It’s Not ‘All Or Nothing’ With ECM

One of the biggest drawbacks organizations have that keep them from implementing new technologies and changes is budget. It’s the most important resource you need in order to spearhead a new project.

While some organizations have the money and other resources to deploy a paperless solution — like an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution — enterprise wide, most do not.  That shouldn’t stop you from doing so. The great thing about an ECM solution is that it doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” type of deal. In fact, the best way to deploy a new ECM solution is to start in your most paper-intensive department(s), like Accounts Payable or Human Resources, and then expand the solution to other areas of the company over time.

To ensure that your incremental deployment of an ECM solution is successful, begin by installing the system in a department that’s responsible for paper-driven processes adversely affecting all other parts of the organization. These departments are fairly easy to identify, given that they’re where paper bottlenecks occur and where your organization’s information flow begins to break down.

Areas relying on large amounts of transactional content present a good opportunity to start, especially when processes involve numerous repeatable steps. Managing and processing invoices in accounts payable is a good example. Scan or capture an electronic invoice, link it to the financial record and route it electronically to the appropriate person for approval.Once you’ve successfully implemented the system in one of your core departments, you can expand the solution to others. Deploying it incrementally not only provides you with greater control over the implementation, but the ROI you gain from the initial installation can help fund the expansion of the solution. Choosing this strategy for your content management project is a great way to get started and move forward even if you do not have the budget to implement it enterprise-wide. Over time, as you save money and see your ROI, you’ll be able to fund and expand your solution throughout the rest of your company. To learn more or to ask us questions, contact us, we are here to help.