Information Content Management Best Practices: Debunking The Myth Of Enterprise Content Management

This Briefing describes the current state of enterprise content management (ECM), and some of the misconceptions and failures that have characterized its development. Based on an online survey and interviews with ECM champions at leading-edge organizations, it offers an alternative, more attainable vision of business process content management (BCM). Successful content management programs do not attempt to contain and control all the content an organization might generate and consume, but rather are built on the business processes of key user groups. BCM requires a content architecture that is enterprise-wide, but focused selectively on high-return business processes. Exemplary content management deployments are profiled, including those at Sun Microsystems, a global pharmaceutical company, a large U.S. government department, and a global high-tech company. The Briefing looks at key content management vendors including Vignette, Interwoven, FileNet, Documentum and Ektron. For content deployment and IT professionals, the Briefing redefines content management as a business-process-driven activity, requiring a new focus on user processes rather than on specific content types or technologies. For commercial content vendors, it describes an increasingly complex information environment where flexible delivery models and partnerships with software vendors will be key.