM is"
“The methods, tools and technologies that enable an organisation to manage, process and deliver content across the enterprise”
To me the methods (methodologies) and tools represent the people and process part of any ECM solution, including the elements of Governance, Policy, Strategy and the inclusion of the ConOps (you could also call it a vision document or roadmap) as outlined by AIIM in the ECM training modules.
Not forgetting that it is the ever important Change Management and communication that make or break a project as well. Drilling into the tools (more specifically) we can then talk about the way that we will turn content into information. I use the premise that:
Not forgetting that it is the ever important Change Management and communication that make or break a project as well. Drilling into the tools (more specifically) we can then talk about the way that we will turn content into information. I use the premise that:
- Content + Context = Information
Now content in a broad sense is either structured (generally in a database), unstructured (generally office, e-mail or paper documents) or semi-structured (such as XML data streams).
Tools such as a Business Classification Structure (BCS), or Classification, or taxonomy, plus metadata and controlled vocabulary all provide to the organisation the ability to give context to the content, thereby placing context around the content and giving us information.
These tools, combined and delivered through a solid methodology, and supported by the necessary change management, communication and appropriate technology will provide a better opportunity for success in any ECM project.
So roll on ECM, EIM and ABC to you all.
Tools such as a Business Classification Structure (BCS), or Classification, or taxonomy, plus metadata and controlled vocabulary all provide to the organisation the ability to give context to the content, thereby placing context around the content and giving us information.
These tools, combined and delivered through a solid methodology, and supported by the necessary change management, communication and appropriate technology will provide a better opportunity for success in any ECM project.
So roll on ECM, EIM and ABC to you all.
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