AIIM 2010: Compliance still drives ECM adoption

Enterprise content management has become a necessary product and process for many businesses, but experts don't always agree on what's motivating companies to get organized. ECM was discussed in sessions and expo hall booths at AIIM 2010, but after all of this week's rhetoric one couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed by the arguments for ECM.

For the most part, ECM was discussed in the context of compliance. "One of the biggest drivers for ECM is compliance, risk management, and meeting the requirements in case something comes to litigation," said Arvind Krishna, a senior consultant with the IQ business Group.

Suresh Shenoy, executive VP at Information Management Consultants, echoed Krishna's sentiments when he warned, "It's great to have content, but if you don't know how to secure it, you're opening yourself to a floodgate of potential litigation."

After years of development in ECM technology and a growing movement toward better data organization in the enterprise, it's hard to believe compliance, risk management and eDiscovery are the only arguments for ECM implementation. The question remains: Compliance? Really, ECM, that's all you've got?

Alan Pelz-Sharpe, principal with the Real Story Group (formerly CMS Watch), believes that while compliance is important, it's not the primary driver for companies implementing ECM strategies. "Compliance, frankly, is a big myth by vendors: 'Do this. Buy my system. You won't get sued.'" he said during a session at AIIM 2010. "Nobody actually thinks they're going to get in trouble for misfiling a document. No one believes that stuff. I think that gets put on to RFPs to justify business cases."

Sean Morris, director of sales, Digitech Systems admits that fear of litigation is a major reason customers seek ECM solutions. "We talk to customers all the time that say, ‘I've got this compliance initiative that I have to meet.' So, I would never rule that out as a driver," he said. "But the primary driver, as we see it, is the massive amount of growing data out there [which] is causing companies to look around and almost feel like there's a lack of control. It also creates that mental or visual [feeling] that 'I'm not very efficient.'"

Whether companies are suffering from compliance paranoia or they're control freaks does not really matter. The general sentiment at AIIM was that, even when the enterprise looks to ECM for solutions to the most mundane dilemmas, it's up them to realize how much more they can get out of their strategy.

ECM can present opportunities for innovation, collaboration and business process management, to name a few benefits, but these drivers were generally overshadowed at AIIM 2010. The recession continues to fuel a back-to-basics discussion and strong ROI arguments.