A poorly managed ECM implementation project can balloon costs, deplete budgets, and wipe out many of the hoped-for benefits of enterprise content management. But it doesn’t have to be that way, according to Richard Griffith, a long-time industry expert in document management-based operational improvements.
“Buyers understand the benefits of moving to a digital platform for capturing, storing, sharing, and protecting information assets. But ECM systems need thoughtful planning and precision deployment in order to generate positive returns, especially during the current economic situation,” says Griffith, President and CEO of Image API. “One thing we absolutely know, it’s that ‘work done right the first time’ delivers both immediate and long-term value.”
Griffith and company developed a process to ensure that both the system and its implementation meet the organization’s goals and operational routines predictably and efficiently. Image API’s ECMplement Process(sm) is designed to consistently deliver projects on schedule and to ensure the cost savings and satisfaction customers expect from their purchase. It’s specifically designed to eliminate scope creep and project fatigue.
Image API’s ECMplement Process works through a series of orderly steps honed from 15 years of extensive ECM and process engineering experience. It virtually eliminates change orders, cost overruns, delays, and the career suicide that plague failed transitions from paper to digital content.
The ECMplement Process proactively applies the principles of open-dialogue communications and partnering. It utilizes solid project management methodologies to create a well-reasoned path from start to finish, marking key steps, deliverables, and measurements along the way.
Griffith offers a few more suggestions for buyers:
- Understand and agree with the implementation process.
- Buy only the features you really need now to avoid overspending on things you don’t yet need.
- Make sure you can easily and affordably add those extra features when you do need them.
- Ask yourself: does my organization have to change to fit the system, or is the system designed to fit how we operate?
- What’s the company’s track record? Check references.
Tags: ECM
