The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) has said that ECM (Enterprise Document Management) is no longer an adequate definition for the ways in which organizations interact with these solutions. It has been suggested that Intelligent Information Management (IIM) is more appropriate for describing the market space and the strategies associated with content management.

Central to the AIIM definition is the concept that information management is intended to support an organization’s processes. Indeed, it is so much more than just storing and archiving documents. Intelligent information management (IIM) systems are used for:

• Document Management
• Searching for Information
• Records Management
• Digitization of Materials with Recognition Systems
• Workflows / Business Process
• Collaboration

By deploying an intelligent information management system, organizations can benefit from the quality, integrity, and accuracy of their most critical information. At the same time, the system supports knowledge workers by making information easier to find and utilize. Information management can also be used as a means of controlling risk and ensuring compliance, enabling consistent workflows and operating procedures, and harmonizing processes. Finally, an organization can achieve substantial cost savings by managing their information with an ECM platform ( M-Files -How IIM can make your business more competitive)

So, what are the criteria to select the right ECM/IIM?

1. Metadata imperative

In simplest terms, metadata is data about data — information attached to a file or document, the
purpose of which is to define, describe and classify that file or document. By extracting and automating your metadata, information can be retrieved and consolidated, preserved and retained, and you can provide the documents with the access rights so that only people with the rights can access that particular document.

2. Findability and versioning

In 2012, McKinsey reported that “employees spend 1.8 hours every day — 9.3 hours per week, on average — searching and gathering information. Put another way, businesses hire 5 employees but only 4 shows up to work; the fifth is off searching for answers, but not contributing any value.” Enabling employees to quickly find the information they need when they need it is one of the most compelling reasons businesses implement information management systems. Today’s technology allows to search and run queries in a single silo, but search for specific information across multiple platforms (federated search).

Another typical problem within organizations is that several versions of the same document exist, are saved in different locations, and maybe in use at the same time.

3. User-friendly solution

In implementing Content Services technology, we fundamentally change the way an individual or group does their job. This is why user adoption is broadly affected by issues of accessibility and experience. Software adoption is a matter of habits and, as humans, we don’t like to change our habits. 

4. API Integrations for business agility 

One of the main issues with the legacy systems is their inability of adapting as the business evolves. The modern platforms need to be flexible and easily integrated with other systems and business
applications. On average large organizations are using more than 1000 individual applications across their business, therefore agility in application integration is essential to growing in a changing market.

5. Easy deployment 

On-premise, cloud, or hybrid solution? Cloud services are becoming popular as a way to make things
available immediately, automate updates, and in general reduce total costs of ownership. Hybrid solutions enable companies to combine the reliability of on-premise with the flexibility of the cloud.

6. Security and compliance

Can you capture all required elements for dispositioning data and files in compliance with
the legal requirements of document management policies? Can your current system help you comply with your standards and low? Did you know that most data breaches reported are related to
unstructured data? Documents, spreadsheets, emails and even paper files!
Role and metadata-based access permission management help companies reduce the risk that information is accessed by everyone within and outside the organization, without any control.

As a premier partner and system integrator, we made our choice with the Alfresco Digital Business Platform, a modern, enterprise-class, cloud-native platform that enables organizations to build digital operations, and deliver instant services with exceptional experiences. It provides the fastest path for people to interact with information and for organizations to quickly respond to threats, opportunities, and circumstances.