ECM and social media are not at odds

Alan Peltz-Sharpe writes thoughtful commentaries for CMS Watch, and I often agree with his pointed observations, but this week I have to take exception. Peltz-Sharpe has framed ECM and Enterprise 2.0 as a battle ground of sorts, where ECM could be left behind by Enterprise 2.0 technology. Now even though he doesn't think that will happen, I think the argument itself is a non-starter.

I agree that Enterprise 2.0 and ECM are coming together. This much is clear, but he writes that some have suggested that the emergence of Enterprise 2.0 in businesses threatens to push document management, records management and ECM out of the way. First of all, in my view, Enterprise 2.0 doesn't in any way act as a replacement for content management, but as an augmentation of it.

Prior to social media tools, content management was a utility for managing a piece of content, but Enterprise 2.0 tools provide a way to use that content in specific ways. This means letting people share and collaborate around the content, and not only that, the social interactions themselves become a piece of content that needs to be managed.

If you look at Enterprise 2.0 tools such as wikis and blogs, user-generated content, micro blogging and so forth, it actually generates new content and by managing this content in content management systems, it makes all of this content accessible and usable across the enterprise. So I have to disagree with Peltz-Sharpe on this one. The content management system and Enterprise 2.0 are not mutually exclusive or even battling for the same turf. Instead, they compliment one another and provide an avenue to use and share content in new ways.

For more information, see:
- Alan Peltz-Sharpe's post

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